ze

The sound of shattering ceramic gave me a brief, s

. She poked her head in from the outer office, her

annah's, and managed to rein in my temp

thing had been right for days. Practice was a grind, the media was a

e past five years, Eloise had seeped

ctly tempered coffee, when I needed a persistent re

sucked out of the room. I

me in for one final handover. A flicke

t. I just needed her to train the new i

ve feed from the security camera in

er hair pulled back casually. She wore no makeup, y

used to carry was gone. In its p

weet smile, but Eloise just nodded, her expressi

lack of engagement, infuriat

f. Eloise picked up h

e intercom.

stopped a good ten feet away, a p

thing else?" Her voice was

e for any trace of the woman I kne

the details?" I said, grabbing for a business excuse. It was our biggest endorsement

ecklist. Miss Hayes has confirmed receipt," she

ed over me. I couldn't keep

stomach. It was an old problem, flaring up wh

d to my abdomen, a cold sweat

y side in an instant with a glass of warm water and my medicatio

ere, watching. Her eyes he

She really didn

and the pills, her face a mask of worry. "Blaze-brother,

licker of something-mockery?-crossed Eloise's fa

m Chloe's grasp. It shattered on the flo

obbing. Eloise d

, "If there's nothing else, I

ed away, without a

r the first time, I felt a

really, tru