My Diary

Amari crouched down next to me while most of the others were still packing.

"I can't believe you're being evacuated right now," I started.

"He's just very cautious. That's all."

Diona called out in a frenzy across half the church. "What must I absolutely not forget?"

"Your WristChip," Edda called back, having just dragged a small bag into the prayer hall.

"Ha ha. Very funny. Seriously though?"

"The church isn't in the blast zone, Diona. There shouldn't be any major damage here anyway, we'll be back soon."

"Are you sure?" Kovun asked. "These walls are pretty old."

Edda looked at him critically for a moment. Then she nodded and scurried off. "Damn. Then I still need to pack some of the records."

Kovun just said "I think I'm still missing a bottle. One of the good ones" and headed toward the kitchen.

"One of the good what?" I wanted to know.

He shrugged and kept walking.

Amari laughed.

The next moment the old priest and I were alone in the prayer hall.

It was quiet.

"What if I can't do it?" I asked him, my gaze still on the door Kovun had just walked through.

He didn't answer for a few seconds.

Then he smiled gently and turned to me.

"You know, my boy. Sometimes faith is half the battle," he said. "She believes in you. We do. And it's time you finally start believing too."

I nodded. "I'll try."

"Don't try. Just believe."

Suddenly Arlo came running into the main hall. Rowana called after him: "Hey! No running in the prayer hall, young man!"

Worse things have happened here, I thought, and was glad the boy didn't know about Samantha.

Arlo just laughed and kept running.

Rowana set her bags down and chased after the nimble child. But she couldn't catch him. Three quarters of it show, one quarter owed to heavy bones.

He finally ran to me and stopped.

"Let me fly again, Reo. Please," he demanded.

I'd let Arlo hover a few centimeters off the ground with my abilities a few days ago. He'd loved it.

Rowana looked at me sideways.

"You did what?"

I stared at the little boy with wide eyes. "You were supposed to keep that to yourself!" I whispered loudly and slightly panicked.

"Oops," he said dryly.

Rowana snorted.

"Easy, Rowana. I think by now Reo knows best what he's capable of."

She took one deep breath.

"You're right. Maybe I should learn to loosen up a bit."

From outside the building you could suddenly hear a quiet hum. It slowly grew stronger but never really got loud.

Rowana checked at the door.

"It's here," she called out finally.

Pell had sent the SkyPilot to pick up the others.

I'd only ever seen those things from a distance before. High up in the sky.

The rest came running with their luggage. Kovun had a bottle of something in his hand. And Edda had dragged along a massive suitcase with both hands on top of everything else.

"Leave the suitcase here, Edda. You won't need it," Amari said confidently.

"And what if something goes wrong?"

"That's not going to happen," Diona added. "Right, Reo?"

I nodded.

"Besides, that thing outside won't be able to take off with the suitcase," Kovun said, patting Edda on the back.

She grinned slightly. Mentally she still wasn't thrilled with the idea.

"Okay, then I'll just leave it here," she said, hands on her hips, half convinced.

"Come on now," Rowana called impatiently. "That thing won't wait forever."

One after another said goodbye to me. Long hugs and encouraging words.

"Come on, people. This isn't a farewell, we'll see Reo again soon. So let's go!"

Edda, Kovun, and Diona were practically shooed out of the main hall by Rowana.

Then Rowana squeezed me tight.

"As soon as you have the access, you go. In, down, close the rift, done. Understood?"

"Understood," I confirmed, smiling.

She took the boy by the hand and walked off.

"Wait, Arlo," I said to the prophet.

I knelt down on one knee to his level.

"Do you think when all of this is over, she'll speak to us again?"

He placed both hands on my shoulders. For a moment he looked almost grown up.

"Yes, I think when it's all over, she'll speak again."

I stroked the boy's head and they walked on.

Amari nodded at Rowana and stayed with me for another second.

"Ask me one more time," he said quietly.

It took me a moment to form the words.

"Who is Pell really, Amari?"

Amari looked at Arlo, who was standing at the main entrance waving goodbye.

