Teorin dodged a radio tower, bristling with antennas. He glided fast, not toward his actual goal, but where he wanted their pursuers to think he was headed: Novem’s base. The massive orange Pulser tower on top made it easy to spot, even from a distance.

  They shot past a campus building, and Teorin curved sharply, hugging its edge before veering away.

  Dr. Tanel tensed against his back, her grip tightening. He could feel her breath hitch. That had been a tight turn. Too tight with a passenger.

  Teorin grimaced and pulsed downward, boosting their altitude again.

  Flying tandem was hard enough with the right gear. Right now, he had none. No flight fins, no balance stabilizers—just his wing jacket, his pulse control, and Dr. Tanel clinging to his back.

  He usually carried a tandem harness, just in case. But this? Far from ideal. The tricky flying was necessary, though. Realistically, they couldn’t fly far. With their low start height and the weight of an extra rider, he’d exhaust himself if he had to pulse his way across the entire city.

  But if they could get to the woods, they could disappear.

  Teorin scanned the skyline as they shot over buildings. Not too far out, trees stretched endlessly toward the horizon, but the trees could be deadly too. He wasn’t familiar with the area. If they ran out of altitude before he found a landing site, a collision would be just as dangerous as a pursuer.

  He curved, shifting away from the stately university buildings on the outskirts and toward a warehouse district. Warehouses were long and flat, perfect runways.

  He skimmed low, locking onto a long, flat road at the tree line. Even better than a warehouse roof. He wouldn’t have to climb down.

  The whole situation was both incredibly foreign and achingly familiar. A girl on his back and not enough equipment, but this wasn’t sneaking out to fly the cliffs after class with a crush. This was real.

  Teorin angled slightly upward, slowing their descent. A well-timed pulse stalled their forward momentum, transitioning them from flight to a controlled slow glide. The building’s long side stretched out beside them, an ideal final approach.

  With one last pulse, he adjusted their speed and set them down running.

  The extra weight made stopping harder, but he managed, channeling pressure into his legs. He sank into a crouch, one hand out to steady himself. If nothing else, he’d managed not to fall on his face again. So, all in all, the landing was a success.

  Teorin flipped switches on the arm panel of his steadying hand. First, the jacket’s adhesion. Then, weight redistribution.

  He felt Dr. Tanel’s weight shift, pressing into parts of his back. He unclipped her calf straps and waited. She didn’t move. He cleared his throat.

  A rustling of movement. She tugged against the jacket, struggling with one of the clasps. He could feel her shaking against him.

  “Just breathe,” Teorin said.

  The movement stopped. After a second, there was a sharp tug, then a click. She’d gotten the first one unhooked. The other side was faster.

  “You clear?” he asked.

  Her weight lifted completely. Footsteps stumbled away.

  “Clear,” she called back, her voice tired.

  Teorin pulled the tab to retract the wings. They refolded smoothly, tucking neatly back into their slots along his jacket. Finally, he turned around.

  Dr. Tanel had her back to him, leaning against the warehouse wall, palms pressed firmly to the concrete. Her wavy golden hair was tangled from the flight. It still caught him off guard how young she was. She looked way too young to be a college professor. She couldn’t be much older than him.

  A heads up from Jeron would have been nice, then maybe he wouldn’t have looked like an idiot asking her if Dr. Tanel was around. Botched first impression aside, he needed to figure out their next move.

  She was still clinging to the wall like a lifeline, so Teorin left her to compose herself and jogged toward the tree line as he scanned the skyline. He hadn’t been able to get a good look at their pursuers with all the maneuvers back at the building, but he’d heard them breaking into her office.

  Now, there was only a clear sky—a few clouds, nothing else. No signs of pursuit. Still, that silencing pulse had come from someone. Silencing was difficult. Whoever had pulled it off was skilled, and considering they were already worried about the da Silvas—

  It was hard to ignore the fact that Marcus fit that bill, but how could he have known where Teorin was going?

  Still… the fire, the pulsing? It was too familiar to ignore. Maybe Dr. Tanel had seen something. Because if it was Marcus, he would definitely try to follow them.

  Teorin jogged back to where Dr. Tanel was still leaning against the wall.

  She was still shaking. He felt bad. He had turned her whole life upside down.

  She was brave, he had to give her that. A lot of people would have refused to go the second they heard his plan to escape. She’d looked panicked, but she’d gone along anyway.

  “You alright, Dr. Tanel?” he asked.

  She nodded, but didn’t look up. “Call me Kara,” she said, voice quiet.

  “Alright, Kara, then. I didn’t get a look at whoever broke into your office. Did you?”

  “Briefly,” Kara said. “There was a woman—Heatsinger, pale, red hair. Then there was a man with a wing jacket. I didn’t get a good look at him. They were wearing filtration masks. He had black hair, though.”

