Kara lay in bed, tossing a chair-cap up and catching it. It was a habit she’d picked up from Lev. Was worrying about him better or worse than trying to process the accounts Isi had given her from the drive? Did it matter?

  Kara caught the cap tightly in one hand, rolling onto her side to see the clock: five in the morning. And she’d barely slept.

  She sifted through everything she’d learned: conflicting stories, missing people, Mara’s account. If that one was true, it might be the most terrifying, because then this was all planned from the beginning, and what did that say about whoever was trying to keep them here?

  It all seemed so crazy. Maybe that was the scariest part. She was starting to believe it. Someone really was trying to keep them on Aralin.

  And people had been trying to unravel this for centuries. She’d thought this was simple, that the truth should be told, but it wasn’t like she didn’t know truth could be dangerous. She’d been keeping Lev’s secret for years.

  She knew exactly how it could hurt him. But was this the same? This had to be different, right? Except Rafinin clearly fell on the opposite side: protect.

  She’d believed the secrets should be known, that people deserved to know their history, but what if it cost lives? What if it cost Lev? He’d already been burned for this.

  Was she just Mara all over again? Protecting her brother to doom a civilization, but this time with her eyes open.

  It was too much, but one thing was certain: she’d made a mistake leaving that unencrypted copy of Novem’s pages just sitting in the university’s astronomy tower. Unprotected.

  She had no control over who might find it.

  And there was only one person who might be able to fix it.

  A knock at the door cut through the silence. She groaned. Who in the cascades needed to talk before dawn?

  The knock came again, more insistent. Kara rolled out of bed. The sheer curtains let in a soft gray glow, enough to see. She was still in her nightgown but didn’t care.

  She yanked the door open to find Marcus standing there and groaned again. “Really?” she whispered. “You’re one of the few people who knows I went to bed way too late.”

  Marcus shrugged, equally quiet. “I probably slept less than you did.”

  “That’s not comforting.”

  He ran a hand through his hair and glanced down the hall. “Can I come in?”

  She stared.

  “Please?” he added.

  “Why? You can’t just hand those to me?” She gestured at the envelope that had to have the scan of Novem’s pages.

  “I need to talk to you. And the hall’s the wrong place.”

  Kara sighed and opened the door wider. Marcus slipped in, and she let it fall shut behind him. Marcus flipped on the light and scanned the room. His gaze landed on the dresser. Without a word, he dropped to the ground and began fiddling around in the gap between the dresser and the floor.

  “What exactly are you doing?” Kara asked.

  “Looking for bugs,” Marcus grunted, tugging at something at the base of the dresser. He sat up and turned toward her with a grim smile, holding up a small box encased in metal mesh. A listening device.

  Kara shifted uncomfortably. Had she said anything important in here, muttering to herself?

  Marcus peeled away the mesh and pulled a small metal canister from his pocket. “Fortunately,” he said, “if we short it out, it’ll just look like it got caught in a burst.”

  He flipped a switch. A soft glowing indicator blinked out on the listening device.

  “So… these things aren’t always transmitting?” Kara asked.

  “No. They bank audio. Siera’s people collect them periodically. Timing probably depends on the room. Makes them harder to detect since they’re not sending a signal. Plus, more burstproof.”

  Smart. Devices that transmitted were more vulnerable to bursts, though nothing was truly immune.

  “And your burst emulator wipes the memory too?” Kara asked.

  “We do this a lot,” Marcus said with a shrug. “Modified it ourselves.”

  Cascades. How many rooms was Siera monitoring? Did she not trust anyone?

  Marcus nodded toward the closet. “Check in there. Let me know if you see anything.”

  Kara sighed but complied. In the end, they found and deactivated two more devices—one in the back of the closet, another tucked behind the curtain rod. Hopefully, that was all of them.

  “Won’t it be suspicious that they all went out at once?” Kara asked.

