False Gods | The Prime Archives #3 ✓

seventeen

For weeks after he left, she spent her days cooped up in her room. Her bedsheets had swallowed her, the soft linen whispering in her ear to never get out of bed. Eventually, she ran out of tears. The crying stopped and was replaced by long periods of staring into space.

Had it been up to her, she would've stayed like that forever.

Luckily, it wasn't up to her.

If it wasn't for Victoria, Theo, and Lucky, she wasn't sure how she would have made it out of the pit of darkness that threatened to drown her. The three of them made sure she ate her meals, woke up on time, and attended training regularly. They didn't rush her, but they made sure she didn't slip back into the depression she was trying to escape.

With enough coaxing and motivational speeches, Stella eventually reached a place of...contentedness. She couldn't call it happiness. She wasn't there yet.

She wasn't sure if she would ever get there.

Still, she was grateful for her friends. She was nothing without them.

Sighing, she pushed the memories of the past out of her head and stepped into the elevator. After pressing the button that would take her to the research wing of the compound, she stepped back and rested her head against the cool glass.

She wondered if the Jaegers had captured Chase and the others yet. It was highly unlikely that they would escape their clutches, especially with Orion helping lead the charge. They would be captured. She was sure of it.

Until then, she decided to take a trip to The Armory to get her StarBands recalibrated. With Archie gone, she had to rely on the other engineers of The Acropolis to upgrade and maintain her gear. Sadly, they didn't do as good of a job as the boy genius.

She missed him sometimes. His abrasive, calculating personality was charming at times. He might not have let it on, but deep down he was a big softy.

A frown pulled at the corners of her mouth.

She missed them all. Andre, Kai, Danai. Even Emily. Their relationship had been better than it had ever been—even when they were best friends back in middle school. But that all ended when she chose the other side.

The wrong side.

Sometimes she blamed herself for their mistake of leaving Atlas. She always wondered if she hadn't fought hard enough to get them to stay. Guilt filled her body like a toxic venom whenever she dwelled on it.

Now they were being hunted down like animals. This time, Stella wouldn't be around to protect them. She couldn't save them from what was coming. The Jaegers wouldn't let them slip through their fingers again.

As for those they had already collected, they were awaiting transport to The Vault.

Once they arrived at headquarters, Atlas agents escorted them into the temporary holding cells in the basement—which had been newly renovated since the explosion five years prior—as they awaited transport to The Vault. However, reports of a storm over the Atlantic meant helicopters weren't permitted to fly into the prison. That meant the captured Primes would be spending a few more days at The Acropolis.

In truth, she didn't want to see any of them in The Vault. She had only been a few times, but with all the new inmates and their treatment at the hands of the prison guards, it wasn't the best of places to be. Some of those captured were children as well—specifically Cassie and Mateo.

They didn't need to be in a prison. They needed to be with her, rehabilitating and purged of the nonsense Chase and the Exiles had filled their heads with. She knew they could become valuable members of the Prime Task Force.