Lexicon I: Specter's Cry

The Calm Before The Storm

The rhythmic hum of the car engine filled the air as Kinan sat in the passenger seat, her eyes fixed on the passing cityscape. The tall buildings and busy streets of SetiaBangsa blurred together, but her mind was elsewhere—still in the jungle, still on the mission.

The successful operation to eliminate Yased Al Ghaffar had gone almost too smoothly. No unexpected complications, no major threats. Yet, as they had left Borneo behind and returned to their normal lives, Kinan couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. The cold efficiency with which Sasha had dispatched their target lingered in her mind. It was more than just professionalism—there was a detachment, an emptiness in Sasha's eyes that unsettled her.

"Thinking about the mission?" Olav asked from behind the wheel, his voice calm as usual.

Kinan glanced at him, knowing he could read her thoughts without her needing to say a word. "Yeah," she admitted. "I just... I don't know. Sasha's different now. She's not the same person we knew."

Olav's eyes remained on the road. "People change."

"That's the problem," Kinan muttered, more to herself than to him. "I don't know if I trust the person she's become."

Olav didn't respond immediately. He was always careful with his words, methodical in the way he thought through things. Finally, he said, "You don't have to trust her. You just have to trust that she'll do her job."

Kinan leaned back in her seat, letting out a slow breath. He was right, but it didn't make her feel any better. Trusting Sasha to do her job was one thing—trusting her beyond that was another.

The familiar sight of SetiaBangsa High School appeared in the distance, its gates crowded with students arriving for another mundane day of classes. The thought of sitting through lectures and pretending to be a normal student felt more absurd than ever after what they had just done.

As they parked and made their way through the bustling schoolyard, Kinan felt the weight of her double life pressing down on her. Here, she was just another student—quiet, aloof, blending into the background. But outside these walls, she was something else entirely, a soldier trained to kill, to survive.

Tejo was the first to greet them, his usual bright smile plastered on his face as he bounded over, slinging an arm around Kinan's shoulders. "Hey, you two! Late again, huh? You must've had a wild weekend."

Kinan forced a smile, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Yeah, something like that."

Tejo didn't notice the tension in her voice. He rarely did. Instead, he launched into a rapid-fire update about the latest school gossip, from a scandal involving a cheating couple to some nonsense about a new school policy on phone use in class.

Kinan's mind wandered as they walked through the halls, her thoughts drifting back to Sasha. She hadn't heard from her since the mission. Sasha had disappeared as soon as they returned from Borneo, leaving Kinan and Olav to resume their cover lives alone.

"What about the new girl? Sasha, right?" Tejo said, suddenly pulling her attention back to the present. "She's been MIA since last week."

Kinan's heart skipped a beat. "You haven't seen her?"

Tejo shrugged. "Nope. She wasn't in class yesterday or today. Weird, right? You guys seemed to be getting along with her."

Kinan exchanged a quick glance with Olav. Sasha missing school could mean a lot of things, but none of them were good. She quickly pulled out her phone and fired off a text to Sasha.

*Where are you?*

No response.

Kinan's instincts flared. Something was wrong.