Heena didn't stop running until she was three blocks deep into the West Market, finally ducking into a deserted, shadowed alleyway between a butcher's shop and a locked warehouse.
She slid down the rough stone wall, her chest heaving as she dragged oxygen into her burning lungs. As she sat there huffing and puffing in the dirt, a familiar, glowing golden spark fizzed into existence right in front of her face.
Heena slowly lifted her head. Her pitch-black eyes locked onto the digital lion cub, and her anger hit an absolute boiling point. It all clicked instantly. The sudden weight on her shoulder by the wall, the startle that sent her crashing into the buckets—it hadn't been a shadow guard. It was her own AI malfunctioning back into reality right on top of her.
"You damn bastard," Heena gasped, her voice dripping with murderous venom. "Did you seriously not find any other time to pop back in? Do you think that was the moment you should have announced your return?!"
