* * *

  Coughing and wheezing, Sarah rushed to get away from the crowd of moving students. She sought refuge in one of the bathrooms, using the sink to support herself when she doubled over in a coughing fit.

  Damn it, she hated coming into this bathroom, it always made her feel uncomfortable.

  She gargled some water, but it did little to help. Her throat felt like it was burning. Eyes tearing up, she covered her mouth, trying to stop the coughs. The bathroom filled with smoke, making it harder to see.

  Why would there be fire in a bathroom?

  Was she dreaming again?

  Not that it mattered, but she didn’t remember falling asleep. This did seem like a dream if only because she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten there. Her therapist had said that was another dream thing, disconnected order of things.

  A petite, short-haired woman came to mind, a vague memory she couldn’t bring into focus. No, that wasn’t right. Wasn’t her therapist supposed to be a man?

  Sarah struggled for breath, unable to get her legs to move. The smoke became denser, blocking out any light from the windows.

  She needed a reference, something to tell her which threads were real and which ones were not.

  Her notebook!

  She reached behind her for her backpack only to find she hadn’t brought it with her.

  The smoke shifted, and Sarah’s legs gave out, another violent bout of coughing taking over. The floor was covered in dust and debris which coated her bleeding hands.

  She shut her eyes tightly, curling up into a ball until the air no longer struggled to enter her lungs. A few more seconds passed before she was confident enough to open her eyes.

  When she did, she realized where she was.

  That bathroom was where her sister had died.

  The door opened behind her and she jumped to her feet. And then she couldn’t help cry, because the sister she’d lost was standing right there.

  “What’re you doing here?” Robyn asked as if it were the most natural thing for a ghost to ask. Concern instantly took over her expression. “What’s wrong?”

  Sarah shook her head. “I wanna wake up now.”

  Robyn took a step towards her, and Sarah tried to move further away.

  Robyn grabbed her, squeezing her arms. “You are awake.”

  Sarah laughed, tears streaming down her face. If she were awake, Robyn would be dead.

  “I promise you this is real,” Robyn insisted.

  “How can you promise me that, when you’re not real?”

  * * *

  Sarah set aside the cold remnants of her sandwich to check the time.

  There was a knock at her door.

  His hair still partly damp and with flakes of paint attached, Pegasus was right on time.

  Sarah closed the door behind him. “I managed to get a copy of most of the files I sent over to Lore.”

  “Wait, hang on.”

  She paused, staring at him expectantly as he put down his tablet on her desk and came back. He took her hands in his, pulling her closer for a kiss as if they’d been apart for days instead of a couple of hours.

  She was relieved that the horrible feeling didn’t come.

  He gave her one last quick peck on her cheek before parting from her. “Alright, continue.”

  Feeling like she’d been disturbed from her previous state of equilibrium, Sarah could only laugh. “Okay. I brought most of the files I got for Lore, but there’s a few I no longer have access to.”

  “That’s surprising. Send me that list and I’ll get them later.”

  She grabbed her tablet and joined him on the couch. “I’d like to focus on the ones that I sent her by mistake. One of them is in the batch that I couldn’t access.”

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  “What are your thoughts?”

  “I don’t want to say that I wouldn’t make these mistakes, but it felt weird. I had checked it and double-checked. But I could’ve been seeing things. It wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe the other Lore asked for different files.”

  He pulled her tablet closer to look through the file numbers. “Out of these, which ones are the mistakes?”

  “There’s two.” Sarah opened the first one, leaning against his shoulder so they could more easily share the screen. “It’s a record of transfers and new assignments from about twenty-two years ago.”

  The file itself was a one-page document containing only unfamiliar names.

  “How much did Lore say about her pet project?”

  “What I know is that she’s looking for someone who might’ve been connected to the New Nation back then, but not anymore. From what I understood, she wants to map their connections starting when they might’ve not been as cautious. But this list of W.R.O. personnel doesn’t fit into it. Maybe it was just my mistake.”

  “The Lore in your vision said one of the files you sent by mistake was helpful, right?”

  “She thought so. But I don’t know which one. And we don’t know if that was real or not.”

  He turned his head, lips brushing against her hair in a kiss. “Sorry I haven’t been able to get us access to Lore’s photo. I know it’s got to be frustrating to have that uncertainty.”

  “I mean, what’s one more?” There were so many things that fell into that category, from things she clearly remembered, like talking to Lore, to the fragmented images that randomly popped up in her head. At this point, whether the Lore she saw was real or not was not her biggest priority.

  Pegasus placed an arm around her shoulders. “What’s the other file?”

  That one she was even less convinced would be important. “It’s a monthly report from medical, listing materials used, procedures performed, work hours…”

  “Our best bet might be the file that’s among the restricted access ones, so I’ll work on that when I can.”

