(Aurora's POV)
I woke up at six, before the alarm.
The bedroom was still dim. Phineas was asleep beside me, one arm flung out, his hand resting on the pillow where my head had been. The sheets were warm. Somewhere outside, a bird was working through its morning rotation.
I lay there for a moment, watching the ceiling.
Then I got up - quietly, so as not to wake him - and walked out into the kitchen in bare feet. The marble floor was cool. I made coffee. I stood at the counter while the machine hissed and steamed, and I looked out the kitchen window at the slow-rising shape of the city.
My phone was on the counter where I had left it the night before.
I picked it up.
I unblocked Stefan Rathbone's number.
I didn't message him. I didn't message anyone. I simply unblocked the number and
