Danger lurks.

"We're going to be late. Everyone, pack up, we are heading back now!" Vince barked, his sharp eyes scanning the group. A few team members still looked groggy, rubbing sleep from their eyes.

It was just after 5:00 a.m. The sky remained a muted shade of blue, not yet fully awake, and the camp was still cloaked in shadows. They had taken shifts guarding the site, both from wild animals and assassins from rival organizations. Though they were far from the forest, they weren't safe yet.

Little Seven yawned and rubbed her eyes as she stepped down to the river's edge. The cold water bit at her skin as she splashed it on her face, trying to wake up fully. She said nothing as she returned and joined the rest of the team, now jogging back to their "home."

Her face was unreadable, and her eyes were distant. She glanced sideways at her team, the people she had once trusted wholeheartedly when the mission began. But things had changed. Last night had changed everything.

She pursed her lips as the memory surfaced, as it was still sharp and raw.

After excusing herself to relieve herself in the nearby bushes, she had sensed something or someone watching her. Before she could react, a hard blow struck the back of her head, and everything went black. She was hurled into the river like trash.

She had struggled, panicked, flailing against the current as icy water filled her lungs. Her body wanted to give up, to let go. But the experiments done on her body had given her unnatural strength and agility. That edge barely kept her alive.

Just as her consciousness began to fade, a hand reached into the water and pulled her to the surface.

When she awoke sometime later, she was lying on the muddy riverbank, soaked to the bone, shaking with cold, and alone. She figured that whoever saved her had already vanished into the darkness.

She had quietly returned to camp, dripping wet and alert to every sound around her. Someone had tried to kill her. And someone else had saved her. Both had been there, among her teammates.

The sun was now fully rising, casting golden light on the dew-soaked grass of the mountain paths. Eventually, seven cloaked figures arrived at a heavily guarded compound on the outskirts of the city.

It was hidden from the public's eyes, deliberately so. Surrounded by high walls and veiled by dense vegetation, few outside the organization even knew it existed. After confirming their identities, the team passed through the gates and entered the facility.

They split off silently toward their dormitories to clean up and change.

Little Seven had just turned toward her hall when she felt a hand rest lightly on her shoulder. She flinched—until she turned and saw Seko.

He leaned in slightly and whispered, "Be careful. Don't trust anyone."

Then he turned and walked away without waiting for a response.

She froze in place, her breath caught in her throat, her eyes wide with drama.

It was him.

She didn't need confirmation; her instincts screamed it. It had been this quiet, kind-eyed big brother who had pulled her from the river and saved her life. She silently made a vow in her heart to repay him in the future.

But that only deepened the mystery.

Who had thrown her in the river? Who had the motive to take her life?

Yakama was her first suspect as he had been furious after Manu's death. But something told her not to make assumptions. They had all lost their comrade. Every one of them had a motive except Seko.

She clenched her jaw as she climbed the stairs to her room.

Danger lingered, silent and unseen. She could feel it like a shadow following her steps. She laughed bitterly at her fate, before she could reclaim her memories and understand who she was, death was already knocking at her door.

Weakness is the reason why she almost drowned last night and made her a liability to the team. It had made her a target.

And the same weakness had forced her to watch helplessly as Manu died protecting her. That was the last time she would ever be that vulnerable, she silently vowed.

Her once innocent, wide eyes were no longer soft. They had grown colder, sharper eyes that no longer asked for protection, but calculated survival.

She didn't say it aloud. But deep inside, a vow formed with terrifying clarity:

From now on, I won't be the prey. I'll become the predator.