Alex's eyes moved rapidly across the silver text, absorbing the horror of Dr. Webb's death, the fragments of the previous teams, the inexorable logic pushing toward nuclear deployment.
'What happened next?' he thought, leaning closer. 'Did they...'
He froze.
Something had shifted in the manor's energy. Not threatening, but... different. Changed.
Alex stood slowly, the book remaining open on its pedestal, text still glowing softly as if waiting for his return.
'Victoria or Catherine,' he realized, pulse quickening. 'One of them finished their breakthrough.'
He moved toward the cultivation chambers, following the subtle shift in ambient energy that his Enhanced senses could barely detect.
Before he reached the corridor, one of the chamber doors burst open.
Victoria emerged at a near-run, her face radiant with joy and wonder.
She saw Alex and immediately closed the distance, throwing her arms around him in an unguarded embrace that held none of her usual calculated grace.
