As the night moves on, no one else says a word in the stuffy silence. Hayomo's authority goes unquestioned as our fear and respect become a tangible haze in the air. At the end of the briefing, there's a muted shuffling to collect our supplies and pack our tablets. It lasts only seconds before I feel the looming presence of Dean at my shoulder.

"How are you feeling?"

I slump back into my seat. "Fantastic. Yourself?"

I can tell there's an unspoken question hanging in the air between us, just at the edge of his lips but chained away from ever coming out beyond that. I humor him anyway.

"I'm fine, Dean. Really. It was a—and I quote—'textbook procedure.' Now we wait one week to confirm it all." I turn in my chair to face him.

"You believe it will work?"

"Yeah," I say with sincerity. "I feel different this time."

He scans the room. "Want to go for a run on Level One?"

"Nah," I brush off. "I'll catch up with you in a bit. Wanted to talk to Hayomo first."

Dean raises an eyebrow at me as if to say "that's a stupid idea" but gathers his things and leaves anyway.

Turning back to the tablet on the table, I find Hayomo walking into the shadows.

We are the only two left in the room. I want to reach out to her, to tell her that she was right and that I'm in this now and won't disappoint her again. Before I move to follow her into the darkness, her voice crackles in a whisper through the air like small feet stepping on shattered glass.

"They're not ready yet, but they will be soon. You had my word, and that is the best I can give you."

A clicking noise, like that of long nails tapping on aluminum, shudders from those dark lines with her. I can't see them, but I know that there are others in the black space with her.