Stars.

Thousand of glittering dots, all connected by a wispy thread.

I focused on one star and I was pulled in, zooming past all the others.

It was a simple computer outfitted with fancy ECU hardware. Its software wasn't anything to scoff at either, it was certainly more advanced than what could be created through mundane methods.

Regardless, my suit would make short work of it. It was probably just a low-level terminal anyway.

I pulled my back to stare at the galaxy of tech floating in my mind's eye, noting a bothersome pain that throbbed behind my eye as I did. After a few moments of searching, I saw some were brighter than others, so I diverted my attention to them.

They flickered like candles, burning brighter and hotter than the sparks that surrounded them. I zeroed in on one.

[Navigation]

Artificial Intelligence Pilot [CONSTRAINED] (Active)

Artificial Intelligence Pilot

(

Cost: 3186

)

Artificial General Intelligence

(

Cost: 5853

)

Complete Solar System Mapping and Simulation (Active)

Complete Galaxy Mapping and Simulation (In Progress: 0.0512% Complete)

[...]

One of the core components of Ajax's Mothership. Such a simple feature, yet there were dozens of areas it could be upgraded.

Over 3000 charges just for a better pilot.

I shouldn't have been surprised. The Mothership was intended to venture out into space and journey beyond the endless horizon, not to cart war machines around the world on an unending peacekeeping mission.

I pulled back again and switched to another. This time I was faced with the engines.

Anti-Gravity. 1218 charges.

But what was it powered by?

I switched again.

[Power]

Singularity Matter to Energy Converter: 5.23% efficient (Active)

Singularity Matter to Energy Converter: 5.33% efficient (In progress: 78.62% complete)

Singularity to Energy Converter: 5.67% efficient

(

Cost: 2872

)

Singularity to Energy Converter: 5.99% efficient

(

Cost: 3164

)

Spinning Singularity to Energy Converter: 15% efficient

(

Cost: 1937

)

Spinning Singularity to Energy Converter: 20% efficient

(

Cost: 2649

)

Spinning Singularity to Energy Converter: 30% efficient

(

Cost: 4281

)

Spinning Singularity to Energy Converter: 40% efficient

(

Cost: 6601

)

Spinning Singularity to Energy Converter: 41.23% efficient (

Cost: 7321

)

For something that converted matter to energy with a 5.67% efficiency, 2872 charges didn't seem so bad. The energy yield was… it was outrageous, but the other upgrades… They implied my power could spin a black hole, that's insane! It cost less charges as well, which implied it should be easier to make, even for another Mechakinetic, yet Ajax was working on another upgrade. Could… Ajax not figure it out? Was he stuck, or did he just not know this was possible? Regardless this had to have been something he'd been working on for years and I could break through his bottleneck with just a touch.

All of it hit me at once. I understood why Cyberspace was bending over backward, giving in to my demands, and handing me so much of their time on a silver platter. Why Gaea went so far out of her way to recruit me, and why The ECU labeled me an S-Class threat.

Bottlenecks didn't exist for me.

My power would show me the way forward, no matter how complicated the object was. I always knew this, but I never understood what that meant until now. People spent their lives trying to wring every ounce of potential out of their powers, and I didn't even need to think.

I gasped as the pain became sharp. I gripped my head as phantom razorblades ripped across my brain. The stars burned hotter and I began to see connections forming between them. They appeared like misty threads tethering them all together.

Slowly, the blueprint formed.

The Mothership.

The Citadel.

All the things connected to this one wall. I started to see them, branching out and connecting. I saw the war machines down below, and the ones still tucked away inside The Mothership. I saw Hunters and Sweepers, war machines that hadn't even been deployed – machines that no one knew about.

I started to taste copper.

Crawlers.

Screechers.

Behemoths.

Purifiers.

Mechakinetic abominations. War machines that weren't just designed to fight and suppress, but to dominate and annihilate. Why would Ajax have those things on board? Better yet, why create them at all if you didn't intend to use them?

I couldn't breathe.

The pain suddenly grabbed me by the throat and pulled me along for a ride. The information swirled into an incomprehensible blur and the stars returned as fluorescent lights. I was shaking.

No… I was being shaken.

"—xuse me."

I looked up to see a woman with brown frazzled hair and glasses leaning over me. In one hand she had a cup of coffee while her other was on my shoulder.

I coughed and spluttered, instinctively reaching up to wipe my nose. My hand and sleeve came back bloody, and it was only then I realized that my whole shirt was covered in it.

