The council meeting should have settled something.It didn’t.If anything, it made everything worse.The compound felt different after that—quieter in the wrong ways, louder in the ones that mattered. People still talked, still worked, still laughed, but it all felt… cautious. Like everyone was waiting for something else to explode, preferably not me.I tried to go back to normal.Keyword, tried.By late afternoon, I was back in the garage, buried under the familiar comfort of grease and stubborn bolts. If I focused hard enough on the engine in front of me, I didn’t have to think about silver fire, ancient symbols, or the fact that my life had officially turned into a council-approved disaster.“Careful,” Nina said from behind me, lounging like she owned the place. “You’re tightening that like it personally offended you.”“It did,” I muttered. “It exists.”She snorted. “Bold stance. Very anti-engine of you.”I almost smiled. Almost.The sound of boots on concrete ruined it.I didn’t n
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