POV: Vesper
"Stop the car."
Nyx's command cuts through my racing thoughts. We've been driving for twenty minutes, the Sanctum's alarms still echoing in my ears.
"We can't stop. They're hunting us—"
"Pull over. Now."
Something in his voice makes me obey. I swerve into an empty parking lot. The moment the car stops, Nyx grabs my face, forcing me to look at him.
"Breathe, Vesper. You're having a panic attack."
He's right. My chest is tight, vision tunneling. Everything that happened tonight crashes over me at once. The spirit. The contract. Running. My father's terrified eyes. The kill order.
"I can't... I can't breathe..."
"Yes, you can. Look at me. Breathe with me." His storm-gray eyes lock onto mine. "In. Out. In. Out."
I follow his rhythm. Slowly, the panic recedes.
"Better?" he asks softly.
I nod, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I thought I could handle this—"
"You went from invisible housewife to wanted fugitive in three hours. You're allowed to break down." He releases my face but stays close. "But we need a plan. The Sanctum has trackers. They'll find this car within the hour."
"Where can we go?"
"Nowhere. Not yet." Nyx's expression darkens. "We need to go back."
"Back? Are you insane?"
"Not to the Sanctum. To your house." He pulls out my phone—when did he take it? "You left something important."
My stomach drops. "What?"
"Evidence. All those photos, videos, bank records proving Quillan's crimes? They're on your laptop. In your house. If Quillan finds them first, he'll destroy everything."
"I have backups—"
"Do you? Where? Cloud storage he has access to? A flash drive in your desk drawer he can burn?" Nyx's eyes flash red. "You need those files for the custody battle. Without proof, it's your word against his. And he has money, lawyers, and Sanctum connections."
He's right. I hate that he's right.
"Fine. We go back. Get the laptop. Then what?"
"Then we disappear for real. I know places even the Sanctum can't track." Nyx glances at Ivory, still sleeping peacefully. "But she needs to stay somewhere safe first. Somewhere Quillan can't touch her."
My father's face flashes through my mind. "I know a place."
Twenty minutes later, we're back in my neighborhood. My hands shake on the steering wheel as I pull up three houses away from mine. Every light in my house is on. Quillan's car sits in the driveway.
"He's still there," I whisper.
"Good. He'll be distracted." Nyx opens his door. "Wait here. I'll get the laptop."
"No. I'm coming with you."
"Vesper—"
"It's my house. My fight." I unbuckle. "Besides, you don't know where I hid it."
We argue for thirty seconds before he gives in. "Fine. But you follow my lead. And if I say run, you run."
We slip through shadows toward my house. Through the kitchen window, I see Quillan pacing, phone pressed to his ear. Sable sits on the couch, crying. Good.
Nyx phases us through the back door—one of his digital demon abilities. We're inside.
My heart pounds so loud I'm sure they'll hear it.
Upstairs, we slip into my tiny office—the room Quillan said I didn't need because "what would you use it for?" My laptop sits where I left it, surrounded by research papers.
I grab it. Nyx grabs the papers.
"Got it. Let's go."
That's when we hear Quillan's voice, clear and close: "—yes, Senator Calloway. Your daughter kidnapped Ivory. She's clearly unstable, just like you warned. We need the Sanctum to track her down immediately."
I freeze. My father's voice crackles through the speaker: "I understand, Quillan. I'll mobilize our hunters. She won't get far."
"Thank you. I knew you'd understand. Family first, right?"
"Always."
The call ends.
Nyx pulls me toward the stairs but I can't move. My father. He betrayed me. Again. The flash drive, the attorney, the help—it was all a trap.
"Vesper, we have to—"
Quillan appears at the bottom of the stairs.
We lock eyes.
For three seconds, nobody moves.
Then Quillan screams: "SABLE! SHE'S HERE!"
Nyx shoves me toward the window. "Jump!"
"We're on the second floor—"
"I'll catch you. JUMP!"
I jump.
The fall feels like forever. Then Nyx's arms wrap around me, cushioning the impact. We hit the ground rolling.
Behind us, the window explodes. Quillan's thunder wolf crashes through, electricity crackling.
"Run!" Nyx pulls me up.
We sprint for the car. Behind us, Sable's ice phoenix manifests, shooting frozen spears. One grazes my shoulder. Pain explodes but I keep running.
We reach the car. I dive into the driver's seat. Nyx jumps in beside me.
The engine roars to life.
