LOGINSophie The next few days taught me something I had never considered before. My siblings could pretend. Not ordinary pretending, like telling Mom they had finished their vegetables when Selene had secretly pushed them beneath the table. This was different.They had learned how to make themselves look less intelligent. It began with their tutors. Professor Hartwell would present Atlas with a problem that was far below his ability, and Atlas would deliberately take longer to solve it. Sometimes he made an innocent mistake, then corrected it after his tutor explained the answer.Selene became even better at it. When Miriam asked her to demonstrate something on a computer, Selene occasionally clicked the wrong button before eventually finding the correct one.Leon was the most convincing of all. He could move with an accuracy that made Master Chen increasingly cautious, yet whenever someone unfamiliar entered the training room, Leon became a quiet four-year-old who needed instructions rep
Sophie The next morning, I found Atlas in the library. He was reading a book that looked much too complicated for a four-year-old. I sat beside him."Dad is investigating the people following the tutors."Atlas turned a page. "I know.""How?""Mom told Selene."I frowned. "How does Selene know?""She was standing nearby."I laughed. "Of course."Atlas closed his book. "What did Dad find?""Nothing yet." He considered that. "Then he hasn't found the important part."I looked at him. "How do you know?""Because if he had, you wouldn't be asking me."I rolled my eyes. "You're impossible."He smiled. "You came here because you wanted to talk about it.""I did.""What are you thinking?"I hesitated. "Maybe whoever is following the tutors isn't trying to get close to them. Maybe they're trying to learn how our family works."His expression became more serious. "That's possible.""Then they could learn without following anyone.""How?""By watching what we do."He looked toward the window.
Sophie The news about the vehicle following the tutors changed the atmosphere in our house without changing anything we could see.Breakfast remained breakfast. Mom still reminded Leon to slow down when he ate, Selene still complained that Atlas corrected everyone, and Dad still read the morning news while pretending he wasn't listening to all three of us at once. But something had shifted. The adults were paying closer attention.The tutors were being questioned about their routines, the security team was reviewing the routes they used, and Dad spent longer than usual in his study. Nobody told me exactly what they were looking for. I could feel the question hanging over the house. Who had been watching the tutors, and why?That afternoon, I found Dad in his study. He was standing beside the window with his phone in one hand while several reports lay open across his desk. He ended the call when he noticed me. "You should be doing your homework.""I finished."He gave me the look he u
Sophie I had expected Selene to complain about being confined to the house, Atlas to demand access to more advanced material, and Leon to insist that staying home interfered with his training.Instead, they accepted the arrangement with an ease that made me wonder whether they had already decided that the gifted academy had never been worth returning to.Their tutors arrived shortly after breakfast, one after another, carrying books, laptops, instruments, and enough teaching material to make our library look like a small university.Professor Hartwell went directly to Atlas. Miriam took Selene into the technology room. Master Chen collected Leon for his morning training. Nobody asked whether they missed school. I knew the answer anyway. They didn't. They had discovered something far more valuable than a classroom. Freedom.At home, nobody told them what they were supposed to understand because of their age. Their tutors simply found out what they already knew and worked from there. A
Sophie By the time I returned from school that afternoon, Dad had already changed the security arrangement around the house. I noticed it before the car had even reached the driveway.There were two additional vehicles parked near the gates, and the guard who usually stood beside the entrance had been replaced by someone I had never seen before. The cameras had also been repositioned, although I couldn't tell whether that was because of the woman who had appeared yesterday or the black sedan that had followed us from the academy.I remembered that car. I had tried not to. The trouble was that once something frightened you, your mind became annoyingly good at preserving details. It had followed us for eleven minutes and thirty-two seconds. Atlas had counted.I had spent most of the night wondering why. Dad was waiting for me inside. "How was school?""Normal.""Good."I dropped my bag beside the stairs. "Did you find out anything about the car?"His expression changed slightly. "Why a
Sophie I did not go to school that morning. Not because Dad had won the argument. Because Mom convinced me that going to school immediately after discovering someone had been collecting information about me would be stupid.She didn't use those words, of course. Mom was gentler than Dad. She sat beside me in the study while Dad reviewed the documents Evelyn had left behind, and she explained that there was a difference between being brave and deliberately walking into a situation we hadn't understood.I knew she was right but I still hated it. "I'm missing a mathematics test," I complained.Mom smiled. "You can take it later.""My teacher doesn't like make-up tests.""Then we'll explain.""What if she thinks I'm making excuses?""Then she'll think you're making excuses."I groaned. Mom laughed. For a few minutes, everything felt normal. That was probably what I needed. Because the strange thing about fear was that it made ordinary problems feel precious. I wanted my mathematics test.
Isla I had barely finished logging in when a soft knock at the office door pulled me from my thoughts. “Mommy?” Sophie’s voice floated down the hall, light and cheerful. And behind her, a familiar deep voice, steady, calm and impossible to ignore, answered, “I’m right here, little one.”My stomach
Isla Still, Lia’s worry was contagious. And Saxony-laced threats on anonymous lines were new territory for me. I dialed Alexander with fingers that felt clumsy. He picked up on the second ring, his voice cool. “You alright?” he asked.“Someone called...threatened...said something. The number cut o
Isla’s POVBy late afternoon, I had convinced myself that scrolling through glossy listings was not enough. If I was serious about reclaiming my independence, I had to see the places with my own eyes.The first apartment was tucked above a bakery. The smell of fresh bread greeted me as soon as I st
Isla’s POVThe night air still clung to me as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling long after Alexander’s words had faded into silence. His voice had been steady, almost too steady, as though every syllable had been carved from stone. Wars do not always start with gunfire, Isla. Sometimes they star







