The bedroom was too small. It felt like the walls were slowly sliding toward her, like there wasn’t enough air. Not enough room for the anger and confusion building in her body. So Gabriella walked back out after only a couple minutes of pacing.

To her relief, James was gone when she got back out into the living room. She could hear the sounds of muted voices coming from the basement as she walked down the steps and toward the front door. But she couldn’t place who it was and frankly, didn’t care. She needed to be alone right now to try and collect her thoughts.

The morning air was warmer than she’d expected, so she held the jacket in her good hand as she stepped out onto the front stairs and closed the door behind her. The neighborhood was quiet, which made sense. Mid morning, everyone was probably already at work or school. Trembling a little as she walked down the steps, Gabriella suddenly wished she was one of them. She didn’t want to be here right now, stewing in rage. She wanted to be ten years old and riding that school bus that just passed by the end of the street, maybe on her way to summer camp. She wanted to know that monsters under the bed were just a scary story. And that her big cousin James would always be there for her.

She walked down to the cement walkway, where half-cooked flowers were trying their best to look cheerful. Nobody needed her right now, technically she wasn’t even on duty. But what was she going to do, go home? Not a chance.

Instead, she stepped off the walkway and started walking along the side of the house. The side yard was smaller than the front, but there was plenty of space between Headquarters and the house next door. Someone had planted a scraggly line of bushes to designate the property line and Gabriella trailed her hand absently over it as she walked out back.

How could James do this? She couldn’t get it to make sense in her mind, but it was the only explanation. There was a shadow person at the house. The same shadow person, the one James was sure he’d taken care of, was now in her apartment. The thing that wasn’t supposed to be able to hurt her had torn her arm open almost to the bone. And the only way that could have happened was if James hadn’t done his job correctly. She wanted to scream. She wanted to scream and cry until her voice was hoarse, to aim her pain and rage at James until he could see exactly how he’d betrayed her. It would have been so much less painful if it had been anyone else in the group. But it had to be her blood relative who’d gotten her hurt. The one she trusted the most.

The backyard was clearly better tended to than the sides of the house. As she walked in, she saw a small stone patio with a worn table and a couple of chairs. The backyard was lower than the back exit of the house, so there were stairs leading from the back porch down to the yard. Fang was stretched out on the bottom step, peacefully sleeping in the summer sun. Gabriella made her way over and sat down on the step above her.

“Hey, bud,” she said softly as she ran a hand through her silky fur.

Fang opened one eye long enough to look at her, then shifted so that Gabriella and the sun could reach her soft belly. Gabriella stroked her fur, taking deep breaths as she tried to calm down.

She had a few options here. She could quit and find a different job. It wasn’t like she’d signed a contract forcing her to stay with the Foundation, so she was free to go whenever she wanted to. She could leave this all behind and let them find someone else to take her spot. It wasn’t like she was essential to the team, she was still in training after all. The safest option was to hand in her resignation and never speak to any of them again. Sure, Christmas would be awkward as hell for the rest of her life. But that would be the price she paid.

But she knew the truth. And she was pretty sure the Foundation didn’t have memory-erasing technology. So she’d have to find a way to live in the world knowing full well what even her small area of it contained. And right now, even with the sun hot on her hair and the scent of zinnias in the air around her, she knew she couldn’t do that. While she’d known there were strange things in the world well before starting with the Foundation, the sheer amount of confirmation she’d gotten over the past few weeks had changed her life.

So if she wasn’t going to quit, could she transfer? Worcester wasn’t that far, and she was pretty sure the Foundation had a branch there. If they were North County, who was taking care of South County? Hell, the training program was so dead set on her living in New Bedford. Maybe she could move to the coast.

That was the solution. A transfer. She’d go inside right now, go to Robin’s office, and request that he transfer her to the next available position that wasn’t in the North County branch.

As if on cue, Fang stood up, stretched, and walked away, tossing her a look over her shoulder. Gabriella stood up, wincing as the pain in her arm flared up. Then she started up the stairs.

The house was quiet as she opened the back door and stepped inside. From here, she could see the computer stations in the living room were empty. She closed the door behind herself, then walked into the dining room and knocked on Robin’s closed door.

There was a second of silence, then she heard footsteps. The door opened and Robin glared out. Then he saw it was Gabriella and his cross expression melted into a smile.

“Gabriella,” he said, suddenly cheerful. “Come in, come in.”

He ushered her into the small office, closing the door behind them. It was crammed with bookshelves on either side of his desk, and she could see stacks of papers and boxes piled around the room. But Robin didn’t seem fazed by the mess as he walked back behind his desk and motioned for her to sit down.

“I just wanted to tell you how happy I am that you’ve stuck with us,” Robin started before Gabriella could say a word. “I know you’ve been through a lot, and many people would have quit or transferred after what happened yesterday. But you’re clearly not just anybody. I’ve got big plans for you.”

Gabriella’s stomach sank as Robin smiled at her from across the desk. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t going to transfer. So instead of saying exactly what she’d been rehearsing in the few minutes since she made her decision, she smiled and hoped it looked real.

***

All personnel are equipped with GPS whenever they leave their headquarters for a mission. However, here at the Foundation, we believe in being prepared. Because of this, we require all of our members to learn alternative ways of finding their way in an unfamiliar place.

Gabriella closed her eyes for a second, then opened them as the screen faded out and a small hourglass appeared, spinning shakily in the center of her screen. She’d been trying to do this module for thirty minutes now and had gotten maybe fifteen minutes of actual learning done.

Click here to access an interactive sky map, set to your location. Confirm it is accurate, then consult the instructions on the next page.

Celestial navigation. Of course they were having her spend a glitchy hour plus learning how to navigate by the stars like some old-timey sailor. Just in case she ever needed to find her way home from Westminster and the highway ceased to exist. She clicked on the given link and the computer thought for a moment, making an unsettling grinding sound until it finally spit out a result.

NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS 02741

Gabriella took a deep breath, trying not to scream. This was the equipment they had. And if this was what she needed to use in order to learn such important skills as how to navigate by starlight, so be it. She looked over the screen, looking for the link to change the location, but there didn’t seem to be one available.

She was halfway out of her seat to ask James when she remembered she was furious with him right now. Between that and the glitchy computer, it surprised Gabriella to see that she was actually shaking with rage. She slowly sat back down, taking a deep breath and letting it out. She was at work and professionalism was key. Just like Mom had always told her when she was applying for jobs in high school and college.

It was a job. She could do this. So instead of pushing the computer onto the floor, she let out one last breath, then got up to ask Robin to help her.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 13