Chapter Three First Lesson

I didn’t sleep.

The apartment stayed quiet, but my body wouldn’t settle. Every time I closed my eyes I felt the edge of that vision again — the tall shape turning its head toward me in the smoke.

Cole was at the window when I finally got up. He had not slept much either.

“You’re awake early,” he said without turning.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

He glanced at me. “The mark?”

I touched my forehead. It still felt warmer than the rest of my skin. “It’s quiet. But it doesn’t feel gone.”

“It won’t be. Not completely.” He stepped away from the window. “We start now. Before they pick up your trail again.”

June sat up on the couch, rubbing her eyes. “You’re seriously going to train her after everything that just happened?”

“Especially after everything that just happened,” Cole said. “The next vision could come at any time. If she can’t control it, we won’t make it to the blackout.”

I sat down at the small table. “Tell me what to do.”

Cole pulled a chair across from me. His eyes were calm, focused. There was no softness in them, but there was something steady that made it easier to breathe.

“Close your eyes. Think about the feeling right before the vision took you. Not the images. Just the pressure.”

I did.

The pressure came almost immediately, low and heavy behind my eyes.

“I feel it.”

“Good. Now push it back. Don’t let it open.”

I tried. The pressure climbed anyway. Blood started to trickle from my nose.

“Push harder,” Cole said quietly.

“I’m trying.”

“Trying won’t keep you alive.”

The vision started to break through. I saw the dark street again. The tall shape moved closer.

I slammed my hand on the table and forced my eyes open. The vision cut off. Blood dripped onto the wood.

June stood up. “That’s enough.”

“No,” I said. “Again.”

Cole watched me for a moment, then nodded. “Again.”

We repeated it. Each time the pressure came faster. Each time I managed to cut it a little sooner. My head felt like it was splitting by the end, but I didn’t stop.

After nearly an hour, Cole finally leaned back.

“That’s enough for now. You’re learning. Slow, but it’s there.”

I wiped my face with a cloth June handed me. My hands were steady even though my head pounded.

Cole stood and went back to the window. “We can’t stay here much longer. The longer we remain in one place, the easier we are to find.”

“Where do we go?” I asked.

“There’s an old storage building near the river. Better cover. Fewer sight lines. We move in twenty minutes.”

June crossed her arms. “And then what? We just keep running until the blackout?”

Cole looked at her, then at me. “No. We prepare. Thea needs more control. And we need to find out how many other returners are still free in the city. The Wardens aren’t the only ones moving.”

I met his eyes. “You’re not telling me everything.”

“No,” he said simply. “Not yet. Trust is earned on both sides.”

Something about the way he said it landed differently than when Adrian used to speak. There was no attempt to manage me. Just a clear line.

I nodded once. “Fine.”

We packed what little we had. Cole gave June a short list of rules — stay close, no phones, no unnecessary noise. She listened without arguing.

When we left the apartment, the hallway was empty. Cole went first. I followed. June stayed right behind me.

We took the stairs down to the parking level. The dark car was still there. Cole checked the street before he let us get in.

As he started the engine, he glanced at me in the mirror.

“You did better than most on the first try,” he said.

“I don’t plan on being most.”

A faint shift crossed his face. Almost respect.

“Good,” he said. “You’re going to need that.”

We pulled out of the garage and into the morning traffic.

I watched the city move past the window. Ordinary people on their way to ordinary places. None of them knew the blackout was coming. None of them knew something on the other side had already looked at me and decided I was useful.

Cole’s voice cut through my thoughts.

“Thea.”

“What?”

“When the next vision comes, you don’t face it alone. You hear me?”

I looked at the back of his head, then at his steady hands on the wheel.

“I hear you.”

In the side mirror, I caught a glimpse of a black van turning onto the street several cars behind us.

It was far enough back that it could have been nothing.

But the warm mark on my forehead said otherwise.