The living room was too quiet.
Not the good kind of quiet that was restful, earned, peaceful.
No. This was the suffocating, vacuum-sealed kind of silence. The kind that swells around you before an earthquake.
The only sound came from the television, casting flickering lights over the five of us. My face fully unmasked for the world to see, the one that I had taken when I visited the evaluation center for the first time, filled every screen. Every channel. Every feed.
REYNARD VALE — THE MASKED SYNDICATE LEADER EXPOSED
The headline repeated like a heartbeat.
Alexis stood first, arms folded like she was trying to keep herself from combusting. "Rey," she said, voice too calm to be comforting. "Is there something you forgot to tell us?"
Camille didn't say anything at first. Just let out a long, slow breath like she was deciding whether to laugh or scream. "You know," she muttered, "I once asked you, half-jokingly if you were going to expose the government and be exposed equally."