"What… the hell?"

It had all been too much. I had never taken in that much information before. My head throbbed like I had been dropped on it, and I felt… hot. I was sweating but the room couldn't have been more than 20°C. The woman in front of me continued to stare. She blinked and tilted her head as I groggily tried to stand up.

I failed spectacularly.

"Don't push yourself." I squinted at her as she shoved something into my hands. I fumbled to see what it was, only to feel like a moron when I realized it was a box of wet wipes. I hastily pulled out a few and began wiping at my face. "I get them sometimes too when I dive too deeply. It's unavoidable."

I gave her a pointed look as I zipped up my jacket to hide my blood-soaked shirt. A few splotches were still visible but at least I didn't look like a murder victim.

"What?"

She turned around and shuffled backward, sitting down in the chair next to mine. I watched, a little uncomfortable, as she wiggled around, crossing one leg over the other before switching it up a moment later. If there was a word I would use to describe her, it was antsy.

"It's normal to experience headaches after, don't worry," the woman rocked back and forth slightly in her chair while she shakily sipped her drink. "You're new. It grows and grows and it gets deeper and deeper, but you'll understand. Whether you want to or not. Do you get it?"

I shook my head in confusion.

"I don't think I do."

"It's normal. It's normal," she repeated, shaking her head just like I did. "You don't need to panic. Just take it slow. Look at one bit at a time, piece by piece. You won't get overwhelmed that way. Focus on one aspect… one aspect," the woman pressed two fingers together to show just how small she meant. "Small. Not big. Very small. Expand out slowly, don't rush things."

"You—"

I stopped and gave the woman another look, I started to realize who I was probably sitting next to.

"Are you a Super?"

"Shhh!" The crazy woman pushed a finger to my lips before looking around. "That's another rule. We can't talk about that. We have to keep quiet, no talking like that. But—but yes, I am. I see you," she brought her finger up, never once leaving my skin. It felt so creepy that I recoiled back slightly. However, she followed my movements and leaned forward. "You are— you are new. Fresh," she cupped my cheek and squinted at me. "Have we met before?"

"Uh…" I reached up and gently pushed her hand away. "No… and I'm not a super— er, evohuman. I think you have me mistaken for someone else."

"No… nonono," she muttered. "I know the signs. I've been through it before, so I know… I know what I'm looking at. You are…" She tried to touch my face again but I stopped her, this time with a bit more aggression. "You are connected. We are connected," she tapped her forehead. "Those like us, the ones who manifest the secrets of the universe."

I had to remind myself that I was on the rehabilitation floor of The ECU's headquarters. There were going to be some people who had a few screws loose, and not all powers played nicely with people's minds, even if that was becoming less common. It was a shame I couldn't just repair her with my power. Life would be so much easier if I could interface with biology.

"...Okay?" The woman offered me a grateful smile. She positively beamed with excitement and happiness. It was almost sad in a way. "Who exactly are you? I didn't get your name."

"Nicole," she paused for a moment and looked away, staring off at a wall like she could see through it. The hand not holding her drink drifted down to mine and grabbed it. I took all my willpower not to pull away and yell for help, but she squeezed gently. "I am… Nicole. I make little things. Tiny little things that change the world. I… I make the world a better place."

"Tiny…?" I repeated the word in a murmur before it clicked. "Wait a second, are you… Nanoforge?"

She stiffened at the name before offering a slow, sorrowful nod.

"I make tiny things," I saw her eyes glisten with tears. "Tiny wonderful things."

I was sitting next to an international legend, someone who gave unpowered soldiers the ability to actively combat supers in the field. For the longest time, I've itched to get a piece of her mechatech to integrate into my suit. With my improvements to her unparalleled adaptability, it wouldn't be long before I'd have the world's best power armor.

The opportunity was right here in front of me, and all I had to do was seize it. I just needed to ask the right question, but the words refused to roll off my tongue.

My heart ached for this broken woman, not at all the charismatic genius I envisioned her as. She looked frail with glassy, bloodshot eyes, and it seemed like she hadn't slept in a decade.

"You do make wonderful tiny things, they keep a lot of people safe," I said softly. I looked around to make sure we were alone. From my brief deep dive, I knew with certainty there were no recording devices in the room, so I leaned in close. "I make wonderful things too."

I made sure to keep my voice down, and Nicole beamed with joy. She took an enthusiastic sip of her tea with an eager nod.

