The air outside felt different when Avelyn stepped out.Not lighter.Not easier.Just clearer.As if something that had been pressing down on her for a long time had finally taken shape. It didn’t disappear, but it was no longer invisible.Now she knew what she was carrying.Tan closed the distance quickly, his eyes scanning her face, searching for cracks, for hesitation, for anything that might show how deeply this had affected her.He didn’t find any.That didn’t mean it hadn’t.“You okay?” he asked quietly.Avelyn nodded once. “Yes.”Lucas’s voice broke through, faint and unstable. “We need to move. Signal is almost gone completely.”Avelyn didn’t argue.“Let’s go,” she said.They moved back toward the gate, their steps faster now, more direct. The silence followed them, heavy but no longer confusing. It was filled with understanding now, with answers that could not be undone.As they stepped past the gate, the signal returned gradually.Lucas exhaled audibly through the earpiece.
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