Chapter 103

Beneath the Skin

Lex's Other Side

Rhea watched Lex pour tea into his cup the next morning—his movements were the same, his voice was calm, his love for her undoubted.

But it was too perfect. Too rehearsed.

> The way he turned his head exactly half a second after she spoke.

The way he never asked about the past anymore.

The way he no longer dreamed.

And Kaia… she had stopped reaching for him. She just stared.

Rhea noticed.

The Journal

In the storage room, Rhea found Lex's old field journal—the one he used during operations. He had stopped writing in it a month ago.

But tucked into the back cover was something new.

A single page. With numbers. Symbols. Equations.

And at the bottom:

> "Fragment stability: 89.3%"

"Dreams minimal. Host unaware."

"Full sync ETA: T+ 21 days"

Her hands went cold.

> This wasn't written by Lex.

It was written about him.

"Mommy, Mirror Bad."

Kaia had barely started speaking—but that night, she tugged Rhea's sleeve and pointed to the mirror in their bedroom.

"Mirror bad," she whispered.

Rhea crouched down, heart hammering. "What do you mean, baby?"

Kaia touched her mother's forehead gently. Then her own chest.

"Inside," she said. "He's... not."

Rhea froze. "Not who?"

Kaia looked away, silent.

But the mirror shimmered faintly.

For just a blink of a second—Lex's reflection blinked twice, even though he only blinked once.