They climbed back into the cab of the Mountain Climber, the air inside now thick with tension. Finnegan didn’t start the engine immediately. He watched Leela for a moment, noticing the way her fingers kept drifting up to touch the cold iron collar, as if checking that the lock was still holding.“Listen to me,” he said, his voice cutting through her worry.
He rested his right hand on the stick shift, his grip loose but steady.
“We’re getting closer to the source. The Stone is doing its job but the Grove is…it’s a lot. It’s going to try to bypass the filter.”
He looked at her hand, resting softly on her knee.
“If that hum gets any louder,” he instructed, nodding at his own hand on the shifter, “if you start to feel like you’re losing your quiet. I want you to place your hand on top of mi