"So many blueprints, so many ideas. It never ends, iteration upon iteration. My tiny friends evolve— but not too fast… no, not too fast. Can't keep up, they say. Too slow I say, people are slow."

"Progress waits for no one," I said with a sympathetic smile. "I don't really build things. I improve them. I see what they can be and turn them into that. It's a slow process and I'm limited."

"Limited," Nicole nodded fiercely. "Very limited. Not allowed automation. They forbid self-replication, bad-BAD limit. I ask why and they say it's bad. Uncontrollable— but I can. I can control them."

The more she talked, the more I saw the damage. Her psyche was cracked and only a small jolt away from shattering entirely. Maybe she was stronger than she looked but I doubted that was the case. Was she always like this? If not, what caused the spiral? Was it her power? Was something done to her?

The chilling question popped into my head.

Could this be me?

Suddenly my bloody nose and the fact she was carrying around wet wipes became much more concerning.

I really had to make sure that her power didn't cause this, but I didn't know how to ask her without sounding rude. Bringing up her trauma could cause a violent reaction and fighting an ECU hero in the middle of The Citadel would not look good. I didn't even want to anyway.

"They're restricting you? Who? The ECU?"

"Tight suits that smell of ash. Yes, they're the ones. They limit me, they speak of safe futures. I know better. I can make so many more wonderful things with no limits. No limits! I want to…" She trailed off like she lost her train of thought. "Yes-yes, I see. Too much work. Stuck with no ways forward."

Without me having to ask, she reached into one of her shirt pockets and pulled out a clump of something metallic bronze. I didn't think anything of it at first, but then I noticed movement. Very similar to how my power transformed objects into a liquid-like state, the mass began to fold and shift.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Nanomachines.

I leaned forward to get a better look, watching the nanites shift into different shapes. Nicole poked and prodded the mass to get the shape she wanted, but it didn't seem like she was going for anything in particular.

"Directionless. My friends have nowhere to go."

I wasn't sure what she meant, but I wanted to scan them with my power. The nanotechnology I was heading towards with my power required esoteric lightweight evomats that cost a bunch of charges and were otherwise expensive to acquire. I'd get there eventually, but if I managed to get a hold of this… even if I could just touch it, I would know more. Maybe I'd been missing something.

"Directionless?" I asked softly. "What do you mean?"

"They are supposed to show me the way. The way forward, but the programming… I am limited. No self-replication. No automation. Stuck, no way forward," she tapped the side of her head in frustration. "They do not understand. I have to keep going. Progress. It—" Nicole looked up at me and smiled. "—stops for no one."

Gently I reached out to touch the nanites in the palm of her hand. Nicole did not flinch or shy away. Instead, she moved her hand closer like she was offering them up for me to take.

My heart almost stopped as the door opened.

Abby strolled out with Doctor Williams in tow, and I hastily retracted my hand.

"An enlightening first session, Abigail," Doctor Williams said with a beaming smile. "Make sure to try those exercises and—" he paused when his eyes landed on Nicole. "Ah, Doctor Keefe. You're early, again. Your appointment isn't for another two hours."

"Nanoforge?" Abby did a double take. "What're you— wait, what? I thought you were…" her eyes darted around like she was trying to scour her brain for relevant information. "I didn't know you came back to New Elpis. They said you were working on a new project in America."

"I went… for a walk," Nicole replied. "I have an appointment with—with Mr. Williams. We… talk about things I am not allowed to discuss," she turned back to me and smiled again. "It's bad for me to isolate myself with my little friends. I need to go and talk to… to people. Real people."

"Real people are… good?" I offered, shrugging with an awkward smile. "It was nice to put a face to a name. I've heard so much about you."

"Yes, yes. My tiny friends spread wide and far. I am told they–they make a powerful impression. Powerful, yes— but limited. Very limited. You could help me. You are—"

I saw where her train of thought was heading and hurried to cut her off.

"—often told I'm a good listener and conversationalist!" I laughed. "It's been really nice meeting you. Really, I never thought I would ever get to meet Nanoforge in the flesh, but I… I really gotta go, sorry."

Nicole looked befuddled as I stood up, but Doctor Williams came to my aid. He stepped in front of me, drawing Nicole's attention.

"Indeed. Maxis here has a session with me," Doctor Williams said, gently guiding her back to her feet. "Let's get you back to your room, shall we? It's all well and good to be early, but you must be mindful of the time."

"I like walking and I like visiting you," Nicole complained childishly. "You are the only one who doesn't mind talking to me."