The boy laughed. As happy as always.

"Julian Pell is Arlo's father."

I didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry. I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone. And I take other people's secrets very seriously. That's my duty."

"Then why now?"

"I told him that I'm convinced you can be trusted."

He slowly stood up.

"When all of this is over, he'll want to meet you. He said I can tell you now."

Amari laughed. "He's not some criminal mafia fanatic, or whatever you'd been imagining about him."

Then he held me for a long time and slowly walked off.

"Will you pray for me, Amari?" I called after him.

The old man slowly turned around as he walked.

"I'll pray for you if you promise me you'll start believing."

I had to smile.

"Deal."

May 12, 2026

After our meeting yesterday, Amari had apparently contacted Tolep.

The results are...

"The energy storage will explode."

Terrible.

"In approximately four days."

Panic was written across the faces in the crisis room.

Panic and a chunk of disbelief.

"Where did you get this?" Rowana called out.

"I don't want to make a secret of it. Tolep put a team on the MagComputer and sent me the data and analyses."

Amari spoke in a controlled, calm manner. The way he always did.

Apparently even when the city is going under.

"Edda, can you take over here?"

Edda was the only one among us who looked more weighed down than panicked.

She nodded and slowly stood up.

"Tolep's team compared the telemetry data of the affected energy storage with that of the exploded hydrogen reactor. Shortly before the explosion, the reactor's storage units showed the exact same anomalies. And from that they were able to extrapolate when the storage will explode."

Normally Edda presented her facts with a certain expressiveness. But today she seemed different. Somehow helpless.

"Did you double-check that?" Aya asked in disbelief.

Edda looked around the room and shook her head.

"I don't know what you all think of me. But I'm not a universal genius," she said, desperate. "I'm interested in a lot of things, sure, but I've never evaluated telemetry data from a reactor!"

She dropped into her chair.

"But those were undoubtedly experts at work. The AI tool claims so, at least."

Aya nodded slowly.

"The energy storage is underground. That has to help, right?" Diona wanted to know.

Edda just shook her head.

"I said it yesterday. It doesn't help. With an explosion of this scale, it probably makes it even worse."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"According to the analyses I have, it means half of Canfield."

"'Half of Canfield' as in 'half of Canfield feels a slight tremor'?" Diona pressed.

Edda stared silently at the floor.

"Edda?"

She took one deep breath and looked at Diona.

"'Half of Canfield' as in 'half of Canfield is rubble afterward,'" Edda finally answered. "The Gates of New Haven will feel the tremor. And the estimated number of casualties is close to a hundred thousand."

My hands were shaking.

The group was speechless.

Only Amari managed to move his lips.

"This is a serious matter, I know. But Reo can do this. He's already closed many rifts. We just need a way to get there."

Rowana shook her head firmly.

"No, that's not enough! People need to be evacuated immediately! Imagine we don't pull this off. That's simply too much responsibility for one person."

Amari looked at her.

"Tolep has already contacted various emergency coordination centers."

"And?!"

Edda answered in Amari's place: "Warren is contradicting him. He's denying everything. He says everything is under control and that Tolep doesn't even have access to the real data."

I squinted. Something was very wrong here. Warren was a politician, but not an idiot.

"How come they can reach Warren but we can't?" Kovun asked loudly.

"Because that's the city's damn emergency coordination center," Aya answered. "Warren probably has a dedicated line just for that."

Kovun scoffed. "Then you should really go see him in person right now."

Aya was about to counter, but Amari raised his hand.

"Please stay calm. We have four days," the old priest spoke. "And please let me remind all of you that Reo was sent to us by God to overcome exactly this crisis."

He seemed to look everyone in the eyes at once.

"This is not a moment for doubt. This is the moment to realize that everything so far has gone according to her plan."

Even Aya seemed somehow receptive to Amari's words.

"I suggest we stick to the existing strategy. Only now we hurry." Amari turned to me and Aya. "Get your Gatekeeper friend here as quickly as possible. And then head to Warren. We have to try in person."