  Marcus shrugged. “I’ll hit a few other rooms on the way out, make it look like a real burst. There’s one predicted later this morning. Three going dark is unlucky, but believable.”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Kara nodded, and for a moment, they stood in awkward silence. “So,” she asked, “what did you want to tell me?”

  Marcus rolled his shoulders, eyeing her as if he still wasn’t sure he trusted her. “A lot. Siera’s got a copy of the pages now. Apparently, it’s incomplete, but she’ll probably ask you to translate them. I’d recommend saying yes.”

  Kara frowned. “I thought you weren’t working with Siera.”

  “We’re not. But saying no would be dangerous.”

  “Dangerous for who?”

  “You,” Marcus said flatly.

  Right. Kara was pretty sure he had other motives. Still, Siera wasn’t someone she wanted to provoke.

  “And giving her information isn’t dangerous?” Kara asked.

  “It’s the lesser of two evils.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I can stall for a day or two, but Siera also wants the information I gave Novem. She made that clear.”

  “Oh, I know,” Marcus said, folding his arms. “Tell her about the humans on Aralin. It’s real information, just less valuable. We just have to hold her off a couple more days.”

  That was reasonable at least. The humans were interesting, but the plant was the real clue.

  “What changes in a couple of days?” she asked.

  “Ideally? You won’t be in this house anymore.”

  Kara exhaled, tension easing from her shoulders. Good. He did have a plan. She’d been worried. She was gaining valuable information here, but that didn’t mean she wanted to stay much longer.

  “Isi said Novem was mobilizing,” Kara said. “You don’t think Siera will suspect I tipped them off?”

  Marcus shook his head. “I doubt you were the only translator Novem contacted. Siera can’t prove anything. But if you’re worried, you could just tell her the truth.”

  Kara blinked. “Seriously?”

  Marcus shrugged. “Siera’s dangerous, sure. But she’s not the one making people disappear. We’re pretty confident about that. She won’t share the information, just use it for leverage with the da Silva council. Maybe try to block Novem.”

  She’d expected Marcus to be more assertive, more controlling. Instead, he seemed to be leaving the decisions to her. She wasn’t sure if she appreciated that or not. It made everything messier.

  Still, his comment reminded her of something that had been bothering her. “Marcus… do you believe all this stuff about a secret group killing people?”

  Marcus gave her a long look. “Does my opinion matter?”

  “I want to hear it from you.”

  He tilted his head. “Because Isi’s a better liar than I am?”

  That caught her off guard. “Is she?”

  “Yeah. Probably.”

  “Good to know,” she said, then added, “but mostly I just want your version of the story.” And maybe catch something rehearsed or off.

  Marcus sighed. “I believe something’s going on. Novem calls them Enigma, and I believe they exist. As for who’s responsible… Did Teorin tell you anything about our dad?”

  “Just that he died.”

  “He disappeared on a Novem expedition.”

  “Geran, right?”

  Marcus froze. “How do you know that?”

  “I saw an article,” Kara said with a shrug. “Siera had me going through data on the disappearances.”

  He relaxed a little. “Right. Then you know some of it. I was sixteen. I was angry. I blamed Novem at first, but… it’s not the whole organization. I think it’s someone inside. Or a few people. Whoever they are, they know a lot about Novem, but not everything.”

  He paused. “Isi’s uncle knew things. Maybe Enigma was just waiting, but it would have been better to take him out before he could share his information with people like Isi and I. Maybe he just got too close. Regardless, doesn’t seem like Novem as a whole.”

  Kara shivered. “So you believe it’s a group.”

  Marcus nodded. “Makes more sense to me than an individual.”

  “And if something came to light, something about getting off planet, what do you think Enigma would do?”

  Marcus narrowed his eyes. “What are you getting at?”

  Kara exhaled. “I might need Isi’s help. She said she’s being sent away.”

  Marcus raised an eyebrow at the shift but nodded. “Probably.”

  “Where?”

