MasukSophie Nobody answered me. That silence bothered me more than if Atlas had immediately produced a theory.Selene turned toward her computer, but she did not type. Atlas stared at the list in my notebook, his expression unusually serious. Leon was the first to move. He pulled the chair beside mine and sat down. "Then we ask a different question."I looked at him. "Which one?""Not who is watching us." He tapped the notebook. "How close have they managed to get?"I felt a chill move across my arms. That was exactly the question I had been trying to avoid. Selene finally turned back to her computer. "I can check the obvious points."Atlas shook his head. "Not by attacking anything.""I know.""Selene."She looked at him. "I said I know."I smiled despite myself. They could argue over one sentence for ten minutes if nobody stopped them. Leon looked at me. "What do you think?""I think we're looking in the wrong direction."Atlas raised an eyebrow. "Explain." I looked at the list again. "
Sophie For the next few days, I tried not to think about the man in the hallway. That was harder than it sounded. Once you started noticing things, your brain became annoyingly difficult to switch off.At school, I noticed who always arrived early, who copied homework, who changed their voice around teachers, and who became completely different whenever their friends appeared. None of it was dangerous. Most of it was ordinary.People were complicated. That was what I liked about watching them. Machines followed rules. People made their own.On Thursday afternoon, Emily and I were sitting beneath the jacaranda tree near the school library, sharing a packet of biscuits while waiting for our parents. Emily was telling me about a disagreement she had with another girl in class when she suddenly stopped. "Is that your brother?"I followed her gaze. It wasn't. The boy standing near the school gate looked about sixteen. He was wearing a dark hoodie despite the warm afternoon, and he kept ch
Sophie I woke the next morning with Leon's last words still circling in my head. "Curious people ask questions." I had spent half the night thinking about that. Not because I disagreed with him. I didn't. The problem was that I had begun to realize something I had not wanted to admit. People were already asking questions. I noticed it at breakfast.Atlas was sitting beside me, eating toast while reading something on a tablet. Selene had her hair tied into two small braids because Mum had decided she looked too serious every morning. Leon was across from us, slowly working through a bowl of cereal while occasionally glancing at the clock.He caught me staring. "What?""Nothing." He raised an eyebrow. I looked away. Atlas lowered his tablet slightly. "That was not nothing.""You all do that.""Do what?" Selene asked."Notice everything."Leon smiled. "You notice things too.""Not like you.""Different isn't worse."That sounded suspiciously like something Mum would say. I pushed my sp
Sophie The message in the children's book changed the atmosphere in our house. Nobody became hysterical, and nobody stopped me from going to school. Dad simply tightened security while making sure the changes were subtle enough that ordinary life could continue. The triplets, however, became more careful.They stopped discussing Aegis anywhere near windows, moved their meetings from the library to different rooms, and began treating every new piece of information as something that needed to be questioned before it could be trusted.I noticed something else, too. Leon had started spending more time with Atlas and Selene whenever they worked. At first, I assumed he was simply keeping them company. I was wrong.One afternoon, I walked into the library and found all three gathered around Selene's computer. Atlas was staring at a complicated diagram. Selene was trying to make sense of a series of encrypted files. Leon sat between them with his chin resting on one hand."What happened?" I
Sophie I didn't tell Daniel that I understood what he had just revealed. Not because I wanted to frighten him further, but because I needed him to keep talking. "Why did he want my family's names?" Daniel shook his head. "He didn't explain.""Did he ask for everyone?""No." His eyes dropped to the floor.b"He asked about the triplets."My fingers tightened around the strap of my schoolbag. "What exactly did he ask?""Whether they were really your brothers and sister. He wanted to know where they studied.""They don't study here.""I told him that.""What else?""He asked whether they were still going to the gifted academy."I stared at him. That information was old. The triplets had left the academy weeks ago. Anyone watching us should already have known that. Unless they were trying to confirm whether the change had actually happened. "Did you tell him?"Daniel looked ashamed. "I said they weren't there anymore." I nodded slowly. "That's all?""Yes." I believed him.At least, I belie
Sophie By the time Emily sent me the remaining files, I had already changed out of my school uniform and settled at my desk. There wasn't much left.A few photographs of historical sites, some handwritten notes, and the introduction we'd written together. The actual presentation was gone. I stared at the folder on my laptop, hoping that perhaps I had simply overlooked it. Nothing. I checked the backups. Nothing.Then I checked the school drive. The folder existed. The presentation did not. I frowned.Emily had sounded worried, but I wasn't convinced this was an ordinary computer problem. I opened my notebook. Under the observations I'd been collecting, I wrote: The file disappeared. The folder remained.I stared at the sentence. Then I called Emily."Did you delete anything?""No.""Did you move the presentation?""No.""Did anyone else have access?""Our teacher. Maybe the computer lab technician.""Did you tell anyone we were working on it?""Everyone in our group knows."I paused.
Alexander I have faced guns, betrayal, warlords, mercenaries, and monsters who whisper my name in fear. For fifteen years, I’ve lived in the shadows, a rumor, a threat, a ghost. But nothing… nothing has ever terrified me as much as the small velvet box in my pocket. Langston Manor was quiet toni
Author's POV Nathaniel Blake’s private compound loomed under the gray sky, a fortress of stone, steel, and glass, as cold and imposing as the man himself. Inside, the hum of security systems, guards, and surveillance cameras was the only accompaniment to his plotting mind. The Blakes’ fall had bee
Author's POV Meanwhile... at the Blakes residence, Viola was not having it easy. The twins wouldn’t stop crying. Their wails echoed through the marble halls of the Blake mansion, bouncing off chandeliers and portraits of a family that had long since crumbled. Viola paced the nursery floor, her sil
Author's POV Viola Blake had never believed in karma, until it came dressed in silk and shame, live on national television.From the quiet of the Blake mansion, she watched the gala broadcast on the living room screen. The chandeliers glittered across the feed, the laughter of the elite echoing th