  “Well, we can wait until we have Lore’s photo before digging in too deep into that particular rabbit hole.” Sarah leaned her back against him as she stretched her legs up on the couch to face her collage wall. “What about Wolf? Did you find anything there?”

  “He’s not scheduled for any missions right now. Cypher said he’s had a cold the last few days.”

  “So he might be going back out soon.” The placement of the sticky note was ominous. Even though she hadn’t seen anything about Wolf specifically, having his name near clues like fire and explosion was bad.

  “Did you remember anything else about why you wrote that?”

  “I only put it there because I thought I saw it there already.”

  “I can’t have Cypher monitor him without having to explain anything else, but I’ll keep checking the schedule and let you know if he’s assigned to any mission.”

  “It would be great if my mind decided to be nice and give me something more. He might be in danger.” Or there could be something wrong with him. After what happened with Robyn, it was a valid suspicion. Robyn’s face as she drew her gun came to mind. Sarah shuddered. “Did anyone confirm he had a cold?”

  Perhaps hearing her voice crack, Pegasus placed the tablet onto her lap, shifting to wrap her within his arms. His warmth was always soothing. “I spoke with Dr. Green. He really is sick.”

  Sarah relaxed against him. “But that doesn’t mean anything, right?”

  “Yeah. I did a superficial check for any anomalies in his recent missions. There were no alerts for the past month. It’ll take some time to check further back without it being obvious who it is I’m checking up on.”

  “If his name being here is a warning, what are the options? We either need to save him or stop him?”

  “Or he knows something he doesn’t realize he knows.” He hugged her closer, resting his chin on her shoulder. “This sounds awfully like the conversation we had about you when the other Robyn said all those things.”

  She ruffled his hair. “Any verdict on that one?”

  “Not yet.” He shook his head like a wet dog, making an even greater mess of his hair. “You have a message.”

  He propped the tablet up on her stomach so she could see the screen. The message was from Clay. She’d been ignoring him since their last talk, when he told her he befriended her only so he could report back to Zeus about her.

  “How long are you going to ignore him?” Pegasus asked.

  Sarah took the tablet from him, laying it face down. “I’m not sure. It hurt.” She felt like she was pouting. Was she being childish?

  “I know it feels like a betrayal.” His grip loosened. “I’m also sorry that I can’t promise you I won’t ever do the same.”

  “It wasn’t entirely the reporting to Zeus part that bugged me. It was more the spending time with me because he was ordered to.” Free from his embrace, she turned around so they were facing each other. “You said everything you did for me and all the time you spent together was on you. You weren’t lying, right?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then that’s all I need for now.”

  “And my trust?”

  Could she ask for that? What if the things she said or did didn’t make sense someday? Would he really share in that burden? Surely his being here meant he trusted her to some extent. Before, he’d said he could only trust her with his own life. It was more like he was willing to risk his own life. “Pegasus, do you trust me?”

  He brushed her hair back over her shoulder, his eyes following the motion as if it were the most serious thing in the world.

  She placed a hand on his, stopping him. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t need to answer.”

  He smiled, eyebrows lifting as his gaze found hers. “You know, you made such a fuss about getting my name when you were first here, but have you ever used it?”

  “Are you changing the subject?”

  “No, I’m not. And you’re still not using my name.”

  She could swear he couldn’t be serious for more than a minute at a time. “Tobias, it’s okay if you still have some suspicions.”

  He grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips. “I trust you, please don’t doubt that. And I believe you.”

  The words filled her with unexpected relief. “I’ll do my best to not act too suspicious going forward.”

  He shook with laughter, planting another kiss on the back of her hand. “I imagine that’ll be a struggle.”

  Indignant, she tried to pull her hand away, but he held it tighter.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know I can get confused sometimes.” An understatement, if she’d ever uttered any.

  “As long as you’re still you, it’s fine. The girl I won over with cold pizza.”

  “Sure, that’s what it was.”

  The intercom went off.

  “I think someone’s just doing it to be a nuisance at this point.” Still smiling, Pegasus gave her a quick kiss before going to answer it.

  “They’re ready for you,” Cypher said. “Scorpion is on her way.”

  “Be right there.” He turned back to Sarah. “We’re having another go at the terrorist we brought back from the department store. We still haven’t found a reason for them to have been in that area of town. Hopefully, it means the weapons we’ve been looking for are somewhere nearby.”

  If they did get a location out of him, that would mean they’d be heading out soon. Sarah’s gaze drifted to her notes.

  Pegasus cupped her chin, gently redirecting her attention back to him. “Don’t push yourself.”

  She nodded, unable to voice any such promise.

  “Will you meet me at the garden later? Around 2100.”

  “Look at you not being precise.”

  “It’s not up to me.” He bent down to kiss her. “But be sure to get there by 2100.”

  Sarah was about to ask him why, but the spark of mischief in his eyes was enough for her. Whatever it was, she’d find out when she got there.