I dreamt of Ron again.

This time, we were back in the Underworld.

Running down the old steel corridors like children playing tag. His laugh bounced off the walls, familiar and warm, and I chased after it like it was a thread pulling me back to something I could still believe in.

The rusted lights above flickered, but I didn't care. Ron was ahead of me. Real. Smiling. Alive.

He turned to look back at me, eyes full of something unspoken.

Affection, maybe. Or warning. I couldn't tell.

I just knew I needed to reach him before it vanished.

But then the corridor stretched, elongated like a rubber band, and he was suddenly too far.

I called his name.

Once.

Twice.

It sounded wrong in my mouth. Distant. Like I was calling through water, or time, or memory I no longer trusted.

Then the light shifted. Cold. Blue.

I blinked.

Ron was no longer running.

He was lying down. Strapped to a white table under a blinding light. His face slack. His body trembling.

No... no, no, no!

I slammed my palms against the invisible wall between us. Screamed. Pounded.

He didn't move.

Not even his fingers twitched.

Then I saw them.

Mechanical arms.

Slender, jointed things with tiny needles and wires descending from the ceiling. Like they were preparing to alter him. Or worse.

Rewrite him.

The Master stepped into view. All calm precision. Watching Ron like he was just another program to be rewritten.

And Ron, he opened his eyes.

But they weren't his anymore.

"RON!" I screamed.

And the light swallowed everything.

I woke up choking on air, my heart clawing up my throat. My shirt was damp with sweat, hair plastered to my temples. My hands were shaking.

I barely had a moment to register the sting of the nightmare when I saw him.

The Sentinel.

He was standing by the wall across the room. As still as the shadows, but his eyes, his unnatural silver gaze, were fixed on me.

"You're sweating," he said plainly.

I sat up, scowling. "What do you know about it?"

My voice was sharper than I intended, but I didn't care. He was always watching. Always there.

He didn't flinch. Of course he didn't. He never does.

I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to ground myself. My skin still buzzed with leftover panic.

The window caught my eye. Through the mesh of the metal blinds, I saw stars. Not fake ones, not projections like in the Underworld. Real stars.

It was night in the Upperworld.

A thought tightened in my chest.

"Tell me about Ron."

The Sentinel didn't hesitate. "He is one of them now."

I blinked. "That's not true."

"He won't come back to the Underworld," he said. "He's changed."

"No. You're wrong." My voice cracked. "You're lying."

"I don't lie," he replied simply. "That's the truth."

"You're a liar!" I shouted, standing now, fists clenched at my sides. "You're trying to mess with me. You're trying to make me give up-"

"I'm telling you what I saw," he said. "He belongs to the Master now."

I hated how calm he was. How detached. I hated that he sounded so certain.

But the nightmare, the way Ron looked at me with those dead eyes, was still clinging to the edges of my mind like poison.

I had to see him.

I had to know.

And I knew what I needed to do.

I crossed the room in a few quick strides and stood directly in front of the Sentinel. He didn't back away. He never does. Always still. Always blank.

"Pair with me again," I demanded.

His head tilted slightly. "No."

"Why not?" I snapped. "You did it once before. I didn't die, did I?"

"You warned me not to do it again."

"Well, this time I'm allowing you," I hissed. "Happy now?"

Still, he didn't move.

I glanced at his gloves. "Take them off. Do what you did before."

"No."

I stepped closer, angry heat curling in my chest. "Why not?"

He looked down at me, and for once, he didn't answer immediately.

Then he said, "A brief pairing only works when we are in contact. When we are holding hands."

"Then we'll hold hands," I said.

"I have duties," he said calmly. "I am required to report to the Master. I cannot bring you there, holding your hand."

I felt my heart stutter. "So what, then? That's it?"

"There is one other way," he said, voice lower now.

I paused. "What is it?"

He looked at me for a long time. Like he was calculating something that went beyond numbers.

"A permanent pairing," he said at last. "No time limits. No need to hold hands. You'll be linked to me as if we were one system. You'll be able to move freely through the Upperworld, and I'll know where you are... Always."

A silence stretched between us.

"And what's the catch?" I asked, already knowing there was one.

"You won't be able to sever it," he said. "Once done, it cannot be undone."

I opened my mouth. Closed it.

Permanently bound. To him. Always feeling his presence, hearing his voice, sensing his thoughts. Like a second heartbeat pressed against mine.

It sounded like freedom.

And a prison.

My mind reeled.

This could be my only way to find Ron. To reach the Upperworld alone, without being hunted. To finally get answers.

But to do it... I'd have to surrender a part of myself.

Tie it to him.

Forever.

I could barely stand being in the same room as him. His silence, his eyes, the way he always made me feel like I was being studied under glass. Could I bear to carry his presence inside me, day and night?

And yet...

Ron.

My lips moved before my mind caught up. The words fell out like they'd been waiting, "I'll do it."

His eyes flickered.

"No," he said.

I blinked. "What-"

"Not now," he said. "You need to understand what you're agreeing to. So I'll give you until morning."

I stared at him, fury and desperation swirling in my chest.

"You can't tell me what to-"

"If you still want it by then," he interrupted gently, "I won't stop you."

Then, without waiting for my reply, he turned and walked toward the door.

I didn't stop him.

I stood there, alone, trembling in sweat-drenched clothes and the fading burn of a dream I couldn't shake.

Could I really do it?

Give up that last sliver of autonomy, just to chase a boy who might not even remember me?

And worse...

What if the Sentinel was right?

What if I found Ron, and he wasn't mine anymore?