Kael had never thought of himself as teachable material.
He was more like a cautionary tale.
"Don't touch the live wire, kids, or you'll end up like this."
Now he stood at the front of the safe room with Aiden and felt eight pairs of eyes watching him like he was a lesson instead of a warning.
"Okay," Aiden said, clapping his hands once. "Welcome to Pattern Diffusion 101."
Nia snorted.
"That name is terrible," she said.
"You're welcome to rebrand after you pass," Aiden replied.
He had a marker in one hand, a band on the other, and that look he got when he'd turned fear into a plan and was hanging on to it with both palms.
On the wall behind them, Tal's map was layered with new scribbles—small circles marking "potential yellows," narrow alleys that already glitched, nodes where power and data crossed in messy ways.
Rin's recorder sat on a crate, lens off but ready.
Rell perched on a stack of folded sheets, notebook open.