  Teorin’s stomach twisted. That was a pretty good description of Sasha and Marcus.

  “The Pulser guy,” he asked carefully, “was his wing jacket blue?”

  Kara looked surprised. “Yes. Do you know him?”

  Teorin grimaced. “Maybe… probably.”

  “Care to share how?”

  He really didn’t want to tell Kara anything about Marcus, but if Marcus caught up to them, the family resemblance would speak for itself. Any lies or half-truths would be obvious.

  It was probably better to just be upfront.

  Teorin scanned the forest, avoiding Kara’s eyes. “Well… if I had to guess,” he muttered, “it was my brother, Marcus.”

  Kara stared at him. “Wait. Your brother is chasing us?”

  “Believe me,” Teorin said, turning to face her. “I have a lot more grievances with him than you do. He’s a cheat, a thief, and apparently an arsonist, but I can’t control who I’m related to.”

  “Right.” Kara’s voice was flat. “So nice to meet you and your family. Why exactly did he burn down my building?”

  “Probably because he wants those pages,” Teorin said, gesturing to the backpack.

  Why was it only now that he seemed to have all the stuff Marcus wanted? They hadn’t spoken in years, and suddenly, Teorin couldn’t get rid of him.

  Kara pursed her lips. “Lovely. So… is there a reason we don’t just give him the pages? You can always make copies, right? I don’t exactly feel like being hunted by your brother and his Heatsinger buddies.”

  “Because the pages might have important information.”

  “Right, important information about getting off-planet, correct? If your brother and his cronies figure something out, doesn’t that just benefit everyone? I feel like finding a way off Aralin is sort of a planetwide goal. In fact, why don’t we just release the pages to the public? Publish them on the net? I’m not the only translator out there. We’d find what we’re looking for a lot faster that way.”

  “We can’t do that.”

  “Why?” Kara asked.

  Jeron had been very insistent that knowing about the disappearances was dangerous. Teorin didn’t want to put Kara in more danger than she already was, but there was no way to explain why they couldn’t go public without mentioning the secret group: Enigma.

  “Is this some kind of intellectual property thing?” Kara went on. “Because I think this is definitely a case where we should ignore that.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “No, it’s not that.”

  “So, what is it then?”

  Teorin hesitated. If Kara was going to be working on these translations, she’d probably be a target anyway. Maybe?

  He didn’t really understand what made someone a target. This secret group stuff was breaking his brain. He was just going to have to go with his gut, and judging by the way Kara was glaring at him right now, if he didn’t tell her, she might just walk away.

  Teorin took a deep breath and tried to summarize what Jeron had told him in the car. “It’s a long story, but the short version is this: not everybody wants to leave the planet. In fact, we strongly suspect that someone with a lot of resources doesn’t want anybody leaving—for reasons that are unclear. If those pages really do lead us to something that could help us get off-planet, and this group gets there first, they might destroy it. And you can kiss goodbye to any hope of a breakthrough.”

  Kara raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

  Listening to his own explanation, he realized how crazy it sounded, but what else was he supposed to say? “Yes. Really.”

  Kara didn’t look convinced. “That seems awfully convenient and more than a little like a bunch of hand-waving.”

  “It’s true,” Teorin said.

  “Okay. So, do you have any evidence of this secret group?”

  Teorin grimaced. He had the video of Captain Rafinin that Jeron had sent where the Captain talked about his suspicions. It had hit home for him; he’d had people disappear. Kara wouldn’t have that context, and it wasn’t proof. “Sort of? Nothing I could show you now.”

  “Of course not.” Kara closed her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Fine. So, what’s your plan, then?”

  “We need to rendezvous with Jeron eventually, but for now, we need to disappear. I don’t want to find out what happens if Marcus catches up.”

  She leaned back against the wall and looked at him. “And what exactly do you propose?”

  Teorin shrugged. “Hide out in the woods?” They could circle back to meet Jeron at the tower rendezvous later.

  Kara frowned. “Shouldn’t we go to the police or something? A bunch of Heatsingers burned my building down.”

  Teorin shook his head. “We can’t go to the police.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because my brother almost certainly has someone watching that route. Besides, there’s a lot of money involved here. My brother is usually working for the Clans. I don’t trust a random police officer not to turn us over to them.”

  Also, Teorin didn’t trust Kara not to spill everything about the pages.

  Kara narrowed her eyes. “And I’m just supposed to trust you on that?”

  “Yes.” Teorin glanced at the sky. No Marcus. Yet. “Look, we need to get out of here. Now.”

  He stepped forward, and Kara stepped back. She tried to make it look casual, but she’d been leaning against the wall. Not exactly subtle. Clearly, she didn’t want to be within his reach.

