Page 44

“Yes, of course.”

A second of silence. Soft murmuring.

Barely a heartbeat later the door at the end of the hallway opened. Familiar rushed steps of a man who was anxious.

“Sorry about the wait.”

Not to me.

To the room.

I lifted my gaze anyway.

He noticed.

Corrected.

“Mr. Voss.”

I stood. Didn’t respond. Passed him without acknowledgement. Rafe entered the office a second before I did.

“Have a seat,” Hennessy offered.

I didn’t.

A careful clear of his throat he muttered. “Or stand.”

A beat. Then⁠—

“How have you been?”

“Fine.”

“Any changes in vision?”

“No.”

“Distortion?”

“No.”

A pause.

“Movement where there shouldn’t be?”

Stillness.

“No.”

Rafe stood.

Something shifted at the edge of my vision.

Not shape.

Or form.

Just—absence where there shouldn’t be.