Lyra’s POV
He slept in the crawlspace behind the laundry room. The one Mira and I used to sneak snacks through before Leo’s paranoia tripled and locked down every entrance like we were guarding the Pentagon. It wasn’t ideal,hell, it was a dusty, cramped nightmare,but it was off-camera, and more importantly, off Leo’s radar.
Adrian had been out cold for the first few hours after I dragged him in. Well, not dragged,half-dragged, half-carried, with his blood soaking through my shirt like a brand I couldn’t wash off. He’d lost a lot. From where, I still didn’t know. Mira had helped, wordlessly, her eyes sharper than her age, the kind of old-soul stillness that made you forget she was just a kid. She watched me clean him up like it was a ritual, like she understood I wasn’t just wiping blood,
