Luna’s office smelled like coffee and desperation.
Three days had passed since Vasquez’s visit—three days of Luna working nearly eighteen hours at a time, surviving on caffeine and sheer determination. Code streamed endlessly across her screens while Silvercrest struggled to function around her relentless focus.
Sera stood quietly in the doorway, watching her sister work. Luna’s shoulders carried a stillness that only came after exhaustion burned itself out and left behind raw, razor-sharp clarity. Her fingers moved across the keyboard with rhythmic precision, pausing occasionally to adjust parameters or review strings of decoded data before returning to her relentless pace.
“Luna,” Sera said softly.
No response.
Sera stepped closer and rested a hand gently on her shoulder, applying e
