Splinter View: Chapter 5 — November 14, 2025
CHAPTER 5 — “Flirty Check-In”
Sunset lowers the cabin’s interior to a copper hush. I retreat to the loft bedroom, mug in hand, laptop balanced on a quilt that smells faintly of cedar chests and mothballs. Mika hops onto the foot of the bed, spins once, but keeps her gaze pinned to the deck door visible through the balustrade below.
Signal strength is a single wavering bar—enough. I tap Lena’s icon.
Her face materializes with pixel-grain warmth. Dorm-room fairy lights halo her close-cropped curls; she’s wearing my threadbare Argon-Is-My-Gas hoodie. The sight jolts something soft behind my sternum.
“Dr. Frankenstein, I presume,” she greets, lips quivering. “How’s the mad scientist retreat?”
“Not mad. Merely… methodically unsupervised.” I angle the camera toward the spectrometer guts spread across the island below. “Behold: photon wizardry.”
She whistles low. “Sexy. Nothing gets me going like wavelength calibration curves.”
“Say more nerdy things.”
Lena mock-fans herself. “Stop, I’m blushing under your hoodie.”
Heat sparks down my leg. Mika lets out a chuff. I stroke her back.
“So,” Lena says, voice softening. “How’s the anxiety level? You’re alone-alone out there.”
“I’m armed with science and caffeine. Also a cleaver, but that’s really just for panache.”
There’s a tiny glitch in the feed—a breath-long pause where her smile stutters.
“Thought I saw something move behind you,” she says.
I pivot the camera. Nothing. Just shadow and afterglow.
Mika growls.
Low. Sustained.
Not uncertain.
“Neighborhood deer,” I lie.
The screen freezes again—just for a fraction of a second.
Lena’s smile hangs there. Too still.
Then she’s laughing again.
Too bright.
Mika’s ears twitch toward the deck door.
The glass has turned into a mirror.
“Promise,” I say, forcing normal back into my voice.
On Lena’s end, the hoodie shifts as she crosses her arms—fingers digging into the fabric like she’s trying to hold onto something.
I don’t see it.
I’m already checking the cables.
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Chapter 6 — November 17, 2025
