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CHAPTER 99: The Test
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2026-06-07 18:51:11POV: Selene Castellano
She found the envelope on the kitchen counter at seven AM.
Avalon had already left for Nexus. His coffee cup was in the sink, his jacket was gone and the apartment was quiet.
The envelope had her name on it.
She opened it and inside was a single photograph.
The one from the hallway. His father laughing outside the building nobody could place but this was a copy and on the back in Avalon’s handwriting three words.
He’d have approved.
She stood in the kitchen holding it.
Then she turned it over and looked at Jonathan Pierce laughing.
She put that in her bag and went to work.
The foundation office at eight was just her and the whiteboard and the morning.
She made coffee, sat at her desk, opened her laptop and started work
There was an email from Kevin Walsh, sent at 11 PM the night before.
Ms. Pierce, I spoke with two of the other organizations today. Both of them said the same thing about yesterday’s calls. That it felt different. I don’t know yet if different is enough but I wanted you to know I noticed.
She replied with four words.
By January, we’ll be ready.
Amara arrived at nine.
She came in and looked at Selene’s face and said: “What happened.”
“Nothing bad.” Selene turned the laptop. “Kevin Walsh.”
Amara read the email.
“He’s coming around,” she said.
“Maybe.”
“Not maybe.” Amara sat. “He emailed at eleven PM.”
Selene looked at the screen.
“Amara.”
“Yes.”
“I need to tell you something.” She paused. “Not foundation business, just something personal.”
Amara waited.
“Avalon and I. We’ve been talking about trying.” She looked at her hands. “For a baby.”
“Okay,” Amara said.
“I don’t know when. Soon maybe and I don’t know what that means for the foundation’s timeline. For my capacity. For—”
“Selene.”
She stopped.
“The foundation will still be here,” Amara said simply. “Build what you’re building. All of it.”
Selene looked at her.
“You’re not concerned about the timing.”
“I’m concerned about exactly nothing regarding this.” Amara opened her laptop. “Now, the January launch. We have six weeks.”
Maya called at noon.
“Kofi found a space,” she said without preamble.
“What kind of space.”
“For his practice, like an actual office and it's not shared.” Her voice was trying not to sound as happy as she was. “It’s on Valencia Street and it has three rooms and a courtyard.”
“Maya.”
“It has a courtyard, Lena.”
“I heard.”
“He’s been here six weeks and he already has a commission and an office and—” She stopped. “I’m not saying anything.”
“You’re saying everything.”
“I’m saying nothing.” she paused. “He asked me to help design the interior.”
“Of course he did.”
“As a professional.”
“Of course it is.”
“Stop smiling.”
“I’m not smiling.”
“You’re absolutely smiling.”
Selene was absolutely smiling.
“Send me the address,” she said. “I want to see the courtyard.”
Avalon called at three.
“My two o’clock ran long,” he said. “I’m going to be late.”
“How late.”
“Seven maybe.”
“I’ll cook,” she said.
“You’ll cook,” he said.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was about to say that sounds wonderful,” he said.
“You were about to make a face I can hear through the phone.”
“I don’t have a face.”
“You have several faces.”
He laughed.
She held the phone a second longer than necessary.
“Seven,” she said. “Don’t be later.”
She left the office at five and walked instead of taking a car because the afternoon was doing something extraordinary with the light and she wanted to be in it.
Her phone buzzed with an unknown number.
“Ms. Castellano Pierce.” A woman’s voice. Professional and careful. “My name is Dr. Sarah Okafor. I’m a reproductive endocrinologist at UCSF Medical Center.”
Selene stopped walking.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I think you may have the wrong—”
“I don’t,” the woman said. “I was referred to you by Dr. Ruth.” A pause. “She said you might be thinking about trying. Given your history.” Another pause. “She wanted to make sure you had the right support before you started.”
Selene stood on the pavement.
People were moving around her and the light was doing its extraordinary thing.
“Dr. Ruth called you,” she said.
“She did. About a week ago.” The voice was gentle. “She said she met you and she’d told you something important about your daughter. And that she wanted to make sure if you decided to try again you weren’t doing it without the right medical support.”
Selene felt her throat tighten.
“She didn’t tell me she was going to do that,” she said.
“No,” Dr. Okafor said. “She said you probably wouldn’t have let her.”
Selene almost laughed.
“Can we meet?” Dr. Okafor said. “No pressure, just for a conversation.”
Selene looked at the extraordinary light on the San Francisco street.
“Yes,” she said. “We can meet.”
She hung up and stood on the pavement for a moment.
Then she called Avalon.
He answered on the first ring.
“Can you make it six instead of seven,” she said.
“What happened.”
“Nothing bad.” She started walking again. “I just need to tell you something and I don’t want to wait until seven.”
“I’m leaving now,” he said.
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