Chapter 22: Chapter Twenty Two: Adjustment

The booth filled in quickly after that. Not all at once, but steadily enough that Rowan didn’t have time to stand still for long. People stopped. Asked questions. Picked things up. Compared options. Talked pricing. Normal. It should have felt like every other event she’d worked. It didn’t, but she leaned into it anyway. It was something she knew how to do.

A couple lingered longer than most, asking detailed questions about materials and turnaround time. Rowan walked them through everything without missing a beat, answering easily, shifting tone when needed, reading them the way she always had.

Jess jumped in when she needed to, handling small talk, keeping things moving. It worked. It looked normal. But underneath it Rowan was tracking everything. The way people moved. The way certain vendors watched the floor instead of their own booths. The way conversations stopped just a second too early when she got close. Patterns. Always patterns. By the time the couple moved on, Rowan exhaled quietly and reached for her coffee.

Jess leaned in slightly.

“You’re doing it again,” she said under her breath.

Rowan didn’t look at her.

“I know.”

Jess followed her gaze across the aisle.

“…Okay, I see it a little,” she admitted.

Rowan finally glanced at her.

“A little?”

Jess made a face.

“I don’t see whatever full conspiracy map you’ve got going on in your head,” she said. “But I do see people paying attention in a way they shouldn’t be.”

That was enough. Rowan nodded once.

“Good.”

Jess tapped the table lightly.

“So let’s talk about it,” she said. “Because we didn’t exactly finish that conversation earlier.”

Rowan hesitated. Not because she didn’t want to, but because saying it out loud made it more real. Jess waited. Didn’t push. Just… stayed there. Rowan exhaled slowly.

“I think it’s not just that something is happening to me,” she said.

Jess tilted her head.

“Okay…”

“I think I’m… different now,” Rowan finished.

Jess blinked.

“…Different how?”

Rowan shook her head slightly.

“I don’t know exactly,” she admitted. “But before last night, I didn’t see any of this. Not the patterns. Not the connections. Not the way people… feel.”

Jess frowned.

“Feel?”

Rowan glanced across the room again.

“Some of them don’t feel normal,” she said quietly.

Jess followed her gaze again, slower this time.

“…Yeah,” she said after a second. “That part I kind of get.”

Rowan looked back at her.

Jess shrugged slightly.

“I can’t explain it,” she said. “It’s not like I think they’re aliens or anything, but… there are a few people out there that just don’t sit right.”

Rowan nodded.

“That’s what I mean.”

Jess leaned back against the table, thinking.

“Okay,” she said. “So let’s say you’re right. Something changed. You’re seeing things you didn’t before.”

Rowan didn’t interrupt.

Jess continued.

“Is that because of him?” she asked. “Or because you fought it?”

Rowan went still. That question landed deeper than the rest.

“I don’t know,” she said.

Jess watched her closely.

“But it matters,” she added.

Rowan nodded slowly.

“Yeah,” she said. “It does.”

Because if this was something done to her It could be taken away. But if it was something she had done Something she had triggered That was different.

Jess crossed her arms again.

“Okay,” she said. “Next question.”

Rowan almost smiled.

“Of course there’s a next question.”

Jess ignored that.

“Why you?” she asked.

Rowan let out a quiet breath.

“I wish I knew.”

Jess studied her for a second.

“You don’t think it’s random,” she said.

Rowan shook her head.

“No,” she said. “Nothing about this feels random.”

Jess nodded slowly.

“Alright,” she said. “So we’ve got not random, not normal, and not explained.”

Rowan huffed a quiet breath.

“That about covers it.”

Jess leaned in slightly.

“And now we’ve got a third person who knows about it,” she added.

“Taryn,” Rowan said.

Jess nodded.

“Yeah. Her.”

Rowan’s gaze flicked briefly across the room, searching without meaning to.

“I don’t think she was surprised,” she said.

Jess followed that thought.

“No,” she agreed. “She definitely wasn’t.”

“And she thought I should already know,” Rowan added.

Jess frowned.

“…Yeah.”

That part sat heavier than the rest. Because it meant this, whatever this was, had rules and expectations. The normal Rowan hadn’t been part of.

Jess pushed off the table again, pacing once before stopping.

“Okay,” she said. “So here’s my working theory.”

Rowan looked at her. Jess pointed lightly at her.

“You got pulled into something you didn’t understand,” she said. “You fought it. That changed something. And now you can see whatever layer this is that we’ve been walking through completely blind.”

Rowan held her gaze.

“That’s… not far off from what I was thinking.”

Jess nodded once.

“Cool. Hate that.”

Rowan actually smiled this time.

Jess caught it and smirked slightly.

“There she is,” she said.

Rowan shook her head, but the tension in her shoulders eased just a fraction. Then Jess’s expression shifted again, more serious.

“One more thing,” she said.

Rowan straightened slightly.

“What?”

Jess hesitated.

Just for a second.

“That guy,” she said. “Corvin.”

Rowan’s focus sharpened.

“What about him?”

Jess looked out across the floor again.

“He didn’t feel like the other one,” she said.

Rowan nodded slowly.

“No,” she said. “He didn’t.”

Jess crossed her arms again.

“I don’t think he’s on the same side,” she said.

Rowan considered that.

“He said not to trust him,” she said.

Jess huffed.

“Yeah, people who say that are usually the ones you end up working with anyway.”

Rowan almost laughed. Almost.

Jess looked back at her.

“Just… don’t assume he’s safe,” she added.

“I won’t,” Rowan said.

Jess held her gaze a second longer.

“Good.”

A new group approached the booth, pulling Rowan’s attention back into motion. She straightened slightly, shifting gears again. Smile, engage, and work. But this time Everything sat differently. Because now she wasn’t just reacting. She was adjusting and learning. Whatever had changed in her, it wasn’t fading, it was sharpening.

Jess leaned in as the group got closer.

“Normal people,” she muttered.

Rowan nodded once.

“Normal people.”

But neither of them believed it anymore.