I felt my gut twist as I watched them walk off down the corridor. It was heartbreaking to hear those words come out of her mouth. I had only just met her but I felt some sort of kinship with her.

When they disappeared around the corner, I turned to Abby. Her expression was conflicted.

"Meeting someone as legendary as Nanoforge was not on my bingo card for today, even if the session turns out shit, this made it worth it," I said trying to lighten the mood. When it didn't work, I gave up and sunk back to my melancholy. "Can't say I expected her to be like that though."

"She's gotten so much worse," Abby's admission sent chills down my spine. She met my gaze and sighed. "Nanoforge was always a bit disturbed but it's never been that bad. She was way more put together when she delivered my armor," she absently rubbed the bracelet on her arm like it was suddenly uncomfortable to wear. "Fuck, I really wasn't prepared for that."

"Do you…" I trailed off, wondering if I should even be asking this question. I wanted to know more but I doubted it was my place. There wasn't any public information on Nanoforge and the most I was able to dig up was that she was originally from England. "…know what happened to her?"

Abby let my question linger a bit too long for my liking.

"I asked my mom about it when I got my armor. I was kinda weirded out and I was young. I don't know the full history, but apparently Pandora got her when she was much younger. She got her powers while in captivity and used 'em to escape," Abby's jaw tightened just mentioning Pandora's name. "The ECU took her in after that. That's all I really know. I'm not permitted to know the full story, and honestly? I think I'm better off not knowing. I've seen what they do to people without powers."

Nanoforge was a Pandora captive?

Her condition suddenly made more sense – but how had it gotten worse? It must've been something to do with her power. Diving deeper to cope with the trauma.

The bleeding nose…

The first time my power ever overwhelmed me and I came out of it with a bad migraine and a bleeding nose. Nanoforge seemed very familiar with it, implying she had been overusing her power for years. That combined with her trauma was the perfect cocktail for a slow descent into insanity.

That could be me if I wasn't careful.

"Pandora, huh?" I mused, letting my thoughts drift. "Hard to believe they've been allowed to stick around for so long. You'd think something would've been done by now."

"Extremist groups exist everywhere, it's just Pandora's the biggest and the loudest. I'm willing to bet that there's a lot of powerful people keeping them around as well. It probably suits whatever fantasy they want to indulge in," Abby walked past me and dropped into the seat I was sitting in not a moment ago. "What happened by the way? Did she attack you?"

"What?"

"The blood," Abby pointed to my neck where a piece of my blood-soaked shirt poked through my jacket zipper.

"Oh, it's nothing. It was just a nose bleed. She actually gave me some wet wipes."

"Ah," Abby nodded easily. "All good then. Well, the session was good for me. I don't know how it'll be for you. I got to talk about a lot of stuff that's been on my mind lately. That and the whole killing thing…" she heaved a sigh. "It was nice to hear that it's something every hero deals with at some point. I already knew that but it's… it's different when it finally happens to you. Being a hero isn't clean business."

I offered a light smile.

"You never said it was."

Abby replied with a weak smile as Doctor Williams walked back into the room.

"Okay, that's all taken care of," he clapped his hands together and walked up to me, offering a hand. I politely reciprocate the gesture. "It's nice to meet you, Maxis. Right this way please," he leaned forward and opened the door to his office. I stepped through and found a seat on the couch inside. I watched as he walked around the room fetching a few items before making me the coffee he promised. "So, I hear you are quite close with Abigail?"

And so the small talk begins.

"She prefers Abby."

Doctor Williams laughed.

"So I'm told," he sat down in a fancy leather chair across from me and crossed his legs. "Just before we continue, I am obligated to let you know that everything discussed in this room will be kept confidential. We're not being monitored either, so if you are concerned about that, you need not worry. I am here as someone who you can speak about anything with – anything at all."

"Mhmm, yeah. Everything's confidential unless I'm deemed to be a threat to myself or others, right?"

I may have come off a tad sarcastic, but his good-natured smile didn't falter. He was a professional after all, and if Nicole was anything to go by, he regularly dealt with significantly more damaged people than me.

"Indeed, it is a safety precaution. I am obligated to inform the relevant authorities if I believe you are a threat to yourself or those around you. I am also required to speak up if you have somehow come into confidential information. I'm sure you understand what that means. So far, I have yet to see any sort of indication of these facts."

"We haven't even started," I frowned. "So how would you know?"

"I wouldn't."

"…Okay?"

