I didn’t say anything as we left the alley. I couldn't. My brain was stuck on a loop, replaying the way those smoke-shadows had looked at me—not like prey, but like an investment.
"Someone set me up," I said finally. My voice was a jagged rasp. "That trail wasn't a glitch. Someone wanted to see if I’d light up."
Maya didn’t look at me. She kept her eyes on the sidewalk, her jaw set so tight I thought her teeth might snap. "Yes."
I stopped dead under a flickering streetlamp. "And you just let me wander out here? You let me be a tethered goat?"
She turned around slowly. The yellow light made her look exhausted. "I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to go looking for trouble alone, Jane. I didn’t know how fast they’d move."
"Maybe if people actually told me the rules of this game,
