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There’s no guarantee I’ll be around to see it.” I thought of her son beside me—inthe dragon. “There’s no guarantee for any of us.”
    Naomi closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “All who believe in Him have a guarantee. And no one with that guarantee would take his own life. It’s true we might suffer—like being trapped by Don—but I trust God’s plan.” Her eyes opened. “He called you to serve Him at the end.”
    Her steady faith made me smile. She’d just had the devil’s baby, and yet here she was telling me to trust God. I didn’t want to think about where I’d be without her. “You’re right.” I took her hands in mine. “I’m trying to serve Him, and I think that means connecting my precept. I have to join this fight.”
    She looked resigned to it, or maybe just tired. “You have to tell me everything you learn.”
    “I already agreed to that.”
    “Good.” She yawned, then glanced down at the monitor, at the sleeping boy. “Let’s head back. He’ll be waking up soon.”
    “Still not going to tell me his name?”
    She shook her head and stood. She began to reach her arms up, yawning again, but winced and dropped them to her side.  
    “You okay?”
    “It still hurts a little,” she admitted. “Can you grab one of these apples for me?”
    “Isn’t that what Eve said to Adam?”
    She laughed. “Something like that, but you’re the one desperate to turn your precept on. I’m just hungry.”
    I picked two apples and handed her one. “Here, the forbidden fruit. Let me know what you learn about good and evil.”
    She looked up at the palace’s tower looming high above us. “I already know more than I’d like.”

LATER THAT DAY Naomi came to my room while the baby was sleeping again. We sat across from each other in the chairs by the window, overlooking the rocky desert hills. We talked more about Don’s offer and Beatriz’s message. We prayed. We asked God what it meant to trust and wait. We got no clear answer. I had waited for more guidance. I had waited until Don sent the instructions. And now I would trust. I would turn on my precept.  
    Three presses to the wrist and V was back.
    My head suddenly felt doused in grease—slippery and tainted. My senses were sharper, but less real.  
    “Good afternoon, Elijah,” V greeted with her cheerful voice. “Twenty-three days and four hours since last shutdown.”  
    Was that all? I wondered. That had been in Jerusalem, with Brie from the order. She’d told me never to turn my precept on again. Was she right, or had things changed? Too late now.  
    V spoke in my mind. “You have thirty thousand six hundred forty-two messages, nine hundred twenty news briefings, and fifty-seven trainings. You also have—”
    “Stop.”  
    V stopped. That shouldn’t have been comforting, but it was. At least V still obeyed. The messages and briefings could wait.  
    “Why did you tell it to stop?” Naomi asked. “You look scared.”
    “It was too much at once.” I stared wide-eyed at her. With the influx of information from V, I’d forgotten I would get access to Naomi’s vitals. It felt like so long since we had synced during ISA training. I checked her familiar digital presence in my mind. Her heart rate was normal, but her synapses were firing at 68% of her normal speed. She was exhausted.  
    “You’ve got to get more sleep,” I said.
    “I know. But … why are you looking at me like that? You still have my data from our sync?”
    I nodded. “It’s still there. Remember, Don’s network keeps the data flowing even when precepts are off. More sleep, okay?”
    “You ever try sleeping when there’s a baby waking you up every two hours?” She put on her best attempt at a smile. “I’ll be fine. What about your precept?”
    “V auto-connected with the system, and she was about to report on my messages and everything.”
    “Stay focused,” she said. “See if there’s something from the order.”
    “Okay.” I