Page 113 of Thorne
"I'm the only math teacher you ever had."
"That's why you're the best."
Skye is doing something to my side. Packing. Pressure. Medical terms that don't land because the gray is creeping in at the edges of my vision.
"Julianna." Thorne's voice. Sharp. "Stay awake."
"I'm trying."
"Try harder." He stops, his jaw working as his shoulders tense. "Stay." The word is forced past his lips like a vow. "Stay with me."
But the gray takes me.
32
The Twin Of Five
JULIANNA
I wakeup in the back of a vehicle.
The motion is wrong. Bumping, swerving, too fast for safety. Someone is holding my hand. I try to turn my head.
"Easy." Skye's voice. "You lost some blood. We packed the wound, but you need to stay still."
"Where …"
"Exfil. The safe house is compromised. Phoenix knows the location now. We're moving to a secondary site."
The words arrive one at a time, like packages being delivered.
"Lily?"
"In the other vehicle with Thorne and Forest. She's safe. She keeps asking about you."
"The Faraday shielding." My voice is a rasp. "If we leave the safe house, she's exposed. The activation signal …"
"We know." Skye's face is grim. "That's why we're moving fast. The secondary site has shielding too. We'll get her inside."
"How long?"
"Four hours. Maybe five."
"That's too long."
"It's what we've got."
I close my eyes. The vehicle hits a bump. Pain flares through my side: bright, hot, clarifying.
"Phoenix … If it—accelerates … The convergence?—"
"Stop." Skye's hand presses down on my shoulder. "You just took a bullet for a six-year-old. You don't get to worry about timelines right now. Your one job is to not die."
"That's not?—"
"That's an order. From your doctor. Sleep."
I don't want to sleep. I want to think. I want to calculate. I want to map the architecture of what's happening and find the angle that makes the numbers work.
