"I'm only saying this because it's you."
Lena's voice was barely above the hum of the vents. They sat in the fourth-floor gallery, the one with the two low couches and the single hanging lamp that cast long shadows across the glass wall. Beyond the partition, Theo was in the next booth over with Jax and Priya, their voices a low murmur that drifted through the half-open door.
Kai leaned in, elbows on his knees. "What is it?"
Lena's fingers drummed once on her thigh, then stilled. She glanced toward Theo's group before her eyes locked back on him.
"Dylan," she whispered. "I heard he's Thorne's nephew. Actual blood. That's why he got pulled out so fast after… after whatever happened with that note. They didn't reassign him. They protected him."
The words hit Kai like a static shock.
Dylan. The quiet boy who had slipped him the folded note in the laundry room weeks ago. The one who had vanished the next morning with nothing but a single line of handwriting: You are a prototype.
Kai kept his face blank, but his mind spun. "Who told you that?"
"Doesn't matter. It fits, though, doesn't it? The way the instructors never pushed him hard. The way Voss always watched him during lectures like he was important." Lena exhaled shakily. "It scares me, Kai. What if the whole thing is rigged? What if some of us are just props and the rest of us are the ones they're really testing?"
From the next booth, Theo's voice carried over, flat, careful. "I don't know, Jax. Some things just feel off lately."
Priya cut in softly, "Like how they keep saying we're all equal variables but certain people get extra time with the Councilors?"
Lena's eyes flicked toward the sound, then back to Kai. She lowered her voice even more. "See? It's not just me thinking it. But you can't tell anyone I said this. Not even Theo. Promise?"
Kai nodded once.
She searched his face a moment longer, then gave a small, relieved smile. "Good. Because if it's true about Dylan, then none of us are safe. Not really."
Two days later, the galleries were busier. The entire floor had been turned into informal "reflection pairs," or so the instructors had called it. No one had said it was mandatory, but everyone knew it was.
Kai found Lena again in the same spot. Theo had joined them this time, leaning against the glass wall with his arms crossed, watching the corridor.
"You two look like you're plotting something," Theo said, voice dry.
Lena shot Kai a quick warning glance. "Just talking about the new drill schedule. That's all."
Theo raised an eyebrow but didn't push. "Right. Because nothing around here ever feels off."
Kai stayed quiet. The Dylan rumor had been looping in his head for forty-eight hours. The note. The way Dylan had looked at him like he already knew he was leaving. If Dylan really was Thorne's blood, then the note wasn't a warning. It was bait.
But bait for what exactly. To see if he'd panic? To test whether he'd tell anyone? He hadn't told anyone. Not Lena, not Theo. He'd folded the note into his sock and kept his face still and waited. If that was the test, he'd passed it without knowing the rules.
Which meant either he was still inside the test or the test had already moved somewhere he couldn't see. Neither answer felt safe.
Lena nudged Kai's foot under the table. "You've been quiet again."
"I'm fine," Kai said. He looked at Theo. "You hear anything strange lately? About people getting special treatment?"
Theo shrugged, but his shoulders were tight. "Only the usual. Some kids get pulled for extra sessions. Others disappear. Same as always." He paused, then added softly, "Why? You got something on your mind?"
Before Kai could answer, Priya walked past the open door with Jax trailing her. They were whispering too, heads close. Jax caught Kai's eye for half a second, then looked away too fast.
Lena waited until they were gone. "It's spreading," she murmured. "The rumors. Everyone's talking in corners now. But no one's saying it out loud where the cameras can hear."
Theo pushed off the wall. "Maybe they should. Or maybe we're all just paranoid." He gave them both a long look, then walked out without another word.
Lena watched him go. "He's scared too. He just hides it better."
Kai didn't answer. He was still thinking about the note. About Dylan's handwriting. About whether the boy had ever been real at all.
On the last evening of the week, an instructor appeared at the edge of the gallery.
"Kai. Private alignment session. Now."
The room was smaller than the others, two chairs, a low table, one-way mirror. Councilor Hale sat waiting, tablet already open.
Hale didn't smile. "We've reviewed the conversations from your "paired reflections". Lena mentioned something about Dylan being Thorne's nephew. What exactly did she say?"
Kai's mouth went dry, but his voice stayed even.
He remembered Lena's whisper. The way her hands had trembled when she said the name.
"She was tired," Kai said. "We both were. She just talked about missing her family. About how some people seem to get pulled out faster than others. That's all. Nothing specific about Dylan or Thorne."
Hale studied him for a long moment. The silence pressed in.
"Interesting," Hale said at last, tapping once on the tablet. "Thank you, Kai. You may return to your dorm."
Kai stood. As he reached the door, Hale's voice followed him, quiet and almost gentle.
"Your work here affects home, remember that."
The corridor felt longer on the way back. The upgraded dorm. The guards outside his mother's door. The promises that meant nothing.
Kai didn't see Lena.
He didn't know that two floors above, the footage was already queued for tomorrow morning.
And he definitely didn't know that Lena would soon be watching him lie for her.