"Your turn," Maya said as the first Bureau employees began arriving, their footsteps echoing in the hallway outside the lab. "You've heard my sad origin story. Quid pro quo."
James tensed, his fingers tightening around his water bottle. Echo sensed the change, pressing against his leg in response.
"That's different," he replied, his usual lightness absent from his voice. "You've always been deaf. I haven't always been blind."
Maya's chair squeaked as she leaned forward. "I know. Three years, four months, and seventeen days, according to your file."
James felt a chill run through him. The precision of her statement somehow made it worse. "You read my file."
"Of course I did. Just like you read mine before we met." Maya's hands moved in a deliberate way that meant she was choosing her w
