Beneath the Skyline

New York City never stops moving.

Neither does Thea Powell.

Inside the walls of Engine 22, life is loud, messy, and relentless-full of burnt breakfasts, late nights, and people who care in ways they don't always know how to say out loud. It's not perfect, but it's hers. A place where she can exist without explaining herself. A place where, for once, she isn't alone.

And that's enough.

Until it isn't.

Because everything Thea has built her life around-every routine, every person, every fragile sense of control-can be broken in a single moment. And when it does, it doesn't just take something from her.

It changes her.

What begins as something small, something she thinks she can manage, quickly spirals into something far more dangerous. Her body doesn't feel like her own. Her strength comes and goes without warning. The more she pushes herself to keep everything together, the more it starts to fall apart.

And the worst part?

She can't tell anyone.

Not the people who raised her. Not the ones who joke with her, fight with her, stand beside her when everything else feels uncertain. Not the ones who trust her.

Because if she loses control-if she fails-it won't just be her who pays for it.

It'll be them.

As the pressure builds and the city around her grows heavier, Thea is forced to face a truth she's spent her entire life avoiding: being strong isn't the same as being okay. And pretending she can handle everything on her own might be the very thing that destroys what she's trying to protect.

Because in a city held together by fragile threads, it doesn't take much for everything to come undone.

And Thea is running out of ways to keep it all from breaking.