* * *

  Sarah stepped out of the elevator onto a busier than usual Command. Her earlier dream flashed through her mind and she stopped for a step, Pegasus almost running into her. “Why are there so many people?”

  “I thought you’d seen the message.” He pointed up at the screens. Underneath the security footage of empty corridors, words scrolled along the bottom, saying Zeus had an announcement.

  “Do you think it’s about what Scorpion was saying?”

  “Probably.”

  Sarah took an empty chair next to Cypher’s station. The man was noticeably absent from his usual spot. Maybe he was out on a mission. Or with Zeus.

  “I’d been hoping to leave before nine.” Pegasus checked his watch. “I still have to stop by the kitchen to grab our food.” His attention shifted to a spot across the room. “Since we’re here, I should go check if everything’s sorted for tomorrow.”

  Sarah waved him off, in no hurry to hear about work. “I’ll wait here.”

  Pegasus gave her a peck on the cheek before disappearing into the crowd.

  She took a swig of her water, and a drop of condensation rolled along the back of her hand. Was it just her or were there more than a few unfamiliar faces around? It’d been a while since she felt like an outsider in this place. The compound felt like a second home, though the month spent down below in the living area had detached her from the regular operations of the place. Not that she would remain detached for much longer. She was supposed to resume active duty tomorrow, just not as a field agent.

  A small group joined the waiting crowd, drawing attention by how they didn’t blend into the sea of faces. Instead, it parted to allow them their own little corner. Sarah also didn’t miss the side-glances her colleagues tossed their way.

  Would these be people Center sent as observers?

  “Having fun watching our watchdogs?”

  She hadn’t noticed Cypher return. “Is that what they are?”

  He rolled his chair over to her. “They claim they’re extra pairs of hands, but who knows? I mean, they’re even sending their precious Lore over here. To do what? Help me? Take over November’s duties?”

  The memory of a confusing meeting where things seemed to shift in real time came to mind. “The cook who likes baking pies could do November’s work?” Wasn’t that what the other Cypher said in her vision?

  Cypher bobbed up and down in his seat, looking like she’d plucked the words straight out of his brain. “Exactly! What’s she even gonna do here? Nothing to do with spying on us, of course.”

  Sarah wished she’d spent more time chatting with the version of Lore she met at the Foundation Day party to get a better sense of who the woman was. “Is Lore still working on her side project?”

  “I think you’ll find it in the dictionary, under the definition for obsession.”

  “So that’s a yes?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got a backlog of file requests sitting like a little stain on the corner of my screen. It’s not like looking at decades-old reports is a priority.” He started rolling his chair away, then grabbed onto her desk and pulled himself closer to Sarah until their respective armrests bumped into each other. “Stay out of their way when you get back to work.”

  Was she really such a troublemaker that everyone had to keep pointing it out? Or was there already a large enough target on her that any little thing she did outside the norm would be suspicious? Neither was a pleasant thought.

  Satisfied that she’d heard his warning, Cypher rolled back to his station. Across the room, Griffon and Mermaid came into view, but she’d yet to see Unicorn or Scorpion.

  Zeus stepped out of his office, followed by two more unfamiliar faces.

  “I’ll be brief,” was Zeus’s introduction to whatever he planned to say. “It’s come to my attention that there are several rumors going around about how General Roussef’s resignation will affect government supervision of the WRO.”

  From what Sarah understood, the person taking over Roussef’s role very much shared General Moore’s views on increased military presence in government ranks. For the WRO specifically, it would mean a stricter oversight of their activities by the higher-ups in the military. Maybe even General Moore himself.

  “Disregard the rumors. Do your jobs as usual. Nothing will change there.”

  Would it really not? Sarah couldn’t read his expression at all, but she was sure hers wasn’t the only doubtful look in the audience.

  “We’ll be meeting with team leaders over the next few days to discuss any reassignments. In the meantime, go back to work.”

  He turned on his heel and was gone the next second. The crowd, used to his so-called speeches by now, dispersed just as quickly.

  Sarah’s attention was drawn back to Griffon and Mermaid. Without her noticing when, Pegasus had joined them. He exchanged a few words with Griffon before coming back to her.

  His expression, which had been serious, turned sheepish as he offered her a hand. “A quick last stop at the kitchen before we head out.”

  Self-conscious, Sarah’s gaze drifted to where she’d seen the unfamiliar group of faces earlier. They were long gone. She was still considering whether to take his hand or not when a shout interrupted her.