Quillan reaches the car, slamming his hands on my window. "You can't run from this, Vesper! I'll find you! I'll take everything!"
I meet his eyes. "You already did. My turn now."
I floor it.
The car screams forward. In the rearview mirror, Quillan and Sable shrink. But I know this isn't over. My father betrayed me. The Sanctum is hunting me. I have nowhere safe to go.
"What now?" My voice cracks.
Nyx stares at the laptop in his hands. "Now we find out what your husband is really hiding. Because men like Quillan don't panic over stolen credit. He's scared of something bigger."
He opens the laptop. Starts typing faster than humanly possible.
"What are you doing?"
"Breaking into Quillan's private servers. The ones even his company doesn't know about." His eyes glow. "He's been hiding something. Something worth killing you to protect."
The laptop screen fills with files. Thousands of them.
Nyx goes very still.
"What? What is it?"
He turns the screen toward me.
My blood turns to ice.
The files are labeled: PROJECT GHOST HARVEST. Dozens of folders. Photos. Videos. Names.
Missing tamers. Dozens of them. All listed as "defective." All supposedly executed by the Sanctum.
But they weren't executed.
They were experimented on.
"Quillan's been working with the Sanctum for five years," Nyx says quietly. "Testing digital necromancy on live subjects. Trying to forcibly convert defective tamers into digital spirits. Most died. The survivors..." He clicks a video.
A woman screams on screen, half-digital, half-human, begging for death.
I'm going to be sick.
"Your research," Nyx continues. "The breakthrough code Quillan stole? He's been using it to torture people. To create an army of enslaved digital spirits." He looks at me. "You invented the key to the most powerful weapon in the world. And he's been using it for five years."
My hands shake so hard I can barely hold the steering wheel. "Those people... all those people... because of my code..."
"Because of HIS theft. This isn't your fault."
"How many?"
Nyx scrolls through files. "Forty-seven confirmed. Dozens more listed as pending."
Forty-seven people. Tortured. Killed. Because I was too stupid to protect my research. Too trusting to see what Quillan really was.
My phone rings. Unknown number.
I answer on speaker.
"Hello, Vesper." A woman's voice. Cold. Familiar. "This is Magistrate Winters. We spoke earlier about your custody case."
"Yes, I remember—"
"I lied. There is no Magistrate Winters. There is no emergency filing. There's only this: you have something my employers want. The laptop. The research. Everything Quillan couldn't protect."
Ice floods my veins. "Who are you?"
"Someone who's been watching you for three years. Someone who knows exactly what you're capable of. Someone who's now very interested in making a deal." A pause. "Bring us the laptop and we'll give you Ivory back."
The world stops.
"What?"
"Did you think we'd let you keep your daughter? We took her from your car while you were busy breaking into your own house. She's safe. For now. But that safety depends on your cooperation."
I look in the backseat.
Empty.
Ivory's rabbit lies abandoned on the seat.
My daughter is gone.
"If you hurt her—" My voice breaks.
"We won't. If you cooperate. The laptop. Tomorrow. Midnight. Location to be sent. Come alone. Bring the demon if you must. But come." The voice softens. "Or we'll do to Ivory what Quillan did to those forty-seven tamers. We'll make her into one of them. A digital ghost. Conscious. Aware. Trapped forever between life and death. Begging for mercy that never comes."
The line goes dead.
I can't breathe. Can't think. Can't—
Nyx grabs my shoulders. "Vesper. Look at me. We'll get her back."
"They have my baby. They have my—"
"I know. And we're going to save her. But I need you to focus. Can you do that?"
I force myself to nod.
"Good. Because this isn't random. Someone's been planning this. Someone knew you'd awaken tonight. Knew you'd form a contract with me. Knew exactly where to strike." His eyes narrow. "Someone set this entire night in motion."
"Who?"
"I don't know yet. But we're going to find out." He looks at the laptop. "And we're going to use this research to destroy them all. Starting with Quillan."
My phone buzzes. A photo message.
It's Ivory. Asleep in a white room. Alive. Unharmed.
Below it: "24 hours. Don't disappoint us."
I stare at my daughter's face.
Then I look at Nyx.
"Teach me," I whisper. "Teach me everything. Every power, every ability, every weapon in our arsenal. Because tomorrow night, I'm getting my daughter back."
"And then?"
"Then I burn this entire world down."
Nyx smiles. It's terrifying and beautiful.
"Now you're thinking like a Sovereign."
He hands me the laptop.
"Let's start with lesson one: how to weaponize your own genius."