Orphaned Seed
Copyright© 2026 by Fantasylover11
Chapter 25: Gate Terms
The Gate waited.
He felt it as a low pressure change in his bones every time he stepped into the Annex now, as if the building underneath the building was waking up and listening.
They had enough pieces to know it wasn’t mystical timing. The seal responded to pressure fed through anchors—beacons sunk into infrastructure—and every scan or pulse was a flare someone else could notice.
He sat at a commons table with Sienna and Jules and a stack of paper notes that had become their only reliable archive.
No screenshots.
No cloud.
Just ink.
Imani hovered nearby, half in the conversation and half pretending she wasn’t invested.
Noah didn’t know if she was protecting herself or baiting them.
Maybe both.
Sienna drew a simple map on the top sheet.
“Bracket here,” she said.
“Black strip here,” Noah added.
Jules tapped the table with a knuckle.
“And Cassian down there,” Jules said. “Which means Crownline isn’t ignoring this.”
Imani leaned in.
“Or Cassian isn’t Crownline,” she said. “He could just be nosy.”
Jules gave her a flat look.
“Nosy with backup,” Jules replied.
Imani smiled. “It’s a campus.”
Noah watched her fingers touch her necklace.
Fear tell.
“You said you had a contact chain,” Noah said.
Imani’s smile didn’t move.
“I said people pay for routes,” she corrected.
“Who pays?” Sienna asked.
Imani’s eyes flicked to the ceiling.
“Not Dahlia,” she said. “Not Meridian. A third pocket. Someone off-campus. Cash and favors. The kind of stuff that doesn’t show up in ledgers.”
Noah’s stomach tightened.
Off-campus.
External nodes.
Beacons in infrastructure.
It was all one machine.
“We have a problem,” Jules said.
Noah nodded.
“We have a war,” Sienna corrected.
Noah met her eyes.
She didn’t look like she wanted drama.
She looked like she’d accepted the math.
Noah exhaled.
“Before we talk tactics,” he said, “we set rules.”
Jules’s gaze sharpened.
Sienna nodded once.
Imani’s eyebrows lifted. “Rules. Cute.”
Noah ignored the jab.
“Hard ethical rule,” Noah said. “No coercive Presence. Not on each other. Not on witnesses. Not to make people forget.”
Jules nodded.
Sienna’s gaze held Noah’s.
“Say it like a contract,” she said.
Noah swallowed.
“If anyone feels pushed,” Noah said, voice steady, “we stop. Immediately. We regroup. We do not improvise with consent.”
Imani’s smile faded a fraction.
“Okay,” she said quietly.
Noah continued.
“Second rule: no hero moves,” Noah said. “If someone says stop, we stop. If someone says leave, we leave.”
Jules exhaled.
“Third?” Jules asked.
Noah looked at Sienna.
“No secrets that make collateral,” Noah said.
Sienna nodded.
“Good,” she replied.
The rules didn’t make the plan safer.
They just made it theirs.
The safehouse was a small rental an hour off campus, tucked behind a row of winter-bare trees. The living room smelled like old carpet and coffee that had been reheated too many times.
Mara Kestrel stood near the kitchen counter with her arms folded.
Dr. Sommers sat on the edge of a chair like he didn’t trust comfort.
Noah, Sienna, and Jules took the couch. Imani chose a spot by the window.
Mara’s gaze swept them.
“You look like a team,” she said.
“We look like a liability,” Noah replied.
Mara’s mouth twitched.
“Same thing,” she said.
Sommers cleared his throat.
“I can’t give you full intel,” he said. “Not without creating a paper trail that will be used against you.”
Noah nodded.
“Then give us what you can,” Noah said.
Sommers’s eyes went tired.
“The Gate is waking because someone is feeding it,” he said. “Beacons are not just sensors. They’re anchors. They sync pressure into the foundations.”
Sienna’s jaw tightened.
“Null Choir, the faction that wants the Veil to rupture,” she said.
Sommers didn’t confirm it.
He didn’t deny it either.
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