Lina's POV
The abandoned train station on Burndale's outskirts looked exactly like the kind of place people forgot existed.
A sleek black Volkswagen pulled into the cracked parking lot, and I watched from my position near the ticket booth as he stepped out.
My breath caught.
Even from this distance, even dressed down in simple black, Adrian commanded attention like gravity itself. Tall, powerful, moving with that predatory grace.
The station was nearly derelict but still operational—cheap tickets meant poor travelers and broke college students populated the platforms. Exhausted faces, hunched shoulders, the quiet desperation of people just trying to get by.
I'd expected Cipher to arrange a boat to the docks. Instead, she'd routed me through Burndale via the nearest city
