Back at the organisation, before my departure…
Kai had taken me to his quarters and tried to calm me down, but I couldn't stop shaking. He eventually called in Sun, Luna, and Harper, yet their voices couldn't reach me. The betrayal cut deeper than any blade — a wound I had never been trained to endure. It wasn't even in my vocabulary.
They ended up drugging me.
By the time I woke, exhaustion clung to me like a second skin. I didn't move. I didn't speak. I just stared at the ceiling.
"How are you feeling?" Kai asked.
⸻
"Sarah…"
"Did you know?" My voice cracked as soon as the words left me.
"Are you crazy? Why would you ask me that?" Kai snapped, but there was fear in his voice, not anger.
I looked at him, and the worry in his eyes hit me harder than the words. I must have looked like hell — pale, shaking, hollow.
"I didn't get out," I whispered. The tears came fast and hot, blurring everything. Kai didn't hesitate — he climbed onto the bed and pulled me against him, his arms holding me together when I felt like I was about to shatter.
"We'll find another way," he murmured.
"No… we won't." My voice was barely a breath.
"Sarah…"
"He betrayed me, Kai. Skylar lied to me." The words ripped out of me, raw and jagged.
I wanted to hate him — I needed to hate him — but I couldn't. Not for what he did. Not for what it cost me. And Kai… he didn't know how to help. I'd never told him about Skylar. He didn't push, didn't ask. He just rubbed my back in silence, grounding me when I felt like I was falling apart.
Three weeks passed, but it all blurred together. I stopped caring about rules. About missions. About anything. I became a ghost with blood on her hands — wiping out targets with no witnesses left behind. Orders meant nothing to me.
I ignored every call from Kai. Never went back to the organisation. They sent other agents after me, but they didn't stand a chance. The ones who survived were in hospital for months.
⸻
Back to the six-foot panther.
I woke to a pitch-black sky, stars scattered like shards of glass, glittering in the void.
"Uhh…" I groaned, pain flaring as I sat up. My eyes landed on the panther.
"You're awake," it said, a hint of relief in its voice.
I shrieked, scrambling backward until my spine hit the cold ground.
It sighed, almost like it was tired. "I knew it was a bad idea to approach. They always freak out the first time we meet."
"What the…?" I muttered under my breath.
Snow's ears flicked, his gaze locking on mine. "I didn't really take you for the cursing type, Agent Li," he said, almost amused.
"Who are you?"
"I already told you—my name is System 832. And I'm your personal guide through this world."
"Guide? What do you mean guide? I mean I want to get the hell back," I snapped, pointing over my shoulder.
"Umm… you can't."
"Why not?"
⸻
"You died, Agent Li."
It took Snow two whole hours to explain how I'd ended up here. I barely heard half of it. I just sat there, numb, the words sinking into me like cold water.
"I'm dead," I repeated for the fifth time, my voice flat. Snow tried to comfort me, but his calmness only made the air feel heavier.
"But… how? I mean, I feel fine. I don't feel dead," I said, my voice trembling between disbelief and defiance.
"That's because I've been attached to you. Like life support," he explained.
"But I can go back, right? I can go back home?" My voice cracked on the last word, desperate for a yes.
"At the moment, no, Agent Li. But given time, you will. Every system attached to a host is given a mission. If you complete it, you can go back home… and I will move on to the next host."
I pressed my hands to my temples as pain throbbed through my skull. Too much information. Too fast.
"So… what's my mission, Snow?" I asked, exhausted.
"Your mission is quite simple, Sarah. You are to survive."
"Survive… as in don't die?"
"Yep."