Meadow's POV
Tyler always liked announcements.
Not threats.
Not violence.
Announcements.
It was his way of saying I'm still here without needing to prove it immediately.
I stared at the blank monitor long after the signal vanished. The silence in the room felt heavier now, like the air had changed density.
Behind me, Lily shifted uneasily in the doorway, the blanket wrapped around her shoulders dragging slightly along the floor.
"So he can just… break into the system whenever he wants?" she asked quietly.
"No," Alaric replied.
His tone was calm, but I could hear the steel beneath it.
"He didn't break in."
I turned toward him. "Then what did he do?"
Alaric tapped the keyboard again, replaying the captured packet trace from the transmission.
"He knocked."
"That didn't feel like knocking."
"It was," he said. "A controlled handshake. Short burst, encrypted. He wasn't trying to access anything."
"Then what was the point?"
Alaric leaned back slightly, studying the trace.