  What did she think he was going to do? Knock her out and kidnap her? If that was his intention, he would have done it already.

  He studied her face. Her expression was carefully neutral, but her fingers were tapping against her thigh.

  “What is with you? I just saved your life,” Teorin said.

  Kara pursed her lips. “Did you?”

  Teorin threw up his hands. “Yes! I did!” He exhaled sharply, frustration bubbling over. “I thought you were supposed to be some kind of genius.”

  The words were out before he could stop them. Great. That wasn’t going to improve her opinion of him.

  Kara bristled and glared back. “If you’re so smart, you figure out why I might not think you have the best intentions. I’m just supposed to trust you after you suggested running off into the woods together because of some very conspiracy-theorist-sounding reasons for keeping information secret and avoiding all government authorities?”

  This was going all wrong. Wasn’t it supposed to be easy after you rescued someone?

  Teorin closed his eyes and took a slow breath, forcing himself to calm down. When he looked back at Kara, his voice was more measured. “So, what do you think my plan is, exactly? Do you think I’m trying to kidnap you?”

  “Maybe. You need what I know, and you don’t want anyone else to know it. If secrecy is that important to you, it seems entirely possible that you’d kidnap me to ensure my silence.”

  Teorin scoffed. “If I was going to knock you out, I would’ve done it already.”

  Kara rolled her eyes. “Bodies are heavy. Much easier if your victim just walks. More likely, you’d lure me into the woods, set up some sort of trap, and then I’d have no choice but to cooperate to leave.”

  "I'm not here to hurt you."

  “And yet, as soon as you showed up, my office became an arson victim.”

  Teorin threw up his hands. “It’s not like I asked to be followed by Heatsingers! You think I want to be running for my life?”

  It came out harsher than he intended. Normally, he was better at controlling his temper, but today had been too full of surprises.

  Kara folded her arms. “Whether you wanted it or not, it happened.”

  He let out a slow breath and held up his hands in surrender. “Fine. Maybe you’re right, but whether you want it or not,” Teorin said, throwing her own words back at her, “you’re involved in this mess now. You have to pick a side.”

  Kara narrowed her eyes, unconvinced.

  “They’ll come after you. You know too much already. They’ve come after me for less. I’m pretty sure neutrality is out. You either stick with us, give the people who burned down your building what they want… or disappear for a long time.”

  “At least disappearing is on my terms. Because it sounds like if I go with you, I might disappear anyway. I’m perfectly happy to translate that document for you, but are you just going to keep the contents a secret afterward? Are you going to require that I stay silent about anything I find?”

  Would Novem keep it secret? It was very possible. But they had to, didn’t they? If the wrong people got their hands on this, all of their work could be destroyed before it ever amounted to anything.

  Still, Teorin had nothing to convince her of that. If they could just get to Jeron, maybe he could explain it in a way that didn’t sound like some paranoid conspiracy. That would be Teorin’s goal.

  He glanced at the sky again. The longer they stood here, the higher their chances of being spotted. “Look, we don’t have time for this argument right now. Can we please get out of sight first and then argue?”

  Kara stiffened, and the glare returned. “Didn’t I just explain why I wasn’t going to run off into the woods with you?”

  Teorin sighed. “Yeah, and I get that now. It was a stupid suggestion. I wasn’t thinking about how it might look from your perspective.” He ran a hand through his hair. “We can go somewhere with people. You can even pick where, but can we stop standing out in the open like targets?”

  She stared at him for a long moment, arms still crossed. He could practically see her weighing her options.

  Finally, she gave a short nod. “I know somewhere we can go to lay low, but we’ll have to walk there. Pulsers attract attention. You should ditch the jacket,” she said.

  Teorin’s breath caught. His jacket wasn’t just some flight gear. It was the most valuable thing he owned. It was like leaving a piece of himself behind. He couldn’t—

  “Or not,” Kara said, catching his reaction. “There’s a clothing outlet a couple minutes from here, the sporty kind.” She eyed him. “Do you have cash?”

  “Why?”

  Kara raised her eyebrows. “Because we might need to buy something? A hoodie to cover your jacket, maybe?” She crossed her arms again and gave him a dry look. “Unfortunately, someone came to my office and sort of abducted me, so I don’t have any cash with me.”

  Teorin bit back a retort and just reached into his jacket and pulled out a few folded bills. “Fortunately, I do.”

  Kara's expression softened slightly. Maybe she felt bad about the sarcasm. Teorin gestured for her to lead the way. She still seemed reluctant to turn her back on him, but after a moment’s hesitation, she turned and started walking east.