---

Kai had worked until late at night. Due to the chaos on the streets, all Gatekeepers were stretched thin.

By noon he finally managed to pick us up.

Aya gave him a kiss.

A few weeks ago I would've looked away. Today there were worse things than my heartache.

"You look terrible," she said smiling and sat down next to him in the back.

"You have no idea how much sleep I've had."

"City hall square. Fast, please," I said to the car before addressing Kai's comment. "I doubt the next few days will bring much more sleep."

"Great," Kai said ironically and needed a moment to process. "Wait. What are you talking about?"

While the CityPilot flew to Warren, I filled Kai in on the latest information.

He was wide awake after that.

---

The CityPilot dropped us off just past the innermost ring. Driving through downtown was out of the question.

We tried to avoid contact with infected people as much as possible. We don't know if we can save them by closing the rift. And we don't know if we'd have to kill them if we encountered them.

Even though we were pretty lucky, we saw three infected people on the city hall square attacking each other. One was defending himself with a cracked glass bottle. We hid behind a building corner.

"It's really like in Carver's records from the Tellow reactor," Kai said to me as we waited for the best moment to move on.

I nodded. "Everyone against everyone."

The mayor's residence wasn't far from there. It had a large wall and a few trees rose behind it. One of those places where you know the owners must be very wealthy.

Aya rang the bell relentlessly.

Nothing stirred.

"What if we climb over the wall?" I asked.

Both looked at me sideways.

"There could be drones or Gatekeepers or other security systems waiting on the other side. That's a really bad idea," Kai said.

"Then what's the suggestion?"

Right at that moment the intercom came on.

"You need to leave!" a man's voice snarled.

I needed a second to place the slightly electronic-sounding voice.

"Warren, is that you?! Let us in! It's urgent!" I shouted into the speaker. "It's about the MagComputer's energy storage."

"What nonsense. Not you people too!"

"Listen to us, Warren," Kai said urgently. "I don't want to be shouting this on the street, but the storage units are going to explode and take half of Canfield with them."

"BULLSHIT! All lies! You just want me to evacuate the city for no reason and then nothing happens!" Warren yelled.

What's wrong with him?

"No, what?" I asked quickly. "Why would we do that?!"

"TO END MY CAREER!!" Warren screamed.

Kai and I looked at each other, baffled.

Suddenly he came onto his balcony. Two Gatekeepers beside him.

"I SAID LEAVE!" he shouted from fifty meters away. "NOW!!"

"Guys, Warren is infected," I added, shocked.

Despite the distance, it was clearly visible.

"Can you heal him from here?" Aya asked quickly.

"I can try."

I don't know if I would've managed it, but before I'd really started, Warren turned around and went back inside.

His voice blared loudly from the intercom.

"IF YOU'RE STILL STANDING HERE IN TEN SECONDS, I'LL SEND THE GATEKEEPERS AFTER YOU!"

Kai signaled us to get out and we hurried away.

"And now?" Aya said.

"Now it gets tricky," Kai said, grinning with exasperation.

I tried to reach Amari.

He was practically already waiting on the other end for exactly this scenario.

"Amari," I started right away. "We can't count on Warren. He's infected and barricaded in his estate."

Amari was calm as always.

"I've spoken with Tolep," he answered.

"He might be able to help us too."

Sometimes miracles show up right on time.

"Reo, I've got something for you," Carver said frantically on the phone. "You once asked me to look into the pattern in the distribution of offenses in Canfield."

"Did you find something?" I almost shouted.

"If you only look at the last two days and disregard everything that happened outside people's own homes, a clear pattern emerges."

"A center?"

"Yes, exactly. The distribution of incidents inside people's homes has a clear center on the map."

"And no one noticed this earlier?"

"I'm truly sorry, for all the victims' families. But if it weren't for the lockdown, this might never have been noticed."

Hard to believe. Warren had unintentionally delivered the decisive puzzle piece.

"Where is it, Nicolas?"

Carver went quiet for a moment.

"At the MagLane computer."

I closed my eyes.

