Chapter 488

ARIA

Not the alarmed version. Not the combat-ready version. The sigh of someone who’d just received information they’d already incorporated into their expectations.

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He pulled open the desk drawer and produced a walkie-talkie with the ease of something he did regularly and had stopped thinking about. He pressed the call button,

“Is she experimenting again?” he said.

Static. Then Nina’s voice, carrying the flat quality of someone who’d also felt the explosion and was making the same assessment: “Probably. I’m not even checking.”

Elite’s voice, from somewhere: “I don’t think it’s serious. It’s just an explosion.”

Jordan’s voice: “Yeah, it’s fine. An explosion is a sign she’s thriving. I’d get worried when a fish starts talking.”

I looked at Kael.

“You’re not going to check?” I said.

“No,” he said. “If someone’s on fire, I’ll know.” He pressed the button again. “By the way – Aria says she’s børed and needs something to do. Is there anything to be done?”

The response was immediate.

Nina’s voice: “We just had a break for the first time in forever and you want to work? That’s a medical concern.”

“I’m not asking you to work,” Kael said. “I’m asking if there’s anything that needs doing.”

“For the past five and a half days,” Nina said, “nothing supernatural has happened. I would like that to continue. I am actively hoping for it.”

“Same,” Jordan said, from somewhere with background noise that suggested movement.

“The situation is stable,” Elite said. “All indicators normal. No active threats. The network’s operational capability has been significantly disrupted. Vela is in holding. Vesper is in holding and has provided what he knows. The investigation is proceeding in proper channels.”

“So,” Kael said, “nothing.”

“Nothing.” Elite confirmed.

“Great,” Kael said. “Thank you.” He put the device back in the drawer.

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I looked at him.

“The bunker,” I said.

“What about it,” he said.

“I want to see it,” I said.

He looked at me with the specific expression of someone who’d just been asked something entirely reasonable and was working through why it was also complicated.

“You’re aware,” he said, “that you can’t go near it. That if you went near it the defensive systems would engage because your power signature triggers the moon-adjacent response protocol.”

“You could dismantle it,” I said.

“We’ll modify it,” he said. “Yes. When the team has the capacity and the specifications sorted, we’ll modify the system so it doesn’t engage on your specific signature. Until then, no stepping near the bunker.”

“Can I see it from a distance,” I said.

He scratched the back of his head. The gesture of someone who’d encountered a question they’d expected and still didn’t have a complete answer for.

“Kael,” I said.

“Let’s not risk it,” he said.

“Even from a distance,” I said.

“The defensive perimeter is,” he said. “It’s not just the entrance. There’s a radius.”

“How large a radius,” I said.

“I would need to check,” he said.

“You’d need to check,” I said. “Meaning you’d need to ask someone.”

“The documentation,” he said. “I would consult the documentation.”

“Kael.” I said.

He looked at me.

“You don’t know where it is,” I said.

A pause.

“I know approximately where it is,” he said.

You don’t know where it is.” I said.

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Chapter 488

“The general area,” he said.

“Kael.”

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“Fine,” he said. “I don’t know the exact location. The point of a Kael-resistant bunker is that it’s difficult for Kael to find. If I knew exactly where it was, I could go there, and then the Kael-resistant aspect would be significantly undermined.”

“So you genuinely don’t know,” I said.

“I know it’s underground,” he said. “And that it’s somewhere in the interior of the main building’s foundations.” He paused. “And that Ivory designed it with some very specific materials.”

“But not the location,” I said.

“Not the precise location,” he said.

I sat with this.

Silver, in my head, was doing the quiet warm laughter thing.

*Do you see where this is going,* she said.

*I see where this is going,* I said.

“Kael,” I said.

“Yes,” he said.

“In an emergency,” I said. “If something happened and the pack needed to shelter-”

“They go to the bunker,” he said.

“And we,” I said.

He opened his mouth.

He closed his mouth.

He looked at me.

I looked at him.

The specific realization arrived in his expression in real time – I could watch it happen, the pieces connecting, the conclusion assembling itself from the components he’d just stated. The pack goes to the bunker. Kael doesn’t know where the bunker is because it’s Kael-resistant. Aria can’t go near the bunker because her power signature triggers the defensive system.

“We’re the baits,” he said.

“We’re the baits,” I confirmed.

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“In our own pack’s emergency protocol,” he said. “We’re the ones who stay outside while everyone else—”

“Goes to the bunker,” I said. “Yes.”

“That’s,” he said.

“Yes,” I said.

“That’s actually,” he said.

“Quite funny,” I said. “In a specific way.”