[Countdown: 00:59:33 | Be alert.]
I looked at the number and felt the weight of it. The whole day it had been sitting in the corner of my vision, ticking down with the patience of something that didn't need to hurry because it knew exactly when it was arriving. Less than an hour now.
Vince Vale was not coming to talk.
I sat on my bed with the folded page from the library in my hands. I had read it multiple times through the afternoon.
The words were beginning to blur at the edges from handling but I read it again anyway, because there was a difference between knowing something and knowing it well enough to use it in the dark under pressure.
"You seem deep in thought," Vapour said from his bed. "Thinking about Azure?"
"I'm good," I answered. The words came out flat, dead. I heard it and couldn't summon the energy to fix the tone.
"Are you sure you're—"
A sharp knock cut him off.
Vapour stopped mid-sentence and looked at me. "Are you expecting someone?"