"We've already been there."

"I know," Carver said. "But the data doesn't lie. And I verified it multiple times before I called you."

Short pause.

"I'm not the type to bother clients with half-baked theories. You know that."

Barely after Carver had said it, we found ourselves back in the crisis room. Aya had somehow made it here too. I wasn't surprised though.

"You were already there and didn't see anything," Rowana called out, slightly accusatory.

"Has anything changed since then?" Aya asked.

Edda answered: "No. But I did some more research. The energy storage units are two hundred meters underground. If we assume the rift is there, it's no wonder Reo didn't see anything at the surface. The architects moved them down there because people were afraid of the explosion risk."

"And that helps?" Diona wanted to know.

Edda shook her head.

"No, not really. It's just harder to get to."

"Out of sight, out of mind," Kovun said dryly.

"Hold on," Rowana interrupted. "The MagComputer complex is incredibly well secured." She crossed her arms. "How exactly is Reo supposed to get underneath it?"

"Warren," I said. "He said he'd listen if we had the solution, and here it is. The pattern points right to it. He'll help us."

Rowana scoffed quietly. "And if he doesn't?"

"Then we'll find another way."

Amari nodded.

"And who goes down there with Reo? He's absolutely not going alone."

"I'll go with him," Aya said without hesitation.

Amari looked at her.

"Thank you."

Aya smiled slightly.

"I'm coming too," came from Kovun's direction. "You'll have to take over with Arlo for a few hours, Rowana. I have experience with operations like this and I can help."

Rowana was about to object at first, but then seemed to understand the necessity.

Amari looked around the group.

"Then it's decided. Please reach the mayor now."

He left the room shortly after.

---

"I'll text Kai. He'll definitely want to be there too," I said to Aya outside the door.

Diona was already trying to reach the mayor.

"Fine," Aya answered neutrally.

Diona got quite loud during the call, by her standards. When she was done, she came back to us.

"His secretary — I'm guessing — says he's currently unavailable."

"Did you make clear how urgent this is?" Aya asked.

"Yes. It didn't change anything."

"What if we go in person?" I suggested.

"There's a curfew. If they catch us without clearance, there are serious penalties for that," Aya answered. "After that, so many drones will circle your church that you won't be able to set foot outside."

"But you're here too?" I said to Aya.

"I didn't waltz into the mayor's quarters though!"

"And with Kai?" Diona wondered.

"That would be possible," Aya said. "But he's on duty all evening."

"Okay, proposal. We keep trying to reach Warren. If we don't have him on the line by tomorrow, we go in person with Kai."

The other two agreed.

Since then I've basically been pacing around with my phone to my ear.

Dammit, Warren. What are you doing?

May 10, 2026

"You have no idea what's going on out there," Kai told me, pacing back and forth, stressed. Despite the lockdown he'd come to the church, apparently because he absolutely had to tell me about it.

"People are rebelling in the streets. Rocks, Molotovs, armed attacks. And I don't think it's just infected people."

"Why do you think it's not just infected?"

"First, I've never seen groups of infected, have you?"

I shook my head, thinking.

"Second, some of them are wearing special masks designed to disrupt surveillance cameras."

He exhaled deeply.

"This is too organized for infected people. At least partially."

My gaze drifted briefly to the church window, then back to him.

"I need to get out there, Kai. I need to see it for myself and see if I can help."

"Are you crazy? There are people with weapons out there, boy. No way you're coming with me."

"You took me along on your calls too. Was that completely safe?"

"'Store owner throws can at brat' and 'mother worries about daughter' aren't a great comparison."

"But I was there when Sam lost it. I've gotten a lot stronger since then and I'm not going to let anyone else have to go through something like that."

He stayed quiet, but crossed his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling of the prayer hall.

Hard to believe I still haven't told him about God to this day.

Does that make me a bad friend?

"I believe I'm here for a reason. And it's only for that reason that God blessed me with this gift."

He looked at me.

"You've never argued with God before. Why start now?"

"I've been living in a church for months. It's a miracle I didn't start sooner."

