Page 56

"Your mother believed knowledge would trigger premature activation. The modifications needed to develop naturally, at the right time." He sighs. "Whether that was the right decision is another matter. But it wasn't Trent's choice to make."

"He still lied to me. For years. Years!"

I don’t even want to get into the fact that the reason it hurts is because I have feelings for him, feelings I’m now embarrassed for having.

"Yes." Reid doesn't try to justify it further. "Rest now. We'll talk more when you're stronger."

After he leaves, I stare at the ceiling, trying to processeverything that's happened. My body feels simultaneously foreign and more genuinely mine than it ever has, like I've been wearing ill-fitting clothes my whole life and finally found something tailored perfectly. The enhanced senses no longer overwhelm me; instead, they feel natural, as if they've always been there, just waiting to be activated.

But the emotional storm hasn't subsided. If anything, it's intensified. Anger at Trent for his deception. Confusion about my mother's grand plans for me. Anxiety about what these changes mean for my future. And something else, a strange pull toward Vex that makes no logical sense. He's arrogant, antagonistic, and clearly dislikes everything I was trained to be.

So why did I feel steadier when he told me to stop resisting? Why did his words cut through the chaos when Trent's couldn't?

I close my eyes, too exhausted to untangle that particular knot. For now, survival is enough. Processing these changes, adapting to this new reality—that's all I can handle.

The rest will have to wait until I figure out exactly who—and what—I'm becoming.

I waketo darkness and the sense of not being alone.

My newly enhanced vision adjusts instantly, revealing a figure seated beside my bed.

Not Trent or Reid.

Vex.

"Did you know that in Unity, watching people sleep is considered creepy?" I inform him, sitting up. My body responds smoothly, the weakness from earlier gone.

"Monitoring a transition isn't creepy, it's prudent." Hedoesn't seem surprised that I can see him clearly in the dark. "How's the pain?"

I take inventory. "Gone. Everything feels settled, I guess."

He nods, studying me with those fiery eyes. "Your adaptations stabilized faster than most. Your mother's work was impressive."

"Stop calling her that." The words burst out before I can stop them. "She wasn't my mother. She was a scientist who used her own child as a genetic experiment."

Vex doesn't flinch at my outburst. "She was both. One doesn't negate the other."

"Easy for you to say. You weren't designed with a purpose in mind."

"Wasn't I?" Something flickers across his face—old pain, quickly masked. "My modifications weren't chosen for me, true. But they were forced on me. At least yours were integrated with your natural development."

I hadn't considered that perspective. "How did it happen for you?"

He's silent long enough that I think he won't answer. "Unity raid on my settlement when I was nineteen. They took prisoners for experimentation, testing reversal protocols on 'contaminated' subjects." His voice remains neutral, but I see the tension in his jaw. "I was the only one who survived their procedures."

Guilt twists in my gut. I was part of that system, the Sentinel who hunted people like him, who delivered them to processing facilities without questioning what happened after.

"I'm sorry," I say, knowing how inadequate it sounds.

"You weren't there." His eyes hold mine. "And now you're one of us. Funny how life works."

"Am I?" I look down at my hands, remembering the claws that briefly appeared earlier. "One of you? Or something else entirely?"

"Something else," he admits. "Your modifications are more sophisticated. Designed rather than adapted. The pinnacle of your mother's research."

"The prodigal daughter," I mutter. “Lucky fucking me.”

"Actually, yes." He leans forward, intensity radiating from him. "Do you have any idea what you're capable of? Most of us paid for our adaptations with suffering and instability. Yours were crafted for optimal integration, all the benefits of modification without the drawbacks."