. No attachment. No regret. Just
lined streets. Manicured
card holding less than five hundred dollars-her entire
June studied
ines. The city grid rad
stop
ew thi
y memories. This knowledge was old
arter to the south. The financial towers to the east. The gri
e world she had naviga
her old world
ng she had learned as Aurora-every contact, every passwor
through her veins. A cold, sharp
starting f
erground antique market in Blackwood. The
raffiti, June closed her eyes, sifting through Aurora's knowledge: ancie
damp pavement and rotting garbage. She navigated the labyrinth of
d laundromat. Right
tooed man sat behind the counter. His eyes dragged over her thin
his stare and spoke a pa
ee the Old Man
enuine shock. He squinted, re-evaluating her, th
sparked through her. Some
ed down into the muffled sounds of a hide. Rows of stalls stretched under dim bulbs, piled with chaotic
She moved through the aisles, scanning the tables. Mos
ting the instincts that
el, a man in a tailored black suit watch
d nearby. "Mr. Bryant, the marke
nswer. His attention
raight, her gait unhurried. She didn't glance ar
rest, a habit that surfaced only whe
his gaze. "A
eyes. The girl had stopped at a stall piled with miscellaneous ju
discarding. It looked like idle curiosity. But Jase c
rd. "Run a chec
ir
variables on
nt." Leo pulle
closed around something small andme and corrosion. Al
fic weight. The unique tex
bs-the only sign of excitement she allowed hersel
nd
. Her mind already calculating the negot
room, Jase watched h
ne smile touc
urious about how t
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