LOGINCHAPTER 119Camryn's POV I saw flashes from Algernon’s life—snapshots, really. There he was, a young man buried in anomaly theory at the Academy. Later, a researcher stumbled on House Gold’s real agenda, and what he found wrecked him. He watched his family fall apart. Spent years, decades, clawing at the ruins, trying to put it all back together. By the end, he was just an old man, angry and alone, convinced he’d let everyone down.And then—nothing.The Chancellor was gone. Not hidden, not asleep. Just gone, for good.I lowered the device. My hands shook with a mix of exhaustion and leftover adrenaline. The power cell was toast; we’d need hours before it’d work again.“Is everyone okay?” I managed.Miranda rubbed her neck. It was turning a nasty shade of purple. “Alive.”Amon’s shadows fluttered around him, thin and almost see-through. “Mostly functional.”Whitney just stared at her monitors. “The signature’s gone. Totally wiped. No corruption, no mind fragments. He’s just... gone.”
CHAPTER 118Camryn's POVThe Chancellor shouldn’t have been able to move that fast. One blink—he’s at the tunnel entrance, grinning with those way-too-sharp teeth. Next, he’s right beside Miranda, hand clamped tight around her throat, lifting her like she’s made of paper.“Drop your weapons,” he says, calm as you please. “Or I crush her windpipe.”Amon’s shadows flare out, ready to attack, but the Chancellor’s already on it. He flicks his free hand in some weird gesture I don’t recognize, and the shadows snap back, almost like they’re scared of him. He must’ve stolen that trick from another Hunter. Figures.“I said drop them.”I set Eugene’s device down, slow and careful, trying to get my brain to catch up. The Chancellor isn’t just strong—he’s got tactics, he’s always a step ahead, and he’s controlling everything. We need to shake him, make him react for once instead of calling all the shots.“You’ve been waiting for us,” I say, buying a little time. “Why?”“Because you’re predictabl
CHAPTER 117Camryn's POVMiranda flicked through reports on her slate. “Death toll’s almost two thousand. Anomaly appearances are three times the normal rate. The Convocation’s meeting tomorrow—emergency session.”The Convocation. All five Houses gather when things get bad enough to threaten Lenore itself. Last time was thirty years ago, when the plague hit.Whitney looked up. “What do you think they’ll do?”Amon didn’t hesitate. “More suppression. More troops, tighter control, and harsher punishment for anyone who steps out of line. Same playbook as always.”I shook my head. “But this time people know. They know the Houses have lied. They’ve seen us eliminate anomalies safely. They know about Project Marionette. Suppression won’t cut it anymore.”Fabian’s jaw tightened. “Then they’ll take it further. If the old tricks don’t work, they’ll try something worse.”My mind went to Julian, to Project Marionette, and to all the “solutions” the Houses had cooked up—controlled anomaly deployme
CHAPTER 116Camryn's POVThe evidence dropped right at midnight.I sat in that half-collapsed research facility, watching as Whitney kicked off the distribution protocol she'd been hammering together for the last forty-eight hours. She worked across three different data slates at once, barely blinking, sending our files sprinting through Lenore’s underground networks.Forty-seven channels. Twenty-three data brokers. Fifteen black market traders who didn’t give a damn about House authority. Every single one got the same files at the same time—everything we’d ripped from House Blue’s archives.Project Marionette docs. Logs of experimental subjects. Death reports. Psychological profiles that traced exactly how Julian built his anomaly weapons. All of Whitney’s data proved that fear made anomalies stronger. Pictures of the Shattered Mirror, floating in its tank. Reginald strapped to a medical bed, corruption crawling under his skin.And my voice, recorded just two hours ago, laying out wh
CHAPTER 115Camryn POVThe door to the medical facility opened, and Reginald emerged looking exhausted but relieved. “Dr. Kaine says the surgery went well. Fabian’s stable. She repaired the internal bleeding and set the ribs. He’ll need weeks of recovery, but he’s going to live.”The tension in the room eased slightly. Not gone; we were still fugitives with stolen data and a deadline counting down, but at least we hadn’t lost anyone yet.“Can we see him?” Miranda asked.“He’s still under anesthesia. Dr. Kaine says give it a few hours.” Reginald looked at me, his expression serious. “She also said we can’t stay here. Too many people coming and going would attract attention. We need to find somewhere else to lay low.”Another complication. But he was right; we couldn’t risk exposing Dr. Kaine or compromising Fabian’s recovery.“The abandoned research facility,” Amon suggested. “It’s off the grid, structurally sound enough for temporary habitation, and we’ve already established a presenc
CHAPTER 114Camryn's POVThe underground doctor’s clinic was in the basement of an abandoned factory that smelled like rust and old blood.Reginald led us through a side entrance barely visible behind stacks of discarded machinery, down concrete stairs that hadn’t seen maintenance in decades. The walls were covered in water stains and graffiti, and I could hear rats scurrying in the darkness.Not exactly reassuring.“Are you sure about this?” Miranda asked, her hands still pressed against Fabian’s makeshift bandages. His breathing had gotten worse during the drive; it became shallow and ragged, his skin pale and clammy.“Dr. Kaine is the best option we have,” Reginald said. “She doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t keep records, and she’s kept half the black market Hunters alive over the past decade.”At the bottom of the stairs was a reinforced door with a small viewing slot. Reginald knocked three times, paused, then knocked twice more. Some kind of code.The slot opened, revealing a pair







