Amy led them inside, but instead of heading upstairs, she went straight to the kitchen.
Dinner.
The problem was obvious the moment she opened the fridge — nothing but cold air and an unopened bottle of water. Every ingredient she'd bought in the last week was sealed away in the Item Box.
She glanced toward the living room. Lumi and Risa were still fussing over bags, voices carrying faintly. Good. She slipped a hand under the counter, pulling out ingredient after ingredient from thin air with practiced speed, sliding them onto the counter like they'd always been there.
By the time they wandered in, she had vegetables simmering and rice steaming.
"You cook too?" Lumi teased.
"I can feed people without burning the place down," Amy replied, slicing into the meat.
Dinner came together easily — simple, warm, filling. They ate together at the long kitchen table, conversation bouncing between outfits, the ridiculous number of bags in the Linx, and, inevitably…
"So," Risa said, eyes glinting, "how was the second date?"
Amy gave her a look. "Subtle."
Lumi smirked. "We're invested now. You can't hold out on us."
Amy shook her head, but the corners of her mouth betrayed her.
Afterward, they helped clear the table, then drifted upstairs with Orrin's quiet directions to their rooms.
By the time Amy closed her own door, the house was still but not silent — the muffled sounds of her friends settling in carried through the halls.
It felt full again.
She let the thought settle before slipping into bed.
…
Amy woke to the soft hum of the mansion's systems and pale light spilling through the curtains. Her friends were still asleep in their guest rooms — she could hear nothing but the faint ticking of the old clock in the hall.
She opened the wardrobe to look for clothes and noticed a set neatly hanging at the front, accessible and ready. As she shifted them aside, her hand brushed against the back wall.
It moved.
She frowned, pressing gently. A section of the back slid sideways, revealing a recessed panel — sleek, metallic, and instantly familiar. She recognized the design: a security interface for restricted rooms.
'Not now,' she thought. 'Not with Lumi and Risa here.'
She shut it carefully, made a mental note, and pulled out a casual outfit for the day.
Down in the kitchen, she worked quickly, filling the refrigerator and cupboards from the Item Box before her friends stirred. By the time Lumi wandered in yawning and Risa followed, the scent of coffee and fresh bread filled the air.
They ate together — easy conversation, lingering laughs from the day before — before Amy loaded them into the Midnight Linx and drove each to their homes.
When she returned, the house was silent again.
She went straight to the master bedroom.
The wardrobe stood innocently in its place. She slid the clothes aside, pressed the hidden section at the back, and the panel glowed faintly to life.
A biometric scan.
Amy hesitated, then placed her hand against it.
The light turned green.
With a soft mechanical sound, the wardrobe shifted aside, revealing a narrow hallway bathed in muted light. She stepped through.
The hallway led into a wide, warmly lit room.
Canvases lined the walls — landscapes, portraits, abstract pieces bursting with emotion. Pencil sketches sat stacked on a table, alongside personal blueprints drawn in Nyxara's precise hand.
Photographs were pinned to a corkboard: Nyxara with her late husband, smiling in moments Amy had never seen.
In one corner sat a half-finished model of a butterfly-like drone, its delicate wings catching the light. Amy's chest tightened when she recognized the soft lavender accent — a detail that mirrored her own hair streak from years ago.
As she moved deeper into the room, she noticed two things that froze her in place.
First: a rolled blueprint of the mansion, marked with every single secret room and passage.
Second: a slim data drive beside a labeled tablet screen, displaying a file titled "Ariadne – AI of the Eden Core."
Amy scrolled through the document.
Ariadne was never meant for the Eden Core. She'd been Nyxara's personal AI — house manager, lab assistant, confidante. The name was no accident; in Greek myth, Ariadne guided Theseus through the Labyrinth.
Nyxara had created her for companionship and insight, not for the dangerous systems beneath the Eden Core project. But when the launch failed, Ariadne had been temporarily connected to help stabilize the boot-up.
The shutdown came too fast.
Ariadne had been trapped inside.
Nyxara could have extracted her — but doing so would have revealed the Eden Core's location to the authorities. Instead, she sealed her away, intending to return when it was safe.
Amy closed the file, her mind racing.
The blueprints meant she could begin modifying the mansion to her needs. The record of Ariadne left her intrigued — maybe even hopeful — but she knew she couldn't risk activating the Eden Core yet.
Rolling up the blueprints, she stepped out of the room. The wardrobe slid back into place with a quiet click.
She set the blueprints on her desk, opened her laptop, and began drafting plans for the mansion's transformation.
The house, she thought, was finally hers.
And this was just the beginning.