"Because if information was the goal, three seconds of exposure was a mistake — they would have been more careful, stayed longer, maintained better concealment. But they let me see them. Not fully, not clearly, but enough to register a presence." I looked at him. "That wasn't carelessness. That was a message. They wanted me to know they were there."The room was very quiet."They wanted you frightened," Reyna said from her position by the door."They wanted me to understand that they know where I am and what I'm carrying," I said. "And that the knowing is enough of a threat for now."The first direct action came eleven days after the marks on the wall.It came for the children.Not for me — or not primarily. What happened made that clear in retrospect, though in the moment it was simply terrifying in the way all sudden violence is terrifying, without the clarity of retrospective analysis to organize it.I was in Mara's training room when the air changed.That is the only way I know ho
最後更新 : 2026-05-18 閱讀更多