Kai hesitated, but I doubled down as he opened his lips with a dismissive expression:

"I need to get an overview and see what I can do. Besides, maybe we'll find the source now. Maybe something's changed."

He breathed in deeply.

"And if you don't trust me, then please for once trust God."

Then he breathed out and raised his index finger to my face.

"You stay behind me and you only heal when I explicitly agree. When I say stay, you stay, and when I say run, you run!"

He must have noticed I was about to object.

"This is not up for discussion, boy!"

I nodded.

"Okay."

The streets of Canfield were mostly empty. The occasional car. A woman who smashed a bottle against the window of a small general store. An older man watching everything from a rooftop.

The sky, on the other hand, was not empty. More drones than I'd ever seen. Most of them delivering essential groceries to the countless households.

We drove toward the center, where the unrest was strongest according to Kai.

"Outer center. We're staying in the outer center. That's what I can still justify to myself."

"And if we don't find the source there?"

Kai got louder.

"We already searched the entire district center! We even went to the MagLane computer. Nothing!"

He looked ahead at the road.

"Outer center will have to do. You can get an overview, maybe help a few people, and then we leave."

His gaze shifted to me. Intense.

"Understood?"

I nodded and adjusted the safety vest he'd given me.

The further we drove into the city, the more restless it became.

You could already hear crashing and banging. Behind the buildings, smoke rose into the night sky. Somewhere you heard a gunshot.

A transporter hovered silently at the curb. A small group of people was loading crates into it. They all wore transparent, curved masks that refracted the light strangely. You could make out faces behind them, but no details.

"What is that? What are they doing?"

"People using the chaos for unguarded operations. Gatekeepers from other districts have been brought into Canfield too, but we still can't deal with organized crime on top of everything. And the masks help against facial recognition."

A large man looked at us as the CityPilot passed by at a safety-reduced speed. His hand seemed to be waiting under his coat, ready to draw a weapon.

Kai placed his hand on his own weapon for a moment too and briefly looked the man in the eyes through the distorted mask. Then Kai turned away, and we just kept driving.

Five minutes later the CityPilot let us out at a location Kai counted as the outer edge of the center. The long street that circles around the center formed the border to the innermost ring.

"Let's go. Don't stop moving," Kai said with his weapon drawn.

I stayed close to him as we moved quickly and quietly through the alleys.

We found an emaciated older woman kneeling on the ground a few hundred meters later. She was holding a rock and scratching the pavement with it. The same line, over and over. Her posture alone looked terrible.

"Is everything okay with you? We can help," Kai called out, muffled, as we slowly approached her.

His hands were ready at all times to aim at the woman in the tattered clothes if necessary.

But the woman just kept scratching. Her gaze fixed stubbornly on the ground.

Kai moved a bit closer, I stopped him.

"Wait. Her eyes are flickering."

Between the strands of hair blowing in the light wind, I could see it clearly for a moment.

"Can you heal her?"

I shook my head, weighed down.

"The glow is already gone."

Kai briefly pressed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.

"Then let's keep moving."

Carefully and with as much distance as possible, we walked past her and left her there.

When I turned around one more time, I saw her pale face. For a few seconds she had been looking at us. Her lips slowly formed words, as if she was remembering a behavior she'd long since forgotten.

A few corners later, Toldin Square was waiting. Noise blared toward us. Kai carefully peered out of the alley.

"There are a few Gatekeepers. All with riot shields," he told me quietly while getting an overview.

"Across from them is a larger group. Some with blunt weapons."

I moved closer to look around the corner too, but Kai grabbed me and pushed me back.

"I said you stay behind me!"

"You have to understand, Kai! I need to see this!"

He looked angry, but eventually gave in.

"Stay inconspicuous."

And then I saw the Gatekeepers. Secured behind their large shields in full gear. Helmets, thick plates across the entire upper body, and a weapon ready at the stock. Drones accompanied them.

They moved toward the crowd in a controlled, practiced formation. The crowd seemed more angry than organized.

