Chương 25: “The Sixth Seeker”

They were coming faster now. This one was clever. It didn't come at night, when Vorrath was alert and expecting things. It came on a Tuesday at half past three in the afternoon, when June was walking home from school, at the point in the route where the street narrowed and there were no houses for a hundred meters and the radius was at its thinnest because he was already at home and she was almost-not-in-range. He felt it the moment it moved toward her. He had never moved that fast.

He didn't know he could, he was still degraded, still fractional, still a long way from what he was, but it turned out that the math changed when June was a hundred meters away and something was between her and home. He tore through four walls and the garden fence and the pavement and got there in a way that should not be physically possible for something his size. June didn't see any of it. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. She walked home.

She noticed the cold, the specific depth of it, and she looked around once and then she kept walking because she had decided that whatever was in the cold meant her no harm, and she was right, she was completely right, he had made absolutely certain she was right, and the certainty of that cost him two floors he'd already reclaimed and three days of recovery. She got home. She came upstairs. She put him on the windowsill and said, "It was cold near the park today. Like your kind of cold." He glowed once.

"Were you there?" One glow. She nodded. She didn't ask what it was or how bad it was or whether he was okay, because she was learning too, learning the things he needed her not to ask about until he was ready, the same way he learned what she needed him not to say. She picked up her book instead.

"Gerald's been in the walls all day," she said.

"He followed me to school I think. He was in the coat hooks." He was. Vorrath had sent him. He had not told Gerald to stay hidden. Gerald had managed that himself. He was going to need to seriously reconsider his opinions about Gerald. System: Bond Strength: 68%. Floors Reclaimed: 9 of 31. Note: You sent Gerald. You didn't decide to send Gerald. You just did it. We're noting this. We're noting all of it.