  They moved in silence. The streets were mostly empty, just the occasional passerby, but no sign of Marcus or any other pursuit. That was both a relief and an unease Teorin couldn’t shake.

  Kara turned down an alley between two buildings and paused. “The store is just around the corner, but this is the commercial district. There are a lot more people around here. If you want to keep a low profile…” She trailed off as a couple strolled past the alley’s opening, throwing them a curious glance before continuing on. It was like they had materialized just to emphasize her point.

  Teorin clenched his jaw. She was probably right. Pulsers weren’t uncommon, but they stood out. And standing out meant people remembered seeing them.

  Still, he couldn’t leave the jacket, and carrying it would look just as awkward with the stiff back. Besides, what if he had to fight? Run?

  “We’ll be quick,” he said.

  Kara sighed but nodded.

  They stepped onto the street, Kara leading the way. They’d barely made it a block before the voice cut through the air.

  “Hey, pressure junkie!”

  Teorin’s stomach twisted. Not now. Not one of these idiots. He didn’t have time for this. He kept walking, picking up the pace slightly.

  The footsteps behind them didn’t slow. They sped up. Teorin pulled his jacket tighter around himself, feeling its weight. Maybe Kara had been right. Maybe he should have stashed it.

  But he hadn't expected this.

  “Hey, blast core!”

  He kept his pace steady. Nothing good ever came from engaging. Stares, whispers—those were fine. Even the occasional sneer as he walked past. Those were at least silent. Those wouldn’t draw bullets.

  But the ones who needed a reaction? The ones who thought they had something to prove? They were the worst. Either they wanted a fight, or they wanted to sneer at someone who could blast them across the street—just to lord over the fact that he couldn’t hit back.

  He’d dealt with them before. Not often, but enough.

  “Hey, time bomb! I’m talking to you!”

  Louder this time. Closer.

  Teorin clenched his jaw. Kept walking. Not worth it. Not now.

  He felt Kara’s gaze flick to him, then over his shoulder toward the voice. He didn’t know her well, but he was starting to understand something: she wasn’t the type to let things slide. If their earlier conversation was any indication, she would say something.

  Then the next words came, sharp and cutting through the air like a blade.

  “You taking our women now too?”

  Teorin paused. A beat of silence.

  “Don’t have enough of your own?”

  Teorin’s heart hammered. His nails dug into his palms as his fists clenched. Not now. Not now. Ignore it.

  But it wasn’t him who snapped. It was Kara.

  She whirled too fast, but her voice didn’t rise. Instead, she took a single step toward the heckler, her expression cold, unreadable. “Walk away.”

  The guy, broad-shouldered and unshaven, froze for a second, like he hadn’t expected resistance. Not from her. His eyes flicked to Teorin, then back to Kara. Then he smirked. “That your boyfriend, sweetheart?” The word sweetheart dripped with mockery. “Gonna vouch for him when he finally loses it? ‘Cause you know he will.”

  Teorin’s fingers twitched at his sides. He edged forward, just enough to push Kara back if he had to.

  The heckler wanted a reaction. He wasn’t worth it, but if he laid a hand on Kara—if he made this physical—Teorin wouldn’t hesitate.

  The idiot had no idea how close he already was to getting flattened.

  Funny thing, people forgot. The danger wasn’t abstract. Teorin could explode. Literally. If he chose to. And right now… legal repercussions were the least of his problems. He was already running from mercenaries. He shifted his weight, pressure pooling in his palms. Not a threat. Not yet, but enough.

  The heckler’s smirk twitched. His gaze flicked to Teorin’s hands, then to his stance. And something changed. The bravado wasn’t as steady as before. Maybe—just maybe—he’d realized he’d pushed too far.

  He was one of those. Not a fight seeker. The kind that wanted Teorin to roll over and take it, and for some reason, that made Teorin angrier.

  That was when Kara spoke. “Leave. Now.”

  The heckler’s smirk faltered. He got it, not just the warning in Kara’s voice, but the weight of Teorin’s silence. He scoffed, spitting near Teorin’s feet like an afterthought before turning away.

  Teorin exhaled slow and steady, then started walking again. He didn’t need to watch the guy leave. He’d been through this before. He knew. It didn’t matter if you kept your head down. Didn’t matter if you played by their rules. They’d still find a reason to call you a threat.

  Kara fell into step beside him. She didn’t say anything. Neither did he.

  They both knew this wasn’t over. The heckler was a sideshow, not the real threat.

  “We’re almost there,” Kara muttered. “We shouldn’t have any more trouble. Honestly, that was weird enough.”

  Teorin almost froze. Weird? Did that mean these types weren’t common here? It could be a one-off, but what were the chances?

  Just get off the street.

  Because Marcus was out there somewhere. He needed to stay ahead.