Danlwd Halovpn Bray Kampywtr -

was not a name. It was a set of instructions.

He rearranged the letters frantically, heart thumping in time with the thunder: danlwd Halovpn bray kampywtr

At exactly 11:57 PM, his phone buzzed with a single line of text: THE ALPHABET FLOOD BEGINS AT MIDNIGHT. UNSCRAMBLE OR DROWN. was not a name

DANLWD → (no, that’s silly) → Halovpn → HALO VPN (a ring of light? A secure tunnel?) → Bray Kampywtr → Bray Kampywtr ? No— RAM BY WATER PYK ? That made no sense. UNSCRAMBLE OR DROWN

He stared at the full set. Then he saw it. He saw everything.

He scrambled down the fire escape, burst into his cluttered studio, and grabbed a marker. On the wall, he wrote the letters like a lunatic possessed:

She didn't know who had planted it. But she knew, somehow, that it had always been her name, too.