  “There you are!” A boy ran up to them, handing Pegasus a paper bag.

  Pegasus smiled at him. “Thanks, but you didn’t have to come all the way up here.”

  The boy’s bright smile made him look much younger, like he’d look less out of place running to catch up with a school bus than surrounded by people with guns. “I had to come up anyway. No big deal.”

  “Sarah, this is Pete. We met at the Crisis Center.”

  Right, Pegasus had volunteered there for a while.

  “I’m also a war orphan,” Pete said.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Pegasus opened the bag to check its contents while Pete chattered on about how someone named Ginger kept moving things around in the kitchen. “I’m sure she’s doing it on purpose to annoy Chef Kim.”

  Sarah smiled. Working in the kitchen wouldn’t be that bad. Someone had to keep this entire place fed. It would be out of the way enough if she were transferred there. Though not knowing how to cook might be a problem.

  “Here’s breakfast.” Pegasus handed her the bag. “Pete added a few cookies.” Other than the cookies, Sarah found a banana, three apples, and a couple of sandwiches. Pete, the chocolate cookie fairy, had already run off before she could thank him.

  She took Pegasus’s hand, not noticing she’d done it until they were in the elevator. In a daze, she stared at their clasped fingers.

  “Should I let go?” he asked.

  Knowing full well he was teasing her, she squeezed his hand tighter. Her smile vanished as the elevator doors opened to three unfamiliar faces, but Pegasus led her past the waiting operatives. None of them appeared to be the ones from her dream.

  Speaking of things that lived inside her brain… “Would I be able to leave the compound in a hurry if needed?” Sarah asked while Pegasus was getting his re-entry code.

  “You should know, shouldn’t you?”

  True that she did run out that day when she had a vision of him dying during a mission, but back then, there was no one who wanted to stop her. “I’m not talking about going for a spur of the moment outing.”

  “If you mean escaping the compound while someone is actively looking for you, then it wouldn’t be easy.”

  “I know we have the emergency exits.”

  “Yes, but those aren’t meant for escaping our own personnel. They focus on stealth considering an outside invasion.”

  Sarah fished out the banana from her breakfast bag and started peeling it as she went to get her re-entry code. “It would have to be the garage then.”

  “But if they’ve locked you out of the system—”

  “I’d be trapped.”

  The banana was long gone and she’d started on the sandwich by the time they hit the highway. “Did you eat anything?”

  “I had a snack earlier before I stopped by your room.”

  “Does that mean you inhaled a granola bar or something?”

  His refusal to answer was basically an admission. “I thought you’d want to go to the place your family always went to. What made you want to go to Spear Rock Park?”

  Sarah shrugged, ignoring the blatant change in subject. “I don’t know. It’s just been on my mind lately.”

  “It’s one of my favorite places for hiking, though it’s been a while since I’ve gone. I’m surprised you’ve never been.”

  “My parents didn’t like driving that far, so we mostly went to the park near my grandpa’s house. The one I asked you to take me to before.” She’d considered going there instead, but it would now forever be associated with the other Robyn who tried to kill her.

  More and more trees lined the road as they left the city behind. Sarah tossed her bag into the back seat, making herself comfortable for the long drive.

  “I went to Spear Rock on a school trip when I was little. I thought it was the coolest place in the world.” Pegasus’s smile dimmed. “I don’t think I ever told you I tried to run away from the orphanage once.”

  “No, you didn’t.” She couldn’t say she was surprised that a younger version of him had resisted the places he now accepted so easily.

  “I stole a bicycle from one of the volunteers and took off. Tried to make it to Spear Rock. It was so big, I thought I could live there without ever being found.”

  She couldn’t imagine a child trying to get from the WRO campus all the way to the Spear Rock Nature Reserve on their own. Even by car it took a couple of hours. “What happened?”

  “I never made it that far. Got about halfway before the bicycle chain broke. I spent the night in a patch of nameless woods, hiding in an abandoned tunnel. Even found a hidden waterfall. It was very pretty.”

  However despairing it must have been at the time, barely a trace of it remained in his voice. Sarah placed a hand on his thigh. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”

  His smile returned full force. “Next time then.”

  * * *

  Sarah’s eyes drifted open amidst the smell of woods. Funny, why would her living room smell of trees? It wasn’t coming from the sofa cushion her head had been laying on. She sniffed her shirt. That smelled of the roast Mom had cooked for lunch. Now she was going to be hungry again.

