Chapter 13 LILA'S SECRET MESSAGE

Chapter 13 LILA'S SECRET MESSAGE
Sera's POV

The notification came at 1400 hours. Authorized Video Communication with Family Member. One hour window.

I'd been waiting for this call for six days. Six days since Cassia's last threat. Six days of watching Kade, Ryker, and Damon circle each other like predators. Six days of pretending the greenhouse meetings never happened and that Kade's kiss didn't change everything.

But the video call was the only thing that mattered. Lila was the only thing that mattered.

The common area had a designated communication station. Private screen, monitored audio, recorded for Tribunal review. I sat in the chair and waited for the connection.

When Lila's face appeared, my breath caught.

She was thinner. Much thinner. Her cheekbones were sharp enough to cut. The white room behind her was exactly like mine, sterile and cold and designed to break you slowly.

"Hi Sera," Lila said. Her voice was bright. Too bright. Like she was performing for the cameras. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Are you okay?" I asked. The question came out desperate.

"I'm fine," Lila said. "They're treating me really well. Three meals a day. The facility is clean. I have a comfortable bed."

She was lying. I could see it in the way her eyes didn't quite focus on the camera. The way her hands were shaking slightly as she rested them on the desk in front of her.

But then her fingers moved.

At first it looked natural. Like she was just fidgeting. But the movements were too deliberate. Too controlled.

Her left hand. One finger up. N.

Then her right hand. Two fingers crossed. O.

Then back to the left. V.

Then the right. A.

N-O-V-A.

My heart stopped.

Lila kept talking like nothing was happening. "The staff here is very professional. I've been working on some projects that keep me occupied. It's important to stay busy, don't you think? To keep your mind engaged even in difficult circumstances."

Her hands continued moving.

H. E. L. P.

Nova.

Nova was helping Lila.

I must have made a sound because Lila's eyes flickered. A warning. Keep it together. Don't let them see that you understand.

"I hope you're doing well too," Lila continued. "I hope your situation is improving. I hope you're finding things worth fighting for."

The message was double-layered. Stay strong. Keep fighting. Nova's got us.

"I miss you," Lila whispered. Real emotion cracked through her performance voice. "I miss you so much."

"I miss you too," I said. My throat was tight. "I'm going to get you out of there. I promise."

Lila's eyes went wet but she didn't cry. Just smiled like that was the best thing anyone had ever told her.

The screen went black.

Time's up.

I sat in the communication station for five minutes before I could move. My hands were shaking worse than Lila's had been. Nova. Kade's second-in-command. The woman who'd served beside him for fifteen years. The woman who was supposed to be loyal to the Tribunal.

She was helping us.

She was helping Lila.

I found Kade in the training room. Of course I did. Since the greenhouse incident, since the kiss, since we'd all awkwardly avoided each other, Kade had been spending hours in combat simulation. Beating sense into equipment that couldn't fight back.

He was shirtless, sweating, knuckles wrapped in bloodied tape.

He saw me and stopped mid-strike.

"We need to talk," I said.

"Not here," Kade replied. His eyes swept the room, cataloging the cameras. "The greenhouse. Ten minutes."

The greenhouse felt different now. Like it was ours. Like the vines and the plants and the blind spot had become our secret.

Kade arrived after me, his shirt back on but still damp with sweat.

"Lila," I said immediately. "I got a video call. She looked terrible, Kade. Thinner. Scared. But she used hand signals. Old signals we developed as kids. Letters."

I spelled out the message on my fingers. N-O-V-A. H-E-L-P.

Kade's entire body went rigid.

"That's impossible," he said. But his voice was shaking. "Nova wouldn't. She's loyal to the Tribunal. She's been loyal for fifteen years."

"Maybe loyalty changed," I said. "Maybe she saw what the Tribunal really is and decided it wasn't worth protecting anymore."

Kade turned away from me. Paced the greenhouse like a caged animal.

"Nova knows things," he said quietly. "Classified things. If she's actively helping us, if she's making contact with Lila and signaling you... that's treason. High-level treason. The kind they execute people for."

"Then she's choosing this," I said. "She's choosing you. Choosing us. Over the system."

Kade looked at me and I saw something shift in his expression. Not the hardness of the commander. Not the jealousy of the man who kissed me. Something deeper. Something like hope.

"She said something to me once," Kade said slowly. "Years ago. I was executing orders I didn't like. Clearing settlements for Tribunal control. And Nova asked if I ever wondered what I'd do if the orders stopped making sense. I told her I didn't question orders. That doubt made soldiers weak."

He looked at his hands like they belonged to someone else.

"Nova said maybe weakness and wisdom looked the same from the wrong perspective. I didn't understand what she meant."

"She was waiting for you," I said. "Waiting for you to figure out that the system wasn't worth serving."

Kade nodded slowly. "If she's helping Lila, she knows about the plan. She knows we're trying to take down the Tribunal. Which means she's been gathering intel. Preparing."

"For what?" I asked.

Before Kade could answer, his tablet buzzed.

A message appeared. Encrypted. Military-grade encryption that took him two seconds to open.

His face went white.

"What is it?" I stepped closer.

"Nova," Kade said. His voice was barely a whisper. "She's sending location coordinates. Underground tunnels beneath the Genesis Center. An evacuation route she's been preparing for weeks."

He looked at me. The fear in his eyes was real.

"She's saying the Tribunal is moving up the timeline. Cassia has scheduled emergency genetic testing for tomorrow morning. Full biological analysis on all participants. She's testing Sera."

My stomach dropped.

"Why?" I asked, though I already knew.

"Because someone reported suspicious activity," Kade said, reading the message. "Someone told Cassia that you and Ryker were meeting privately. Someone told her about possible genetic anomalies. Nova's trying to figure out who the informant is but she doesn't have a name yet."

The greenhouse suddenly felt very small.

"If they test me, they'll know I'm not actually pregnant," I said. "They'll know about the fake hormone markers. They'll know Ryker falsified the data."

"They'll execute all of us," Kade finished. "You, Ryker, Damon, me. And then they'll use Lila as leverage to extract information from anyone else who was helping us."

My hands were shaking again.

"Nova's coordinates suggest we have maybe sixteen hours," Kade continued. "After that, the medical wing will be locked down. We won't be able to move freely."

"Sixteen hours to what?" I asked.

"To escape," Kade said. "Nova's offering us an extraction route through the tunnels. A way out of the Genesis Center before the testing happens."

"But if we run, Lila—"

"Nova says she's already arranging Lila's extraction," Kade interrupted. "She's working on a fake transfer order. Making it look like Lila's being moved to another facility. If the timing works, they'll move her at the same time we move."

The hope felt dangerous. Like reaching for something that would burn if I held it too long.

"There's more," Kade said. His eyes were dark. "Nova's message says Cassia isn't just testing you tomorrow. She's meeting with Councilor Thorne. Top-level Tribunal meeting. Something about accelerating Phase 2 of the genetic program."

He showed me the tablet.

Nova's final line made my blood freeze.

"They're planning to deploy a new plague variant within the week. One that targets your specific genetic mutation, Sera. They're going to kill everyone like you and then blame it on a natural disease outbreak. You're not just being tested. You're being hunted."

The greenhouse spun.

We had sixteen hours.

Sixteen hours before the Tribunal decided I wasn't worth keeping alive.

Sixteen hours before they executed everyone trying to save me.

And somewhere in this facility, someone had betrayed us. Someone had told Cassia about our meetings, our plans, our secrets.

Someone was still feeding information to the Tribunal.

And Kade and I had no idea who.