Surveillance Van – 8:03 AM
Nova sipped lukewarm coffee from a paper cup, eyes fixed on the screen. The feed was grainy, pulled from a motion-sensitive camera they'd installed across from the cabin two nights ago. No movement yet, but the silence made her stomach churn.
Kade sat beside her, scrolling through the thermal readings. "Still cold. But something about this place—it hums wrong."
Nova rubbed her eyes. "He's not gone. Just hiding like he always did."
Amara's Studio – 9:47 AM
Amara layered gray over charcoal, fingers smudging shadows into the walls of a half-formed hallway. Malik entered quietly, not wanting to interrupt.
"You eat anything?"
"No appetite yet," she murmured, still drawing.
He watched her hand move. "It's getting clearer. Whatever you're trying to remember."
Amara exhaled. "I'm scared I'll remember it all too fast. That it'll break something open before I'm ready."
Malik placed a granola bar beside her sketchpad. "Then let it come in pieces. You don't have to bleed it out all at once."
Rin's Apartment – 11:21 AM
Rin sat cross-legged on the couch, Kael's sweater balled in her lap. Her fingers traced the stitching as if the memory of him still lived inside the thread.
Tasha knocked once before letting herself in. "You called?"
Rin didn't look up. "Did you ever love someone who made you feel safe… even when you knew they'd never stay?"
Tasha sank into the chair across from her. "Every time. But I stopped thinking that love was supposed to be permanent to be real."
Rin blinked. "So what do I do now?"
"Let him go. Or hold him gently enough that he can leave if he needs to."
Cabin Perimeter – 2:03 PM
Nova stepped out into the woods behind the surveillance van, wind cutting through her coat. Kade followed, scanning the path for signs of movement.
They crouched near a clearing, hidden behind brush.
"Look," Nova whispered.
Through the trees, a man moved near the cabin porch. Hooded. Slow. Deliberate.
Nova's hands curled into fists. "It's him."
Kade held her arm. "We wait. Not yet."
But the storm inside her said otherwise.
Nari's Apartment – 4:11 PM
Eli sat on the floor beside Nari's low coffee table, both of them cross-legged with mugs of mint tea. He finally pulled the letter from his pocket.
"I wrote this a week ago," he said.
Nari tilted her head. "What stopped you?"
"I wasn't ready to be seen."
She set her tea down. "I've been seeing you this whole time, Eli. Even when you were hiding in plain sight."
He handed her the letter.
She didn't open it right away. She just held it, like she already knew what was inside.
South End Rooftop – 6:54 PM
Amara stood with her back to the city, sketchpad closed, a page folded in half between its covers. The wind pulled strands of her hair free from her braid.
Kael approached slowly, stopping a few feet away. "You okay being up here alone?"
She didn't turn. "I'm never really alone. That's the problem."
He stepped beside her. "You feel watched?"
"I feel remembered. By something I don't want to remember me back."
Kael nodded. "We'll face it. Together if we have to."
Amara handed him the folded page. "I drew the man's face. From the cabin. I think it's him."
Kael opened it.
And the wind stilled.