  “Who knows?” His words were casual, but his fists clenched. “Siera will assign her somewhere, but Isi goes where she thinks she’ll find answers.” He gave Kara a bitter glance. “She has to find Lev now.”

  “You don’t want her to go,” Kara said.

  “No. It’s dangerous. We’re used to that, but right now, it’s worse,” he said, throwing her a pointed look.

  “Well, I’m not sorry,” Kara snapped. “You’re worried Isi might get hurt? I know Lev is hurt. And it could get worse.”

  Marcus was quiet, watching her. Kara didn’t flinch.

  Finally, he sighed and dropped into an armchair. “Guess I would feel the same way.”

  Kara blinked. She hadn’t expected him to give ground so easily. He was frustrated, but he got it. Maybe that was enough.

  “When I scanned those pages… I hid a copy in the tower. As a backup. At the time, I thought Teorin was being paranoid, but now I see what he meant. If someone really is trying to keep us here, then I made a mistake.”

  Marcus let out a long breath. “You want Isi to go get the failsafe.”

  Kara nodded and sank into the chair across from him. “I’m worried about what might happen if the pages go public or fall into the wrong hands. But if Novem is the wrong hands, maybe going public gives us leverage.”

  Marcus studied her. “It’s a tough call. Enigma clearly has contacts in Novem. Perhaps releasing those pages publicly is the right move, but if you tell Siera tomorrow that she’s missing pages, and then the rest gets released, she’ll know you lied.”

  “And that would be bad?”

  “Siera’s unpredictable,” Marcus said, leaning back. “But yes. Bad.”

  “So, you think that we shouldn’t release everything?”

  He shook his head. “I think we should do whatever gives us the advantage. That’s why I’m here. Just know the risks.”

  “And you’ll do whatever I advise?”

  “Not quite,” Marcus said with a smirk. “But I’ll take your opinion seriously.”

  Kara exhaled. So many choices, so little clarity. “Not yet. We don’t release them. But I’ll keep thinking about it.”

  She crossed to the desk, scribbled another note for Lev, and sketched a map for Isi.

  Marcus didn’t move. Just watched.

  “Give these to Isi,” Kara said, handing him the pages and the note for Lev.

  He tucked them into his pocket.

  “And have her give the scans from the tower to Lev.”

  Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Can I ask why?”

  “You can ask.”

  He waited. She said nothing.

  He chuckled. “But you don’t have to answer. Fair enough. Lev’s probably still with Novem. Would having a copy put him in danger? You did steal it from them.”

  Kara frowned. She needed someone she trusted to have it, but would that endanger Lev? Even if Novem wasn’t behind the disappearances, she didn’t like their methods. And Lev had access she didn’t at the moment. It was a risk she’d have to take.

  “I still want him to have the memory stick,” she said.

  Marcus studied her for a moment, then nodded, almost reluctantly. “I’ll give your note to Isi and tell her what you want. These are for you.” He handed over the bundle of pages.

  Kara flipped through them, a thrill running through her now that they were back in her hands.

  “Be careful,” Marcus said. “Siera will be watching. Don’t carry all of them at once. You might be able to get away with one or two, once Siera gives you her set.”

  He stood, studying the floor. The corner of his mouth tugged up after a moment. He pulled a flat metal file from his pocket, and wedged it under a floorboard, lifting it.

  Kara raised an eyebrow. “A loose floorboard? Seriously?”

  Marcus shrugged. “Classic, but effective. Not many options in this room.”

  He handed her the metal file and turned to leave.

  Kara stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Thank you.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “For?”

  “For being straight with me. More than most people have lately.”

  Marcus tilted his head and nodded. He didn’t argue, didn’t defend.

  The comment was a test, too. Marcus clearly had a lot weighing on him, but if he felt guilty about lying, he hid it well.

  “Be careful,” he said, and then he was gone, leaving Kara alone with the pages, and the weight of too many choices with too little to go on.

  [Lev] Here's rent for this week. This one is told through a bunch of journals. Very archival.