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"You the guy?"
Mark looked up from the circle of folding chairs he'd just finished arranging. The man in the doorway was maybe fifty, military posture, denim jacket worn soft at the elbows. His file said Daniel Cruz. Dishonorable discharge. Three pages of redacted lines and one sentence they'd left intact: *Subject claims rank and combat experience in non-terrestrial conflict zone.*
Mark nodded. "I'm Mark."
"They told you what this is?"
"They didn't tell me anything," Mark said. "They just said run it or people die."
Daniel's eyes swept the room. Exits first, windows second, people last. He took the chair farthest from the door and sat like he was reporting for duty. "Sounds about right."
The next one came in thirty seconds later. Woman, late thirties, scrubs, dark hair pulled back. The kind of tired that went deeper than a double shift. She stopped just inside the threshold and looked at the chairs like they might bite.
"Amy Russell?" Mark said.
She nodded. Didn't move.
"I'm Mark. I got your file."
"Great." Her voice was flat. "So you know."
"Some."
"And you still showed up." She walked to a chair. Didn't sit. "That makes you stupid or desperate. Which one?"
"Both," Mark said.
She almost smiled.
Daniel turned to look at her. "You got threatened into this too?"
Mark held up his burned hand. The scar tissue caught the fluorescent light, still shiny and red. "I got summoned three years ago. Said no to their quest. They sent me back anyway." He flexed his fingers. The skin pulled tight, like something was trying to claw its way back out. "This is what no looks like."
Amy stared at his hand for a long moment. Then she pushed up her left sleeve.
The burns ran from her wrist to her shoulder. That wasn't the strange part. The strange part was the way they moved. Not much. Just enough. Like something under the skin was breathing.
Mark's mouth went dry.
"Two years," Amy said. "They kept me for two years."
Daniel leaned forward. "What'd they want?"
"Healer." Amy pulled her sleeve back down. "Turns out ER trauma training translates. They burned me every time I saved one of theirs. Incentive structure."
The temperature in the room ticked up half a degree. Mark felt it on the back of his neck.
"Jesus," he said.
Amy's jaw tightened. "He wasn't there."
The door opened again. College kid, maybe twenty, backpack over one shoulder. Messy blond hair and the kind of face that probably got him out of traffic tickets. His file had been thin. Just a name and one line: *Witness-reported disappearance, self-reported return.*
The kid stopped when he saw the three of them. His smile was easy. Too easy.
"Hey," he said. "This the survivor thing?"
Mark nodded. Something about his tone felt off. "Yeah. Take a seat."
The kid dropped into the chair next to Amy like they were waiting for a movie to start. "Cool. I'm Lucas. I was gone for like six months. Crazy stuff, you know?" He looked around at them, still smiling. "You guys too, right?"
Amy didn't answer. Daniel watched Lucas the way a dog watches something that doesn't smell right.
"What took you?" Mark said.
Lucas shrugged. "I don't know, man. One second I'm walking home from a party, next second I'm in some kind of forest with two moons. There were these people, armor and swords and shit. Very *Lord of the Rings*." He laughed. "I mostly just tried not to die."
Daniel's posture changed. Subtle. His weight shifted forward. "What'd they want from you?"
"I don't think they wanted anything. I think I was just in the wrong place." Lucas looked at Mark. "That happen to you?"
Mark's hand throbbed. "No."
"They always want something," Amy said quietly. "Nobody gets taken by accident."
Lucas's smile didn't slip. "Maybe I got lucky."
The temperature climbed another degree. Mark felt sweat prickle at his hairline. He glanced at Amy. Her arms were crossed tight, her jaw set. The scars on her left arm looked darker than they had a minute ago.
"You okay?" Mark said.
Amy's eyes flicked to him. "Fine."
She wasn't fine. The room was getting hotter. Not furnace hot, not yet, but enough that Mark's shirt started sticking to his back. He looked at the thermostat on the wall. It was off. It had been off when he got here.
"Amy," he said.
"I'm *fine*." Her voice was tight.
Daniel stood up. Not fast. Controlled. His hand drifted to his side like he was reaching for something that wasn't there.
Lucas noticed. His smile finally cracked. "Whoa, hey, man. What's—"
"Where were you stationed?" Daniel said. His voice was low, even. The kind of calm that came right before violence.
Lucas blinked. "What?"
"In the forest. With the two moons. What region?"
"I don't... I don't know, man. I didn't exactly get a map."
Daniel took a step toward him. His hand was still at his side, fingers curled like he was gripping a handle. Mark couldn't see anything there. But the way Daniel moved, the way his weight shifted, he was holding something.
"Describe the moons," Daniel said.
Lucas stood up, hands raised. "Dude, I don't—"
"*Describe them*."
The temperature spiked. Amy's scars were definitely moving now, rippling under her skin like water over stones. Mark could feel the heat rolling off her in waves.
"Daniel," Mark said. "Whatever you're—"
"He's lying." Daniel's hand tightened on nothing. On something. His knuckles went white. "The moons in Aerthys don't hang together. One rises. One sets. If he was there, he'd know."
Lucas's face changed. The easy smile was gone. What replaced it was cooler. Sharper.
"Maybe I didn't pay attention," Lucas said.
Daniel's wrist turned. Mark saw it now, or thought he did. A line in the air. A suggestion of an edge. Light bent wrong around Daniel's hand, folding in on itself like the space there was remembering a shape.
"Maybe," Daniel said, "you were never taken at all."
Amy stood up. The air around her shimmered.
Lucas looked at Mark. For the first time, the kid's eyes were cold. "You want to call him off?"
Mark didn't move. His burned hand was on fire now, the scar tissue screaming. He didn't know what Daniel was holding. He didn't know if Lucas was lying or if Daniel was having a psychotic break. He didn't know if the heat boiling off Amy was real or if he was losing his mind too.
But he knew one thing.
Nobody in this room was what they said they were.
"Daniel," Mark said. "Put it down."
Daniel didn't look away from Lucas. "He's a *finder*. You know what that means?"
Mark didn't.
"It means he didn't get sent back," Daniel said. "It means he volunteered."
Lucas went very still.
"That true?" Mark said.
Lucas tilted his head. His posture had changed. Looser. Like he'd just taken off a costume that didn't fit. "Does it matter?"
"Yeah," Amy said. The heat around her was visible now, the air bending in waves. "It matters."
"Why?" Lucas's smile came back. Different this time. Colder. "You think you're the only ones they're watching? You think this little support group's gonna save you?"
The blade in Daniel's hand caught the light. Just for a second. Just enough for Mark to see the edge.
"Who sent you?" Daniel said.
"Same people who sent you," Lucas said. "Same people who burned her. Same people who scarred him. You really think you said no and they just let you walk?"
Mark's throat went tight. "What are you talking about?"
Lucas looked at him. Really looked at him. "You're not running a support group, Mark. You're running a"
The lights went out.