Sector 9 – Vault Room Exit
The shot had already rung out.
But the silence afterward was louder.
Zavri Rivers lay on the cold floor, her mask discarded, her body still. The blood pooled slowly beneath her, dark and final. The Timekeepers didn't flinch. They didn't mourn. They turned away like she was just another casualty.
But Jace didn't move.
He was still kneeling, hands trembling, staring at the woman who had been his mother in fragments—rooftop shadows, missed birthdays, broken promises. Now she was just gone. Not vanished. Not hiding. Just… gone.
Leo stood behind him, frozen. His breath came in short, shallow bursts. He couldn't cry. Not yet. His body was locked in place, like if he moved, it would all become real.
WHISKERS (low, urgent) "We have to go."
No one moved.
WHISKERS (snapping) "Leo. Jace. MOVE."
Another shot cracked through the air—this one not from Zavri, but from the Timekeepers regrouping. It struck the wall behind them, sending sparks into the air.
WHISKERS (grabbing Leo's sleeve) "She gave you time. Don't waste it."
Leo blinked, snapped out of the fog. He grabbed Jace by the arm.
LEO (hoarse) "Jace. We have to go. Now."
Jace didn't respond. His eyes were locked on Zavri's face, her expression frozen in sorrow.
LEO (shouting) "JACE!"
Jace flinched. Another bullet hit the floor near his feet. He looked up, dazed, and let Leo pull him to his feet.
They ran.
Down the corridor, past the vault, past the place where everything changed. The alarms were screaming now—red lights flashing like sirens in their veins. The building was alive with rage.
WHISKERS (panting) "Left! Down the service stairs!"
They turned sharply, boots skidding on the metal floor. Jace stumbled, nearly falling, but Leo caught him. They didn't speak. There was no time.
WHISKERS (growling) "They're coming. Full squad. We won't outrun them."
Leo pulled out the scanner Ember had given him. The signal was spiking—broadcasting their location like a flare.
LEO (shouting) "Someone has to see this!"
WHISKERS "They will. Just keep moving!"
They burst through a final door into the loading bay—just as a second squad of Timekeepers rounded the corner behind them.
JACE (gasping) "They're right behind us!"
WHISKERS "Don't stop!"
The alley behind the building was slick with dew, the sky bleeding into dawn. The city was still asleep. But death was wide awake.
Then—headlights.
A black car tore around the corner, engine roaring. It skidded to a stop in front of them, passenger door flung open.
ROOK (from the driver's seat) "Get in!"
Leo didn't hesitate. He shoved Jace into the backseat and dove in after him. Whiskers launched through the open window like a streak of fur and fury.
The car peeled away just as a bullet shattered the rear window.
JACE (shaking, voice hoarse) "She's gone…"
LEO (quietly) "I know."
Rook didn't speak. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, eyes flicking between the rearview mirror and the road ahead.
He glanced at Whiskers, then at Leo.
Then he looked back at the road.
The car sped through the empty streets, the city still wrapped in sleep. Rook didn't know what Starwood Hollow was. None of the agents did. They'd seen glimpses—symbols, anomalies, whispers of something impossible. But magic? A forest that breathed? A talking squirrel?
It didn't make sense.
ROOK (thoughts) "This wasn't supposed to be real. Starwood Hollow was just a theory. A myth. A file buried so deep we thought it was a joke."
Leo pulled the flash drive from his pocket. It was warm now. Alive. Heavy with everything they'd lost.
LEO (whispering) "She died for this."
ROOK (without turning) "Then make it matter."
Jace stared out the window, eyes hollow, face streaked with tears and dust. His hands were clenched in his lap, nails digging into his palms. He didn't wipe his face. He didn't speak. He just sat there, broken.
Leo looked at him, heart aching. He wanted to say something—anything. But could he say to someone who just watched their mother die for them?
Nothing.
He just sat beside him and carried the silence.
The car turned down a side street, then another. Rook didn't ask where they were going. He didn't know what came next. He was just the extraction. Just the ride.
ROOK (quietly) "We'll drop you where you need to go. After that… we're out. This isn't our world."
Leo nodded.
LEO "It never was."
Behind them, Sector 9 disappeared into the morning haze.
For now, they had the truth.
And the truth had a cost.