Mag-log inThe following morning was as normal.It began in a normal way at least.Half way through the day, the archive was in shambles.I knew it would happen some day.When Petra felt the warmth firsthand, it was inevitable.It was a very busy morning in the archive.Records were transported from shelf to shelf by the researchers.Couriers came in from various territories with new submissions.There was a discussion going on about classification procedures near the records section to the west.Everything felt ordinary.I was going over papers for the clinic when Petra suddenly walked up to me and stood next to my table.That occurred frequently, and I hardly looked up any more."Question."I sighed."Good morning, Petra."Almost noon."Still counts."She ignored that.Also normal.“Did you notice strange activity on the network lately?”I knew right away something was suspicious.Very suspicious.I lowered my pen."What sort of strange behavior?"Petra stared at me.Then narrowed her eyes,Th
AvaI thought initially that I had been distracted when I first saw this.That happened sometimes.Not often.But enough so that I didn't pay attention right away.I was in the research wing looking at the Western Territories clinic reports. Outside the window, there was snow falling over the mountain, making it white and quiet.After a relatively quiet afternoon, the archive was quiet.Researchers sat around the tables nearby.Pages turned.Paper with pens scratching on it.Petra was having another argument with Math in some other part of the hall a little further down the hall.Everything felt normal.Then I felt it.A warmth.Small.Gentle.Gone almost immediately.I lifted my head up from the report.Nothing had changed.Everything was the same as in the room.The network went under the mountain, as usual.Ninety-two threads.Steady.Connected.Familiar.I frowned and walked back to work.Ten minutes later, it happened again.The same feeling.A warmth, on the edge of consciousnes
MilracI was in the map room, surrounded by snow that was lightly touching the window glass.It had been several weeks since everything had changed between Ava and me, but the feeling in me didn't feel like something I was used to. Valley Creek went on as it had always been. The clinic continued to be a busy place. This archive continued to grow and expand. There was no interruption in Council work. Nothing was visually different from the outside. There was a rhythm to life, there were things that life required, and there was a pace to life.However, there was something different in the bond. Maybe because of the friction between us or Ava's growing pregnancy, was starting to take its toll on me.Initially I believed that it was my mind looking for patterns that were not there. I had been in leadership for too many years to ignore any change. My awareness of potential danger never went away. So I did what I knew I could do. I waited. I observed. I believed that it would go back to no
AvaEarly Winter came in to Valley Creek quietly.Not sudden.Not harsh.Little cold, slowly edging the mountain's edges to make them sharper.But work went on.The Council continued its sessions.The Archives continued to increase and expand.The clinic continued to grow.Research went on in long, packed sessions, with Kael talking a great deal and Petra scribbling in the margins of everything she got her hands on.I was pregnant but life did not stop.But that was something everyone forgot.Especially Milrac.And particularly at the exact time I would like them to forget. Because all the attention in Valley Creek turned to me.One morning I was standing in the archive corridor and looking at a tray of food that wasn't there a few minutes before.It was warm.Simple.This is what I would have picked had I taken time to think it through.I had not.I glanced about once.No one nearby.I kept walking.As I arrived at the research wing, I had had my notes reorganized.Not changed.Not t
AvaIt was a full night in Valley Creek.Slow, quiet snow lines drifted across the mountain.The world below seemed tranquil from the balcony of the archive.Lit windows.Moving figures.Lights along pathways leading to buildings.The clinic.The archive.The Council halls.Everything still working.Still alive.Still growing.It should have felt like a relief.Rather, it was the sense of a delicate balance.As if it were going to fall over at any second.I looked out the window and saw the snow building up on the stone ledge.The network was under them all.Ninety-two threads.Steady.Familiar.Not completely at ease, however.Not anymore.Gregory was in custody.Cyprus was gone.The Lycan illness was cured.There were no indications of instability in the archive.The Council reforms were on hold.The mountain seemed stronger than ever, by all outward signs.But I couldn't help thinking I wasn't seeing beyond the surface.Not the depth.Footsteps came up to my back.Eryn.I didn't tu
MilracIt was getting late, and the night had fallen on Valley Creek.The mountain's quiet was of the kind that comes after hard days of work.Not peaceful.Not fully.Just paused.Soft Lamps were used in the map room.The light was warm, falling on aged stone walls and several maps of the territory.It seemed like a place that was for clarity.Tonight, it didn't give me any.Ava was standing by the main table.Eryn was already there, reading through some of the archives' notes.Vessa looked directly at her, arms crossed, as if she was not making any effort to be involved, but somehow she had to.Dario stood with his back against the wall, taking everything in.I shut the door behind me.The sound was weighty and heavier than normal.Aldren's name was still in the air from previous reports.From the forgery.From the failure.From the quiet manner with which he took it.We did not convene because it was a problem already.We were called together because it wasn't, but we had to be sur
Tara’s POVThe heavy rain falls on the mountain, reverberating through the higher halls.Not violent.Steady.Spring storms are always different in Valley Creek. Water trickles down the stone walls around the medical building, and distant thunder resonates across the cliffs below.I wake up at a ti
Ava’s POVSpring comes late to Valley Creek.The mountain doesn't change altogether.The upper ridges are still snowed in, but lower paths have started to clear under the low afternoon warm sun. The water flows smoothly down the stone channels in the walls of the mountains. The sound is with us now
Solas’s POVIt still snows outside of the compound.Soft now.Steady.The kind that will bury tracks if left long enough.The courtyard in the interior is an enclosed area, where there is not much movement.Not since the threat has passed.Because the silence is still not to be trusted because all
Ava’s POVThe medical room has a chemical and cold stone smell.The light of lanterns glimmers softly on the walls, barely illuminating the dark corners of the compound. I hear movement in the distant parts of the building, it must be the network wolves securing the lower levels.Bootsteps.Doors o







