The splinter network screamed.
I was in the war room with Selene, reviewing reports on the faction's departure, when the connection flared in my mind. Not pain—something worse. Desperation. The broken-away entities were calling for help.
"James!" Freya's voice crackled through the earpiece. "The faction that left—something's attacking them. Something from outside."
"I thought the Devourer was gone."
"This isn't the Devourer. It's something else. Something that's been hunting the broken fragments for millennia."
I was already moving. "Where are they?"
"The deep network. The outer edges. They're trying to reach us for help."
I sat in the chair, the headset in my hands. The device was light, its surface cool to the touch. The network was pulsing in the back of my mind, its energy chaot
