Page 124 of Primal Mirror

“It fixed the vulnerability that would’ve allowed Shoshanna to take control of Liberty, and there’s a high chance it helped Auden heal from her earlier brain injuries so that she could protect her baby. It explains her recovery in a way nothing else comes close to doing.”

“Hmm.” Unconvinced, Zaira touched the spidersilk.

It twined around her psychic finger like the tiny child she’d petted in the infirmary, the feel of it purest innocence. “Ugh. Fine.” When she accepted the bond, it settled into place like a cub snuggling into her.

Zaira refused to smile. “It’s not a telepathic or psychic bond. No link between minds, no chance of information being siphoned out or pushed in. It’s…a basic transfer of energy.”

“It might mature as the child grows, but even if it never does, look at the PsyNet.”

That was when Zaira realized: nothing had broken or crumbled or torn away since this began. The entire PsyNet was calm…was even being patched together in places as the excess energy from the network was sent into the psychic sphere to fix the battered fabric.

But Zaira had known happiness for only a short time and she saw the flaw. “One child,” she said. “A fragile, breakable infant. The entire PsyNet cannot rest on those tiny shoulders. It’s not fair to her, and it’s not fair to the millions who need this network to survive.”

A clock bloomed in her mind, the hand moving from midnight back to nine p.m.

“Got it,” Zaira said, assuming the neosentience could hear her. “Thanks.”

Black flowers showered on her head.

She scowled. “I don’t remember it being so chatty before.” Shaking away that question before Aden could answer, she said, “Did you see the clock?”

“Yes. This isn’t permanent. It’s a gift of time to allow us to rest and recover, and find the path forward.” Aden paused again. “If I had to guess, I’d say the web is spread too thin. An emergency measure only. It can only hold for so long stretched across the entire PsyNet before it begins to break.”

Zaira took his psychic hand. “We watch over the child.”

“We watch over the child.”

* * *

• • •

IT was hours later, when the first excitement had died down, that Kaleb received a visit from the NetMind. It was much stronger already, fed by the energy of a rejuvenated network. “How long?” he asked it, showing it an image of the web, alongside images of a baby, then a child of five, then of ten and so on.

He received the same nine o’clock image Aden had already shared with the Ruling Coalition, but the NetMind couldn’t clarify whether each hour meant a month, a year, a decade, or more.

Given the extent of the damage, Kaleb was almost certain it would skew shorter.

“Will others be born who have the same ability as Ivan and the infant?” he asked, well aware the NetMind had the power to dabble with Psy in ways deep and unknowable.

A sense of sorrow, the image of a fractured line of steel gray.

It remained too weak, too damaged for such engineering.

Kaleb showered it in the flowers it so loved. “You’ve done enough, bought us time to fix what we spoiled.” One hundred years of Silence couldn’t be erased in a single beautiful night, but the NetMind loved its broken people enough to try to give them one final chance. “Thank you.”

Fireworks lit up his mind.

Chapter 49

To be part of the birth of a pack? It’s hard work, I won’t lie. But the rewards—“astronomical” is about the right word. I helped build an aerie that will be used by generations, and I wouldn’t give up even a single blister or callus that came from it.

But the best thing for me, the absolute best thing, is how close we are as a group. Our size means that we all connect on a daily basis, and honestly, this ornery old cat figured she’d go mad pretty damn fast as a result.

Instead, it turns out I love being in the center of the action, and I love that I can be part of everything. I just have to ask—there’s always room for an extra pair of hands and someone ready to train you to the job.

As an example, a day before turning in this article, I spent two hours with my alpha on an important project. The project in question was an educational plan for our children.

We’re now at the point where we’re looking to set up a school and on the hunt for teachers who want to dive into life with an audacious young pack where adventure and discovery are a daily fact—alongside laughter, fun, and waking up to one of the most beautiful places on this planet each and every day.

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