Her apartment was the apartment of a person who had been working alone.
Not the organized obsession of Ren's timeline wall — she had not built a visual record. She had built a filing system. Five cabinet drawers along the east wall, labeled in a hand that was precise and small. A desk with a laptop and a separate hard drive and a legal pad covered in notes that she turned face-down when they came in. Not to hide it. Out of habit. The habit of someone who had been careful for fourteen months about who saw what she was working on.
She made tea without asking if they wanted it and set three cups on the table and sat down.
Ren sat across from her. Lena sat at the end of the table.
How did you find me, Amara said. Not accusatory. Procedurally curious. The question of someone who had been ca
