(Reese)
I woke up before my alarm.
Not because the room was uncomfortable. Not because anything had happened in the night. Just the particular way my body had of refusing to sleep past six regardless of what the night before had looked like.
I lay there for a second and let the ceiling remind me where I was.
The compound.
Right.
I sat up and reached for my phone. Six fourteen. Three emails from Simone, the first sent at eleven last night and the last one twenty minutes ago. A text from Ethan that said call me when you're up.
I called Simone first.
She picked up on the second ring.
"Where are you?" she asked. Not accusatory. Just direct in the way Simone was always direct when something needed managing.
"I had to leave the apartment last night," I said. "I'm handling something."