I stared at him awkwardly for a couple of seconds before shifting back onto the couch to try and get comfortable. I wasn't sure how this was supposed to go but the silence started to get to me after a good ten or twenty seconds. It didn't look like he had any intention to speak so watching him sit there with a smile on his face set off alarm bells in my head.

Was he psychoanalyzing me? What if he was a Mentalist? If he was, would it be enough to figure me out? Could he—

"You're unsettled."

"A little bit, yeah."

"May I ask why?"

Because I don't trust The ECU. I don't trust that you're not a Mentalist. Despite my personal connection to Abby, I don't believe The ECU would spend resources on a teenage boy unless they knew something or suspected something about me.

"I've never done anything like this before, I'm a bit overwhelmed," I said. "Also you just sat there staring at me for like 20 seconds."

"That's a reasonable feeling to be experiencing. Take as much time as you need to get comfortable. I am here for your benefit."

"Aren't we supposed to talk about what happened? That's what this is about, right?" I asked, trying to get at why I was really here. The trauma Abby experienced breaking into Lucy's house was supposed to be shared, yet I felt no remorse. My actions were done out of concern for a friend, and out of self-defense. I didn't mourn my attacker. I killed him to protect myself, and to protect Lucy. "My actions indirectly led to the death of a Pandora cultist."

"We can talk about whatever you want, anything that's on your mind," Doctor Williams said. "If that's the topic you want to discuss, by all means. I am interested to hear your perspective."

I took a moment to retrace the events in my head that led up to Lucy's house burning down. There were some bits of information I needed to remove so that this guy wouldn't have any sort of clue that I was Upgrade, but as the story went, I didn't need to change much.

"Alright."

So, I recounted the events, making sure to exclude any implication that I was a Super. I stuck to my story, detailing how I broke into my school's registry system –using software know-how that I picked up from Mom – to get Lucy's address so we could go see if she was okay. I reiterated that I knocked out my attacker with a lucky blow before grouping back up with Abby.

All throughout the story, Doctor Williams nodded along, occasionally scribbling down notes on a pad. I desperately wanted to see those notes, but I doubted he'd show me what he had written.

"So yeah, that about sums up what happened. It all happened so quickly, so I sort of… I don't know, compartmentalized it? I don't actually think we did anything wrong. We needed to know if she was safe, and then all that stuff happened."

"No other thoughts? You were attacked and almost killed in a friend's home. I imagine those events would be quite scary."

Not when you have a Mentalist psychopath obsessed with you. Not when you've seen an underground bunker filled with human experiments. Not when you've faced down Death itself.

"Yeah I guess it should have been."

"I see. It doesn't bother you, does it?"

"Not really. I know it should, but it just doesn't. Am I supposed to feel guilty that a couple of cultists died? Sorry if it sounds harsh but everyone knows what they're like. They propagate slavery, take advantage of people, abuse the weak and helpless, indoctrinate the ignorant," I leaned forward in my seat and met Doctor Williams' gaze. "Those two were looking to do the same shit, might have already done it even, and I'm supposed to feel bad? Nah, that's bullshit."

Doctor Williams nodded fairly.

"I understand where you're coming from." I wanted to immediately agree with him, but I sensed a 'but' coming. Just like with Catherine, he was going to rebut me. "You are well within your right to feel that way."

I blinked, waiting for the counter. I waited and waited some more.

"But…?" I tried to lead him off, but he didn't seem to be having it. "Aren't you supposed to tell me that they're people too? That I'm somehow wrong for not feeling guilty about being responsible for loss of a human life. Maybe throw me on some pills that'll make me think like a normal person."

"Maxis, there is no right or wrong way to feel about this, and I don't believe anyone would expect you to have just let them kill you."

I felt confused.

"Then why—"

"—do you not feel worse?" Doctor Williams guessed. It wasn't really where I was going, but I would've asked eventually. "People's reactions vary, some people lay awake at night and never rest easy again, others are able to function just fine. I've seen many people over the years and you are not the first to react this way, nor will you be the last. That said, with regards to Pandora, you claim they are an organization of moraless people that abuse those under them, yet have you not considered the possibility that your attackers were victims of Pandora?"

I couldn't say anything about the girl Abby killed, but the guy who attacked me had been a super, though I only found out that fact through Lucy later. His power explained how he got the drop on us. Short-ranged teleportation.

"No," I said honestly. "I never did."

"Does that not concern you?"

"It was self-defense. It doesn't matter who it was, they attacked me first," I shrugged. "We struggled and I got lucky and knocked him out. There's not much to it. He might have burned to death in the fire, but I didn't actively intend to end his life."

