OUR LITTLE SECRET

they were

nt - just

windowpane, sunlight slicing a

wn her bare back. "You

go wh

re. Sta

want to start over. I want to fin

ers. "Then we

ck interru

interrupt your intense brooding and post-sex

ened th

broadca

mistress

the mar

was under

constant hums and murmurs: the crackle of powers, the echo of

ing, everythi

ront of the holoscreen as

Voss, found dead

ean, surgical strike to the heart - the ki

ey said her body was

all, arms crossed, jaw ti

en. "No. She was too much. She was

n eyebrow. "The

ice low. "Because she w

passed between the

aid, "We ne

ze sharpened

alm but edged with steel. "If they'r

ready been dimmed. The room felt colder than usual,

a broke in just

fingers already glowing with

binet. "I know she kept physical bac

d open a draw

drive encoded in blood signature.

Headmistress had pre

eath it. This one labe

01, in case

it. Then slid it

second... then the image of

calm, but her

ou already know part of the truth. You were nev

n. "She left

otype. And you were supposed to end it all. Bu

t them er

ssage

lia, but she was st

idn't

idn't

d: "Now I kn

wasn't

s a t

very hallway after the

ensors went thermal. Classrooms we

always cre

been better at finding

derground - into the forgotten

n a fortress. The foundation was laced with secret pass

l observation dome - now overgrown w

've got enough equipment to tap the central c

didn't

routes toward a mysterious, heavi

" Lilith aske

s... not on any of t

wly. "Then that's w

o find it - with or

dual retina scans, a blood

a didn't n

member

before she even touched the

revealing a dark cha

containe

ended, breathing pe

jec

red. "They were m

pped forwar

't just co

ced perception, aura manipulation, m

ed one face

" she wh

der br

e'd died when

he h

en put

voice quiet. "What ar

, eyes burning wi

w

t make it

gered an alert, and within

west wing - armed with stun

back, a violent dance of memory

orm energy crackling across h

ing session again," she panted,

e it out

had a gash on his temple. Li

e files. The tr

y had a deci

- and risk war w

r

ed at them,

go al

nod

ed. "Burn or

o the shadows - fugit

had cre

never contr