Chapter 6 Entering His World

The turnoff to Dawson Estate was easy to miss, which seemed less like an oversight and more like a test of intent. Emma's phone chirped directions with the same unruffled confidence it might use to order an Uber or confirm a takeout order.

At the end of the two-mile access road, a matte-black security gate loomed-no crests or flourishes, just a subtle badge of authority, all blank surface and implication. Emma eased her Nissan forward until the gate's hidden cameras blinked alive, lenses like glossy insect eyes pivoting to study her as if she were a glitch in the algorithm.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the metal barrier slid open with a slow, expensive hiss, admitting her to the realm beyond.

Inching forward, the tires whispered against the smooth drive, and she could feel her heart racing, knowing she'd be pulled over and questioned.

Each hundred feet brought new evidence of the scale she was up against: lawns crosshatched to an impossible symmetry; clusters of white birches planted with a mathematician's precision; the low, predatory gleam of other vehicles-Teslas, a Lambo, something the color of fresh blood with wheels as thin as razors-parked in elegant clusters on flagstone aprons.

The house, when it revealed itself, seemed to grow from the landscape by force of will rather than by design. Three stories of glass and blackened steel, its profile all sharp edges and impossible angles, a structure that looked as if it had been hoisted from the pages of a future where warmth was obsolete. Emma's hands slipped a little on the wheel; she wiped them on her slacks, nervous sweat refusing to be reasoned with.

The last stretch of drive curved up to a broad, circular landing. A stone fountain shaped like a Möbius strip rotated soundlessly at the center, water flowing in an endless, fractal cascade. As Emma cut her engine, the silence pressed in-an engineered hush, as if the property itself operated on noise-cancelling logic.

She reached for her battered laptop bag, the canvas worn shiny at the corners, and opened the car door. Immediately the air hit her, micro-tuned and somehow filtered of all the usual outside smells, a cocktail of ozone, green, and a faint trace of something spicy, expensive, and hard to place.

The main entrance presented itself in two stories of seamless glass, the doors so perfectly transparent she nearly missed the figure waiting on the other side.

Marisol Vega opened the door before Emma could even locate a bell. In her fifties, with silver-streaked hair pulled into a knot that was both severe and oddly regal, she wore a slate dress that matched the building's exterior-minimalist, elegant, intimidating in its lack of ornament. Her eyes swept Emma in a full-body scan, not hostile but clinical, as if she were already estimating Emma's half-life in the household.

"Ms. Carter," she said. The voice was low, accented with something that wasn't easy to place-a little South American, a little European, all authority. "Welcome. You're right on time."

Emma extended her hand, which Marisol took in a handshake that was firm, dry, and released a beat too quickly.

"Thank you," Emma managed. "I-wasn't sure if the gate would actually let me in."

A micro-expression-smirk, or perhaps just acknowledgment-passed over Marisol's face. "Our system recognizes staff appointments. Your arrival was scheduled at 1600 hours. You're early."

Emma's brain hiccupped over the word "staff." She'd never thought of herself as anything but a teacher, and in the short limbo between her old job and this moment, she hadn't bothered to imagine how she might be labeled in this new world.

Marisol stepped aside, holding the door open with the bare minimum of ceremonial flourish. Emma moved through, her sensible flats making wet little squeaks on the polished concrete, which reflected the entryway's filtered white light in a way that made the entire space feel simultaneously infinite and airless.

The interior was even more impossible than the exterior promised. Walls and floors flowed into each other, interrupted only by sharp slices of steel or panels of opaque glass that hid their true purpose. There was no obvious decor-just a series of almost-living vignettes: a white orchid balanced on the edge of a water feature, a bench carved from a single piece of petrified wood, the sudden shock of a sapphire rug the size of a swimming pool. Overhead, a ceiling slit funneled sunlight into a perfect blade, casting Marisol in silhouette as she led the way deeper.

"Mr. Dawson is not currently on the premises," Marisol said over her shoulder. "He returns from the city at seven. Dinner is served promptly at 7:30. Until then, you'll be shown to your quarters and given a brief tour of the main house."

Emma tried to keep up, both with Marisol's crisp pace and the rapid-fire information. A bright smile bloomed as she noticed the meticulously planned schedule, and the joy of a new chapter filled her.