  On the TV, the reporter mentioned Spear Rock Park. They’d been talking about nothing else for weeks now. She swore the place was even invading her dreams at this point.

  Sarah yawned, readjusting the cushion. Her eyes remained on the screen as images flashed of large pipes and trees being cut down. She rolled over, the words filtering through as if following her into unconsciousness.

  Oil pipes in a nature preserve. What could possibly go wrong?

  Sleep winning out, she closed her eyes again, too far gone to care about the TV. In her mind’s eye, the woods stretched in front of her in vivid shades of green.

  “Sarah? Do you know if your sister was going somewhere today?” Dad asked, tugging at the other end of her consciousness that was closer to being awake.

  “I don’t know,” Sarah mumbled, unable to open her eyes. “I’ll go find her when I get back.”

  Dad laughed. “Back from where?”

  * * *

  Walking along the edge of the ravine, every breath brought forth cool air and the freshness of leaves. Sarah smiled. Definitely much better than the boxed-up air of the compound.

  Underneath them, the sea of green continued as far as the eye could see, the limits of the park indistinguishable from the surrounding areas. No wonder Pegasus believed he could get lost in here when he was little. Even a brachiosaurus could easily vanish into this place. Hell, a herd of brachiosauruses—brachiosauri?—could vanish into this place.

  The path continued steadily upwards. Sarah was following Pegasus automatically, so when he veered off the trail, she left the path before even realizing it.

  “Tobias, that’s not part of the trail.”

  “It’s alright. We’re not going far. Since we’re here, I might as well show you something cool.”

  “What is it?”

  He continued, undisturbed. “You’ll see.”

  “I don’t really like surprises. Rather know I’m going to hell before I smell the sulfur.”

  “I’ll be sure to let you know before we get too close to the flames.”

  Sarah couldn’t readily see any reason why this section of the trail was off limits, but she redoubled her attention as she followed him.

  “This used to be part of the trail,” Pegasus explained, holding up a small branch until she had passed under it.

  “Was there a rockslide? Because I’d very much prefer to not get squished.”

  “No, this trail used to go through an area they closed off as an endangered habitat. And don’t worry, we’ll be turning back before we get anywhere near there.”

  It was a short walk until the trail led them onto a stone plateau extending out from the woods. Though they still had the seemingly unending blanket of forest green beneath them, Sarah looked up. On the other side of the ravine, a rock formation reached out towards the sky.

  Pegasus sat down near the edge and proceeded to pull out their lunch from his backpack. “You know, we haven’t really gone anywhere during our suspension, so I guess this is technically our first date.”

  Sarah leaned back on her elbows to look at the sky. “What? Our cold pizza dates at the garden of recycled air don’t count?”

  “Probably not. But I enjoyed them just the same.”

  She leaned her head on his shoulder, pointing at the rock across the ridge. “That’s spear rock, right?” It was barely recognizable from the online photos, maybe because they were catching it at an odd angle.

  Pegasus covered her eyes. “Don’t look for what you think should be there.” He removed his hand. “What do you see?”

  The large rock formation jutted out towards the southern sky, bits and pieces sanded away by the wind over the centuries, sculpting that end into a point. Molded by the wind, a tree grew out of the northern surface of the rock, spreading its awkwardly shaped branches back. Wings. As if the monstrous thing was ready to take flight. From that leaning tree, a trail of shrubs continued downward until it disappeared into the tree line. Like a veil or a tail.

  “I used to love this view.” His breath tickled her ear. “Especially in the fall, I always think it looks like—”

  Her eyes widened. “A phoenix.”

  Gone was the spear, half devoured by the tree. The image of a fiery bird in shades of yellows and oranges easily replaced it, ready to rise from this mundane plane.

  “When you mentioned coming here, this was all I could think to show you. A place where a phoenix isn’t trapped underground.”

  Sarah kissed him. “I love y—” She choked on the words. Was it too early to give those feelings a voice?

  “What was that?” Pegasus asked, squinting towards her under the sun.

  Sarah averted her gaze, afraid he’d see her true meaning in her eyes. “I was saying I love the view.”

  Soft laughter resonated against her as he pulled her closer. “Yes, I love the trees… and I love the rocks… and I love the clouds…”

  Sarah broke free, reaching for a twig to throw at him.

  “I love twigs, too.” Laughing, he took her hand and pulled her back towards him. “And I love you.”