A few of them wore a similar mask to the man who'd been standing by the transporter earlier.

And even though their faces were heavily distorted by the masks, I had no doubt about the glow in their eyes.

"Almost all of them are infected, Kai."

"Then why are they forming groups? That's never happened before."

"We discussed once that the Corruption only amplifies what's already there. Maybe they really are all desperate and angry. Only through the Corruption, much more so than they actually are."

"And they're still human enough to group together," Kai added quietly.

I nodded.

Scattered individuals in the crowd looked for a way to break through the Keepers' defense, which was moving slowly but tactically toward them.

I noticed a small boy watching everything from a window.

People screamed. Anything that looked throwable was thrown. A larger chunk hit a drone at a critical point and it crashed. The crowd cheered.

To the side of this chaos, a tall woman suddenly came around the corner. Determined steps. In her hands a pistol. In her eyes an episode.

She walked straight toward the Gatekeepers along the side of the crowd. Her steps were uniform. Her gaze empty.

The closer she got, the higher she raised the weapon in her hand.

She was about to fire, I could feel it.

BANG!

It took a moment before people woke from the shock. Most of the crowd ran.

The Gatekeepers still held their shield formation. No one in their ranks moved from their position.

The tall woman lay lifeless on the ground.

A drone had fired when it had calculated the necessity.

I looked up at the window where the boy was standing.

"Watch out, someone's coming!" Kai shouted.

An agitated member of the crowd ran into our alley. His blunt weapon was useless when I forced him to the ground in a single breath. Kai pinned him there.

He was panting and struggling.

"Goddammit! Are you going to arrest me now?! I haven't even done anything!"

"No," I answered and stepped closer to the man with the glowing eyes. "We want to help you."

---

Half an hour later we were already back in the CityPilot.

Neither of us spoke.

It was much worse than I'd imagined.

And the only thing that stayed in my head was his face.

The horrified expression of a small boy who'd just had to watch a woman get shot.

Now that the church isn't being overrun during the day, it almost feels like before.

Except for the empty prayer hall and the closed Station.

If a stranger had been anywhere nearby, she would've heard my frustration.

"I just can't get it right! What else am I supposed to try?!" I called out.

"First, stay calm, and then maybe you could try seeing the process as a whole," Rowana suggested.

I sighed.

We'd been practicing process deceleration again.

With simple, smaller processes like a falling ball, it was no problem.

But the moment it got even slightly more complex, it was too much for my abilities.

Swinging pendulum? Easy.

Burning match? Complete disaster.

It went on for a while. But the match did get better by the end. Instead of twenty seconds, it burned for almost two minutes.

This morning Kai had called me. Suspension lifted. They needed him. The first night of the lockdown had gotten so out of hand that they couldn't or wouldn't do without him anymore.

His call had basically woken me up, but I was glad he wanted to tell me right away.

After training I stood by the church window.

Outside the gates there were no people. Just a few drones and cars that sometimes flew by. Automated transports, ambulances, Gatekeeper calls.

Kai's definitely in one of those, I thought.

Behind me I heard footsteps. Kovun. He was coming from the basement, probably from Arlo. He stood next to me and looked out too.

"What's supposed to happen out there when everyone's locked inside their own walls?" I asked.

Kovun looked at me, questioning.

"The calls, I mean. What's the point of all of it when everyone's at home? What's supposed to happen?"

His expression grew more serious.

"The cruel things."

His eyes were glowing when we entered his office in the morning.

I registered it immediately. Warren was infected.

"Did you find anything?" he asked without mincing words.

We hadn't even sat down yet.

He still had a stylus in his hand and was writing something on a tablet.

I shook my head.

"Unfortunately we couldn't find anything."

Warren sighed and set the stylus aside.

"Do you know how many murders we had in Canfield yesterday?"

Kai shook his head.

"A hundred and twelve. In one day. In one district. And that's on top of all the other offenses."

He leaned back.

"Three months ago it was two. On average. Every agency is simply overwhelmed at this point. And it's getting worse. Every day."

He looked at us.

