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asked.
    “Pandora,” Alysia answered, knowing exactly why the mention of that name made Lynzi wince. Pandora’s methods had left scores of survivors—if some of the worst could even be called that—in SingleEarth wards with broken minds and bodies.
    “I was taught by Tatiana,” Lynzi said, “but I am familiar with Pandora’s ways. If you ever want to talk, I’m here.”
    Alysia nodded, startled by the compassion and openness in Lynzi’s response. She
shouldn’t
have been startled—this was SingleEarth, after all—but though she had spent two years at Central, that complex was a small city in itself, with lots of room to get lost in and many people minding their own business.
    Lynzi must have sensed the awkwardness Alysia felt, because she turned away and set her hand on the windowpane as she remarked, “We should make sure all your belongings are inside and get your keys back from Sarik, before the storm breaks.”

C HAPTER 3
    T HE SLEET SLAPPING against the windows had woken Jason well before sunrise, two hours after he had fallen asleep at midnight. He slipped out of bed and away from Sarik, who muttered an incoherent protest, grabbed his pillow, and continued to sleep.
    Sarik had been anxious the entire day before, so he was grateful that she slept now. She had asked for a meeting with Diana, only to be denied when an emergency came up at another Haven. The only thing she had confided to him was that Alysia looked familiar.
    Alysia had admitted that she had been no angel before she came to SingleEarth, and everyone knew her file was full of unaccounted-for time. Alysia was a stranger to Jason, though,and unlike Sarik, he had a vampire’s regrettably perfect photographic memory to call upon as he looked at the newest member of SingleEarth Haven #4.
    Still, Sarik’s anxiety had rubbed off on him, and now he felt restless.
    He crossed soundlessly into the living room and left the bedroom door open a crack so Sarik would know he was still nearby if she woke. It had been a long time since the night terrors had broken her sleep, but the way she tossed and turned before succumbing tonight warned him that they were a possibility now.
    Normally, work helped him focus and calm himself, but tonight he was frustrated by an impossibly slow network that continually dropped signal and interrupted even the simplest Web page or download.
    Footsteps in the hallway drew him out. He discovered Alysia, bundled up and apparently about to brave the winter weather in the predawn darkness.
    “Is the network always this bad in a storm?” she asked the moment his door opened, before she added, “I mean, hello. Is it good evening or morning?”
    “Might as well be good morning, and no, the weather doesn’t normally affect it.”
    “I figured I would head over to the admin building and see if I could figure out what’s going on.”
    “I already called,” Jason said. “Mary has a tech support guy on the way.”
    “I
am
tech support,” Alysia protested, “or I was two days ago. I might as well try.”
    “I get that, but you’re human, and it’s nasty out there,” Jason replied.
    Alysia didn’t flinch at the reference to her species, like many SingleEarth members did. Jason filed that information away in the mental list he kept of what soothed or upset the people around him. He had already figured out that Alysia spoke diplomatically when she thought the situation demanded it but preferred bluntness from those around her.
    “Let me leave a note for Sarik, and then I’ll check in the admin office to see what’s going on.”
    Alysia nodded reluctantly. The spark in her eyes said she wanted to work out her frustration by fixing the problem herself, but she was trying to be reasonable.
    The Haven guarded its land in a way that made it impossible to appear or disappear inside any of the secure buildings, but Jason only had to cross the threshold to the porch before he could will himself to the atrium of the administration