Doctor Williams nodded again, and I started to feel like I was wasting my time. I didn't feel like there was anything to be found digging deeper into what happened. I had more to say on the stuff that actually bothered me, but I couldn't talk about that without him getting me locked up in maximum security.

I had more to say about watching two entire ECU platoons get melted by Grim's shadow.

I wanted to talk about how I didn't feel safe with someone like Mirage still stalking Bayside's shadows, waiting for me to drop my guard.

I needed to unload all the stress I felt working under Cyberspace and the genuine fear felt bubbling inside of me that if I wasn't careful trying to get out from under their watchful eye, everyone I cared about would pay the price.

Where the hell amongst any of that did I have time to give a shit about some garbage Pandora sympathizer? I had done the world a favor by preserving all the oxygen he would've wasted. Lucy was safer, I was safer, Bayside was safer… hell, the world was safer.

I was glad he was dead.

"Is something funny?" Doctor Williams asked.

I blinked.

"What?"

"You're smiling."

I was. I could feel the muscles on my face straining slightly. I had been on the verge of laughing – laughing at my involvement in the death of another human being.

I let the smile fall off my face.

"I don't know. I just don't get it at all."

"Don't get what?"

"You guys know what they do to people like me. We all know what they do. You want me to stop and consider if my attackers were their victims… as if that's supposed to fucking change anything? He wasn't a victim acting out of fear," I remembered the words he spoke as he had me pinned to the floor. "He was one of them, through and through."

"You're sure of this?"

"He thought I was part of The Cains – that he couldn't wait to kill a heretic," I shook my head. "That's all he got out before I fought back. Honestly, that's the real reason why this hasn't stuck with me. Whether he died in the fire or by hitting his head, I don't care. He's dead, and that's all that matters."

Doctor Williams didn't react. Instead, he scribbled more notes down on his notepad.

"Would you say this is personal?"

"Of course it's personal. I found out my best friend was trapped inside this damn cult all her life and she never said shit because she wanted to protect me. So yeah, you can say things feel pretty personal. I don't have any patience for anyone that willingly associates themselves with them." It felt quite relieving to openly admit how much I despised Pandora. "If we're being honest: I wouldn't weep if the rest of Pandora burned just like my attacker did."

"Do you not think that's a rather extreme opinion?"

"Not an uncommon one though," I shrugged. "I imagine a lot of people feel the same. How do you feel about Pandora?"

"I certainly wouldn't want them burned at the stake," he chuckled casually. "As a species, I feel we've long since moved past such barbaric punishments. Those within Pandora deserve to be given a chance at rehabilitation. I wouldn't be much of a psychiatrist if I believed people to be beyond saving," he paused for a moment. "You seem to be quite sure that your friend doesn't share their views?"

"Not a chance."

Doctor Williams didn't seem convinced.

"You seem very sure of that."

"I am. I know Lucy better than anyone." He wrote more notes down while I just sat back on the couch. "Let me guess, you're writing down that I'm a violent delinquent with a grudge against Pandora? I take it you'll be sharing that with your superiors?"

"Nothing you've said so far is cause for concern. You said it yourself," he chuckled. "Wishing for the destruction of Pandora is not an unpopular opinion."

I frowned.

That wasn't the answer I was expecting.

"Let's change topics for a moment," Doctor Williams said, closing the book. "If you're willing of course."

I checked the clock on the wall.

We had only been talking for fifteen minutes. I still had another whole forty-five minutes left of the session.

"If you want. Fair warning, my life isn't nearly as exciting as Abby's," I shifted on the couch and put my feet up on the table. "What would you like to know?"

"Anything you're okay with sharing."

I sighed heavily.

"There's not really much to talk about."

"How about family? Would you be okay with starting there?"

"Again, not really much to say. My mom hates The ECU."

Doctor Williams' brow rose.

"Really?" He reached for a file on the stand next to him. "Your mother is… hm. Eleanor Troy?"

He stared at me over the top of the file. I couldn't be sure, but I swore I heard recognition in his voice. It set off alarm bells again. This time, they were louder than ever.

"You're the one with the file. You tell me."

He chuckled and closed it.

"Another topic then."

My fingers dug into the couch cushions as he put the file to the side. Calmly, I did my best not to lunge off the couch and demand answers.

"Yeah…" I agreed with a mutter. "Another topic, please."

Forty-four minutes left.

I wasn't sure how I'd survive.

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