* * *

  Sarah sighed, rubbing her eyes. Maybe it would’ve been better to continue being suspended. It was only her first day back and she already felt like she’d gone over way too many emergency calls. There was a sizeable backlog, the number of calls having increased in the past few weeks to match the rising number of protests. Protests calling for more severe measures against the New Nation, calling for the military to step in, to take charge. Everyone wanted to be safe, and it was increasingly obvious they were not.

  Most of the team was currently out investigating reports that the New Nation was planning attacks during the larger-scale protests scheduled for later this week. Not that Sarah was part of their team anymore, at least not in practice. Her transfer to a support position was all but official at this point. Training was the only thing she’d continue to do with the team.

  She started playing another emergency call when a group of unfamiliar faces stepped out of the elevator. Sarah automatically examined them for any resemblance to her dream, that underlying anxiousness creeping a little closer to the surface.

  She turned to Cypher’s station, but he was also out today. A glimpse of November as he disappeared around a corner was all she got, but it was enough to refocus her mind.

  She flagged a call about a break-in at a jewelry store for later follow-up and moved on to the next. The elevator doors opened, drawing her attention in time for her to see Pegasus and Scorpion emerge.

  Hadn’t they been sent to separate locations today?

  Sarah started to wave, but the look in Pegasus’s eyes froze her on the spot.

  A breath came and went slowly, her gaze unable to move away. Something in her chest constricted, a snake tightening its hold. She didn’t know how hard it would be, having that loving gaze directed at someone else. The way he was looking at Scorpion was a mirror of how he’d looked at her that morning.

  Unable to move, Sarah watched them, feeling like she was witnessing something she didn’t have a right to see.

  When Scorpion smiled brightly at Pegasus, Sarah’s heart beat wildly into a panic. No other inconsistencies were apparent. Everything looked the same as a few minutes ago. She went to pull up her sleeve and smacked her hand full force onto the edge of the desk. Gripping the throbbing back of her fingers, she looked up to check if anyone noticed.

  Pegasus and Scorpion were gone.

  Breathing deeply, she buried her face in her hands. She should’ve asked them something, anything, but she’d been too shocked. Seeing them looking so affectionately at each other was more disturbing than she expected. And now jealousy was struggling for attention she didn’t want to give it.

  Whatever version of Pegasus and Scorpion that was, it was not her world. She had no right to feel anything about it, just as she had no right to feel jealous about their past. She knew that, she really did, but her heart might need some convincing.

  “Are we overworking you already?”

  Sarah lifted her head, schooling her expression as she smiled up at Unicorn. “Are you going to give me a vacation if I say yes?”

  “You just had a vacation. I thought you’d be bored.” Unicorn pulled a chair over. “How are you doing, sweetie?”

  “I guess I got too lazy during my suspension. But I’m fine doing these random tasks.” It was safer for everyone involved.

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  “We still have some things to sort out before we finalize your transfer to support, but it’s not a priority, and Zeus certainly has enough to deal with, so let’s make due as is for now. I’ll obviously continue to be your supervisor, so please, I beg you, try to behave. I do not want to deal with any more paperwork than you’ve already given me.”

  “I’ll try.”

  Unicorn’s eyebrows shot up. “Try?”

  “I’ll behave, I promise.” Not that it was up to her.

  “Got your brain screwed on straight this time?” Scorpion tossed one of her gloves onto Sarah’s table as she removed the other one.

  “As straight as it can be,” Sarah replied. This was real, right?

  There was no sign of any version of Pegasus, but Cypher had returned to his station, and Griffon was headed for Zeus’s office.

  “How did it go?” Unicorn asked.

  A scowl formed on Scorpion’s face. “Nothing but dead ends. What else is new? Wanna join us for the debrief?”

  Unicorn nodded, getting up. She turned to Sarah. “Let me know if you need anything.”

  There wasn’t much anyone could do for her. She couldn’t ask for help sorting out her visions.

  Pegasus still hadn’t returned when Sarah was done for the day. She wondered if he was giving Mermaid a hard time complaining about the end of his vacation.

  Sitting on the edge of her bed, she cradled a water bottle as she faced the now-empty wall. Her wall of visions—a bit too conspicuous—had been reduced to sticky notes on the inside of her notebook. It was probably a good thing she’d taken it down in light of that weird dream about being a suspected traitor. Not that her notebook would be immune from an investigation, but at least someone would need a bit more effort than walking into her room.

  She pulled out the notebook in question from underneath her pillow, flipping it to the page where she’d collected the scraps of memory from her conversation with Lore during the Foundation Day party. There were random tidbits, like Mermaid teasing her about going somewhere—a play maybe—and something Lore said about the files Sarah sent her by mistake. With all the confusion about what was real or not at the time, not to mention Pegasus’s “death” and the entire team almost getting blown up, she’d all but forgotten about what the other Lore told her.

  Sarah tapped her fingertip on the words she’d written on the yellow sticky note: relevant? typo?

  She should take another look at the files she’d sent Lore back then. If the other Lore really had found something useful, they might be able to find it here as well.

  An alarm suddenly blared, reverberating in her head. Disturbing as always, the sound announced that injured had come in. Instinctively, she wanted to go check who it was. She opened the door and almost ran into Pegasus.

  He used her momentum to pull her into his arms. “It was another team. Hydra was shot, but he’s fine.”

  She dragged him into the room with her, kicking the door closed. “When did you get back?”

  “About an hour ago. Were you sleeping?”

  She pointed at the notebook. “I was going over my notes from when I met that other version of Lore.”

  “Anything there?”

  “Not so far. I’ll see if something comes up when I meet her for real.”

  He placed a kiss on her cheek. “Sorry, I have to go back up.”

  “Did you stop by just because you missed me?”

  He laughed. “If I say yes?”

  Sarah rolled her eyes at him.

  “There’s another meeting in a few minutes to go over security updates for this year’s fancy garden party, as Mermaid’s calling it.”

  Remembrance Day, or the Sixth of Remembrance, as it was more widely known, was a memorial day in honor of those who lost their lives in the deadliest New Nation attack to date. The tragedy saw simultaneous bombings in highly populated cities all over the country, so the president visited a different location for his speech each year. This year, their city would be hosting.

  “I’ll be back soon,” Pegasus promised. “Get some rest.”

  Sarah nodded absentmindedly. Left alone, her choices again came down to obsessing over things or trying to sleep.

  A cough came unexpectedly, persistently. She was choking on air.

  * * *

  Sarah lifted her head from the table as a series of coughs forced their way out of her throat. Hand reaching for where her water glass was, she opened her eyes. She recoiled immediately. Never mind her glass, her living room was nowhere in sight. Her eyes burned, failing to make out anything past the smoke.

  Surrounded by screams, she stumbled to her feet.

  Panic made her want to run, but there was nothing to run to or from. She dropped to her knees, crawling forward—wherever it was that forward would lead.

  As if exposed by a sudden draft, an enormous wall appeared, blocking her path. The smoke danced and shifted along the words drawn on the rough surface.

  Sarah squinted as she crawled forward, struggling to make out the shapes.

  In the distance, an alarm blared urgently, refusing to be ignored.

  A hand grabbed her arm, and Sarah startled awake.