Marcus/Rocco
I was beginning to think Seraphina's apartment had
become my second home.
Which was concerning. Mostly because I didn't remember
agreeing to that.
I pushed open the door and immediately froze.
"What?"
Darren didn't look up. Three laptops sat open across
the table.
Two monitors were connected to something I didn't
understand. There were cables everywhere.
Maps covered half the room. Several empty coffee cups
sat nearby. The man looked like he hadn't slept. At all.
"Morning." I stared.
"What are you doing?"
"Working."
"It's eight in my morning."
"Correct."
"Darren."
He finally looked up. "What?"
I pointed at the collection of screens. "What's all
this?"
Darren tilted his head confused. "My setup."
"Your what?"
"My setup."
I turned toward Callie. She was sitting on the couch.
Completely unbothered. "You let him do this?"
"In my defence," she said, raising both hands, "he
wouldn't stop texting me."
Darren nodded. "I had questions."
"You sent seventy-three messages."
"I was being efficient."
I blinked. Callie blinked. Neither of us had a
response to that.
"He's been here since six."
I looked toward Seraphina. She was standing beside the
map wall. Coffee in one hand. Tablet in the other.
"You allowed this?"
"He was already inside when I woke up."
Darren looked proud of that fact. Somehow.
Riley came out a few minutes later. Then Noah.
Noah took one look and the table and stopped.
"…Why are there so many screens?"
Darren pointed at him. "Finally. Someone asking the
important questions."
"That wasn't a compliment."
Livia arrived shortly after. The apartment suddenly
felt crowded. Not that Seraphina seemed to care. She was too busy watch Darren.
Or more specifically, watching what he was doing.
The giant map of the city now covered one entire wall.
Red circles marked every known tear. Blue circles marked closed ones. Yellow
circles marked suspected locations.
There were lines connecting some of them. Notes
scribbled everywhere. The whole thing looked insane.
Which unfortunately meant it was probably important.
"So," Noah dropped into a chair, "what's the
emergency?"
Darren grinned. That worried me. Because Darren only
smiled like that when he'd figured something out.
And Darren figuring something out usually meant
everyone else had missed something.
A lot of things.
"The tears." Everyone groaned.
"Please tell me this good news."
"It isn't."
"Fantastic."
Darren clicked something on one of his laptops. The
map changed. Several locations lit up. Then a few more.
I frowned. "What exactly am I looking at?"
"The wrong question."
"Then what's the right one?"
Darren pointed toward the map. "What's missing?"
Silence. No one answered. Because we had no clue.
After a minute Noah threw his hands up. "I hate
puzzles."
"Noted."
Darren zoomed out. Then highlighted several sections
of the city. Large sections. Areas with no tears.
No activity. Nothing. My eyes narrowed. "Wait…"
"There it is."
I leaned closer. The realization slowly formed. The
tears weren't appearing everywhere. Certain locations were being skipped
entirely.
Avoided. Ignored.
"Why?" Callie asked. Daren pointed at the map.
"That's exactly
what I've been trying to figure out."
Seraphina stepped closer. Probably surprised she'd
missed it.
For the next hour, the room turned into a strategy
meeting. Or at least an attempt at one.
Noah got distracted twice. Riley had to throw a pen at
him. Callie and Livia sat together on the couch. Completely lost in their own
world.
At one point I wandered toward the kitchen. Mostly to
escape Darren's increasingly terrifying wall of evidence.
Livia was already there. Pouring herself water. For a
moment neither of us spoke.
"Crazy week." She laughed softly.
"That's one way to put it."
The sound made something stir at the edge of my mind.
A feeling. A memory. Gone before I could grab it. I frowned and Livia noticed.
"You, okay?"
"Yeah." The answer came too quickly. Because I wasn't.
not exactly. Something about her felt familiar, and not in the way Darren did.
Different. Like standing in front of a locked door and
somehow knowing there was something important behind it.
The feeling vanished. Leaving only frustration. Across
the room, Valen appeared. Naturally.
"Interesting." I sighed.
Livia glanced at me. "What?"
"Nothing."
Valen's smile widened. "By your words, that means it's
definitely something."
I hated him.
Back in the living room, Darren suddenly stood. The
movement got everyone's attention. Even Seraphina looked up.
Darren pointed toward the map. Towards the dozens of
marked locations. His expression had changed. The excitement was gone.
Replaced by something more serious. More focused. "I
think I've got it."
The room fell silent.
Darren grabbed a marker. Then drew a line. And a
couple of connecting points. Building a shape. A pattern. Slowly the picture
emerged. And as it did…
The room became very quiet.
The tears weren't random. They weren't spreading
aimlessly. They weren't appearing where ever they wanted.
They were moving outward. Like ripples across water.
Expanding circles. Like something searching.
Noah stared. "That's creepy."
"Very." Riley agreed.
"What are they searching for?"
Darren looked toward the centre of the pattern. Toward
the point where every line eventually led. Every circle. Every path. Every
expansion.
My stomach tightened.
I already knew that location.
The marker tapped the centre of the map. The sound
echoed through the room. Nobody spoke. Not immediately. Because everyone
recognised it.
The Azzurro Estate.
Callie slowly sat forward. Noah and Riley looked confused. Livia's eyes
widened. And across the room…
Valen stopped smiling. Only for a second but I saw it.
Darren looked around the room. At all of us. Then back
toward the map.
His voice was quieter this time. More certain.
"Whatever is causing this…" his finger rested on the estate.
"I think it started there. And I'm guessing seven
years ago."
Silence. Heavy and uncomfortable. The kind that
settles before something changes.
For the first time in years…
The thought of returning home terrified me.