Lexi
The cavern smelled like dust and cold stone.
I stepped slowly into it, my boots echoing in the vast, unfinished space. This wasn't the sleek transit system Jace had tried to guide me through. This felt older. Abandoned. Like something half-built and forgotten.
Or hidden.
My hands were still trembling.
I curled them into fists to stop the shaking.
The buzzing under my skin hadn't faded. It hummed faintly, like static trapped in my veins. Every time I brushed too close to exposed wiring along the walls, sparks flickered.
I pulled my hand back quickly.
"Stop it," I whispered to myself.
I wasn't a weapon.
I wasn't a system override.
I was just—
The thought wouldn't finish.
Just what?
A daughter?A project?A mistake?
My chest tightened again.
Footsteps echoed somewhere ahead.
I froze.
Too measured to be soldiers.
Too calm.
"You're not supposed to be here yet," a voice said from the shadows.
Male. Young. Controlled.
A figure stepped into the dim light — tall, dark-haired, maybe a few years older than me. He wasn't dressed like the attackers.
He wasn't dressed like Jace either.
He wore black — but tailored. Clean. Intentional.
His eyes flicked over me quickly, assessing.
"You took the wrong route," he said.
My heart pounded. "Maybe I didn't want the right one."
Something almost like approval crossed his face.
"Good," he said quietly.
Before I could respond, the cavern lights flickered violently overhead.
The Blackwood Control Room
Adriana's hand slammed against the holographic console.
"What just happened?"
Across the floating display, systems were going dark in rapid succession. Transit route gamma — offline. Security grid delta — overridden.
Julian's eyes narrowed.
"That wasn't an external hack," he said.
Adriana turned sharply toward him.
"No."
They both understood at the same time.
Lexi.
"She accessed the infrastructure directly," Julian murmured.
Adriana stared at the feed showing her daughter entering the unfinished cavern — alone.
"She shouldn't be able to do that yet."
"But she did."
There was no fear in Julian's voice.
Only calculation.
A new feed opened — thermal imaging of the cavern sector.
Adriana's expression shifted.
"She's not alone."
Julian leaned closer.
"And that," he said slowly, "wasn't part of the plan."
Lexi
The stranger's gaze shifted upward as the lights flickered again.
"They're watching," he said.
I swallowed. "I figured."
"Relax," he added calmly. "If they wanted you restrained, this entire cavern would already be sealed."
That didn't comfort me.
"Who are you?" I asked.
He hesitated for half a second.
"My name's Ethan."
The name hit something faint in my memory. A file? A whisper? I didn't know.
He studied me more carefully now.
"You don't look like what I expected."
My stomach twisted. "What did you expect?"
He didn't answer immediately.
"Less afraid," he said honestly.
Heat rushed to my face — anger or humiliation, I couldn't tell.
"I'm not afraid," I snapped automatically.
The cavern lights dimmed again — reacting to the spike in energy under my skin.
Ethan's eyes sharpened.
"Yes," he said softly. "You are."
My breathing became uneven.
The buzzing intensified — too much input, too much emotion.
"I didn't ask for this," I said.
"I know."
His answer was immediate. Not mocking. Not dismissive.
Knowing.
And that made it worse.
Behind him, the massive stone doors at the far end of the cavern began to shift open with a low, grinding rumble.
Warm light spilled into the unfinished chamber.
I turned slowly.
Silhouetted against the brightness stood two figures I had only ever imagined.
Tall. Poised. Commanding.
Even from a distance, I felt it — the gravity of them.
Adriana Blackwood stepped forward first.
Julian followed.
Neither rushed.
Neither called my name.
They simply watched.
Waiting.
My chest felt like it might crack open.
This was it.
This was the moment I was supposed to run toward them.
But my feet wouldn't move.
I was shaking again.
Not because of soldiers.
Not because of drones.
Because I didn't know if they were going to look at me like a daughter—
—or like an investment that finally matured.
Julian's gaze softened first.
Adriana's eyes — sharp and brilliant — took in every detail of me.
The dirt. The trembling hands. The fear I couldn't hide.
"She rerouted the system manually," Julian said quietly to Adriana.
"I know," she replied.
Then, finally, Adriana looked directly at me.
And smiled.
Not the public smile.
Not the philanthropic one.
Something smaller.
Something real.
"You chose your own path," she said.
Her voice carried easily across the cavern.
I swallowed hard.
"I didn't trust yours."
A flicker of something passed between them — surprise, perhaps.
Approval.
"Good," Julian said.
The word unsettled me more than anger would have.
Ethan stepped slightly aside but didn't leave.
I was surrounded now.
Not attacked.
Not restrained.
Just… absorbed.
Adriana took one final step closer.
"You've grown stronger than we predicted," she said.
Predicted.
There it was again.
I forced my voice not to break.
"I'm not a prediction."
Silence fell.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Adriana nodded once.
"No," she said quietly.
"You're not."
And for the first time since entering the cavern, the buzzing beneath my skin steadied.
Not gone.
But controlled.
Not because they commanded it.
Because I did.