Page 163 of Silent Shadows

“Because she’s sick.”

“Mm-hmm,” Taylor winks.

“And alone.”

“Right,” Maya rolls her eyes and pushes past me to put groceries away.

“And it’s cold.”

“Sure, man. Whatever you need to tell yourself.” Jax pats me on the back as he follows Maya.

I groan and step outside before they can say anything worse.

The air hits sharp and fresh in that post-rain way.

Rain-clean. Everything smells like wet pine and damp earth. I take a deep breath and feel more awake already, the medicinal fog beginning to lift from my brain.

Daisy stands farther out near the trees, back turned slightly toward camp. Her voice drifts through the quiet.

“I don’t know… I don’t know what I want anymore.”

I stop. Shit, this does sound like a conversation with an ex. My body starts to pulse with jealousy and anxiety. She’s looking out towards the trees, faintly shaking her head. Whatever they’re talking about, it’s clear she’s struggling with it.

“I… I don’t know,” she sighs. A pause, and then: “What I believe yet.”

Something in her tone catches. Her shoulders are tense and she has one hand pushed into her pocket.

“…No,” she says quietly. “I know credibility matters.”

A strange feeling moves through my chest. Okay, maybe this is more work related. She laughs once, humorless. “No, I’m not saying I believe anything at this point.”

Pause. Longer. Wind moves through dripping branches overhead.

Then: “So you really don’t think they’d go for it if there is an actual discovery? Even if it provides some closure or sets it up for something else?”

Daisy’s body slumps. Whatever response she got, it wasn’t the one she wanted. “Okay, so…. maybe it is safer if I don’t take a stance. Like, I just disconnect? Stay objective?”

Something cold slips into my stomach. Safer.

I shift closer. Too close, probably.

“No, I mean, I—I really like these guys. But I guess I could?”

Could what? My heart hammers in my chest, wanting to know where she was going with that.

“…I could always frame it differently?” Daisy says, her voice high. “Like, it’s emotional. Interesting. Weird. But at the end of the day, it’s all just fun, or funny, or something? I don’t know, Marissa.”

My body goes still. I’m not angry. Yet.

Fuzzy cold medicine brain suddenly razor sharp.

“…No,” she says after a beat, softer now. “I know, I know. It protects the network.”

The woods feel strangely silent. But that might just be my ringing ears.

I look back toward the Machine. Toward the team inside. Everyone’s exhausted and trying so hard.

Daisy turns, and sees me, sliding her phone from her ear to her chest. Her eyes go wide, and the color drains from her face.