WHEN ISABELLA’S HAND closed around Dex’s, the tether flared. Not violently. Not deliberately. Just there—sudden and undeniable, like a sense he hadn’t realized had gone dormant until it woke all at once.

Dex froze, fear spiking sharp and instinctive before his mind could catch up. It had been weeks since the severing, weeks since he’d felt this kind of connection without Malik standing across from him monitoring readouts and calmly confirming that CASPER was still holding. This wasn’t a test. This wasn’t controlled. This was an accident—and the first unintentional tether he’d experienced since being cut loose from the Order.

The fear should have been louder. Instead, what rose beneath it was relief. The realization hit him with quiet force, unsettling in its familiarity. He’d told himself he didn’t miss this—that not tethering had been a relief, that being sealed off from other people’s inner lives meant freedom and safety.

DEX FELT THE weight of the switchboard against his spine as it jostled in his backpack, the solid mass of it shifting every time he moved too fast. They weren’t going to use it again—not like they had tonight. They’d learned that lesson the hard way. Severing that many Tangents in one night had left a traceability they hadn’t anticipated, a faint but undeniable signature that the Order’s systems would eventually learn how to follow. Still, Charlotte had convinced Malik it would be useful for the Tangents who had escaped Below, the ones who had learned to live in constant fear of a single recorded tether.

When the blue lights of approaching squad cars flared against the buildings along the edge of the neighborhood, Dex felt a sharp spike of gratitude that Charlotte and Tobias had stayed behind to help them pack up. The equipment was everywhere—crates half-packed, cables still unwound, tools spread in an organized chaos that reflected a space borrowed for work it was never meant to hold.

“We have to hurry!” Malik called out, quickly winding the cables.

Dex didn’t argue. He handed the backpack to Tobias—already loading some crates into the back of the Jeep—climbed into the driver’s seat, and started it in one smooth motion. The engine turned over quietly enough amidst the city noise, and he immediately disabled the automatic headlights before jumping back out to help load the last of the gear.