I woke up expecting the house to feel different.
That was stupid.
Houses didn't develop personalities overnight just because two men had accidentally planned an apocalypse compound around one. Still, I stood at the top of the stairs for several seconds and listened for the crackle of radios, low voices, or someone discussing supply routes beside my television.
Only... there was nothing.
The living room looked almost normal again. The maps had disappeared from the coffee table, the snack bowls had been returned to their proper places, and the cabinet beside the bookshelves stood open and mostly empty.
Lingyun lay stretched across the sectional with one arm over his eyes. He had somehow turned "resting" into occupying enough couch for three people, although the fresh bandages around his ribs suggested the healer had won at least one argument before leaving the property.
