The compound was different in daylight.
Sera had last seen it in flames, the underground level collapsing as she dragged the children to safety. Now it stood silent and still, the morning sun casting long shadows across the rubble. The hole they'd found two nights ago was still there — darker, somehow, in the light.
Elara led them through the ruins without hesitation.
She moved like someone who'd memorized every stone, every turn, every shadow. Twelve years of captivity had etched the compound's layout into her bones. Even now, with the walls collapsed and the corridors filled with debris, she knew exactly where she was going.
"Here," she said, stopping in front of a wall that looked no different from any other. The stone was the same grey as the rest of the compound, weathered and unr
