Morning came slowly in District Three. A thin haze of ash still blanketed the concrete ruins and old iron frames like a blanket of memories that refused to be swept away. Beneath the decaying remains of Imperial buildings, Xavier ducked his head, navigating narrow alleys that had once been expressways between military units. Now forgotten, except for those who had marked them with blood and dust.
He had been in this area for thirteen hours. And even if his destination was merely a decoy, everything had to seem real, too real to ignore.
He moved from point to point, with a determined pace. In one corner of the old station, he redrawn old coordinate markings that could only be read with ultraviolet light. In another building, he laid out a battered map listing “secret meeting” locations, c