There was a cold efficiency here that reminded her of principal walk-throughs, but with the added weight of money and consequence.

They passed a living room so vast it defied the name-open on both sides, its windows framing a view of the grounds that looked computer-generated. No one was visible, but the subtle arrangement of the furniture, the cluster of smart screens, suggested invisible observers. Emma noticed a shadow moving behind one of the walls-maybe security, maybe another staff member, maybe just her nerves manifesting as hallucination.

Marisol paused at the foot of a floating staircase, her hand resting on the cool metal of the banister. "You will find the east wing is most accessible for your purposes. The boy's study and living quarters are there. Your own suite is at the end of the hall."

Emma nodded, trying to seem as if she was accustomed to being assigned wings of houses.

"Is there-" She hesitated, searching for a word that wouldn't sound hopelessly provincial. "Is there a manual, or a protocol I should review?"

Marisol's lips flattened. "We will discuss operational procedures at dinner. For now, I will show you to your room."

The east corridor was a gallery, each stretch of wall interrupted by an art piece that managed to be both aggressive and perfectly at home.

Emma caught glimpses of digital paintings that seemed to move at the periphery of her gaze; a sculpture made from what looked like jet engine parts, somehow twisted into a shape almost animal; a series of photographs, printed huge, of desolate cityscapes.

The only color in the corridor, aside from the art, was the thin red strip along the baseboards-subtle lighting that changed hue as they passed, a warning line for the night shift, perhaps.

Marisol stopped in front of a door that blended so well with the wall, Emma wouldn't have noticed it if not for the soft glow around its perimeter. She placed her palm on a sensor, which beeped in recognition, then opened the door with a soft click.

"Your access will be configured by tomorrow," Marisol said. "Until then, you will use a temporary code." She handed Emma a small, card-sized device. "This is your key. Do not lose it."

Emma took the card, studying its blank face and wondering if it would self-destruct if she let it out of her sight.

The room inside was nothing like the sterile grandeur of the public spaces. It was-if not warm, then at least human-sized. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over a garden landscaped in the style of a Japanese temple, all black gravel and precise islands of moss.

A low platform bed sat against one wall, covered in gray linens so soft they looked vaporous. There was a built-in desk, a walk-in closet, a private bathroom whose fixtures gleamed with a low, silvered glow.

Emma's single, ratty suitcase-apparently delivered from her car without her noticing-waited by the closet door, its stickers and scuffs looking suddenly tragicomic. She felt an irrational urge to apologize to the room, to the suitcase, to herself.

Marisol stood by the window, hands folded, watching Emma assess the space.

"Do you have any questions before I leave you to settle in?"

Emma wanted to ask if there were any normal people in the house. Instead she said, "I'd like to meet Alex before we start. If possible."

Marisol considered this. "He is at present in session with Dr. Simon. You will be introduced at dinner."

There was a pause so perfectly timed, Emma realized it was not a pause at all but a punctuation-an end to the conversation.

Marisol turned for the door, then stopped, fixing Emma with an assessing look.

"You are not what I expected," she said, quietly.

Emma smiled, a little, though it felt more like showing her teeth.

"Me either," she replied.

Marisol nodded once, then exited, the door whispering closed behind her.

For a moment, Emma just stood in the middle of the room, one hand still clutching the access card. She let her bag drop onto the floor, then circled the space, trailing her fingers along the immaculate desk, the impossibly smooth wall, the bare glass. Outside, in the garden, a single black koi darted through the water in a motion so fast she almost missed it.

She toed off her shoes, the relief at their absence almost as strong as her discomfort at her own presence. In the bathroom, she splashed her face, staring at her reflection in the mirror's perfect edge. The woman looking back was the same as always, but smaller against the clean expanse, a provisional person.

She unpacked her few things, placing a photo of her last class by the window, the crayon sun and stick-figure children suddenly fragile in the new context.

When she finally sat on the bed, its surface barely yielding, she felt the last tremor of the drive in her legs. For the first time in days, she allowed herself to do nothing but breathe, and to listen-to the silence, to her pulse, to the faint, omnipresent hum of the house as it monitored itself, and her.

It felt like the moment before a test, or the second before stepping into a new classroom. The space was waiting to see who she would be.

Emma waited, too.