"May I ask what you would do in my position?"

Neither of us knew what we'd do.

His gaze drifted to me.

"I don't know."

Warren's mouth twitched briefly.

"Thank you for your help. If the solution comes to you, I'm willing to listen."

But I couldn't leave the room like that.

"Wait a moment. Before we go, please look me in the eyes," I asked him and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

"Do I look tired?" he said. "A few technical problems robbed me of my sleep."

He'd barely finished the sentence before it was already over.

"Do you feel better now?"

He nodded slowly.

"What did you just do?"

"You were infected."

Warren rubbed his forehead. Then he laughed briefly and quietly.

"I wish you could help everyone like that. It would spare us what comes next."

---

Warren's speech took place a few hours later. We were at the city hall square, there in person.

At the security entrance I saw it briefly. A slight flickering in the air, right by the detectors.

My pulse spiked. Maybe I'd found the source.

But it was gone again before I could figure out where it came from.

Kai pulled me along.

I'd already seen the woman with the glow beforehand. But by now too many eyes are glowing to heal them all. At least ten in the crowd in front of Warren alone.

"Freedom for Canfield!" protesters in the crowd chanted, waving their banners.

Rumors had already spread about what was coming.

"The situation cannot simply be allowed to spiral," Warren spoke from the stage.

The woman was standing almost at the stage. A few rows ahead of us.

In her sideways-turned head I saw rage.

"This is the moment we must take tough measures. Measures to protect each and every one of us."

And then I saw the flickering begin in the woman's eyes. A spontaneous episode, but an immense flickering.

She went still for a moment. Didn't move.

"Kai," I said urgently. "Something's happening."

I felt Kai's gaze shift to me.

In the same moment the woman began frantically rummaging through her bag with one hand, without taking her empty stare off the mayor.

"Therefore, starting tonight…" Warren began.

The next thing I saw was a finger on the trigger of a pistol.

I threw her off balance with my power, as fast as I could.

But she'd already pulled the trigger. Three shots. Maybe four.

People ran in every direction.

Most toward the outside, but a few crisscrossing.

A few were on the ground. A few ran over them.

Gatekeepers escorted Warren off the stage. Kai and two others pinned the woman to the ground. Another Gatekeeper lay motionless in front of the stage. He'd thrown himself in front of Warren when he saw the pistol.

"Did no one check her bag?" Kai asked later, when he came back to me. His face was tense.

I didn't know.

"At speeches like this there are always strict checks. Especially right now."

He said it more to himself than to me.

We left once the situation had calmed down.

In the evening, Warren released the rest in a video.

The Gatekeeper who had jumped in front of him didn't survive. Warren himself had only been hit in the shoulder.

"Dear citizens of Canfield," he began.

"The current escalation of crime no longer allows for the guarantee of our residents' safety. Therefore, a state of emergency is hereby declared."

Warren held his shoulder. Maybe to underline his statement.

"Effective tonight at midnight, a district-wide curfew will be imposed."

Before breakfast, four people were already sitting in the church waiting for me. Diona had put together a contact list of all the urgent cases during my absence. That was now being worked through too.

None of them take me long anymore. One look, a few breaths, done. I can handle ten a day now without much trouble.

Shortly before noon, Kai picked me up.

"Got the list?" I asked.

"Aya sent it to me last night. Three pages."

"Three pages?"

"Canfield uses a lot of power."

The first address was the MagLane computer.

We'd both known that's where we'd go first. Neither of us had said it, but when Kai dictated the address to the car, I just nodded.

The complex sits on the northern edge of the district center. Buildings of all different shapes stretched across several city blocks. Between them, cooling towers humming quietly to themselves. And around the outside, a double fence. Lots of drones. Lots of guard bots. And a few human guards.

"The MagLane computer is one of the most heavily secured locations in Canfield," Kai said as I tried to get an overview.

But nothing.

No flickering. No distortion.

"Sure?" Kai asked.

"Yeah. There's nothing there."

"Get closer."

I walked up to the fence. A drone appeared out of nowhere and hovered at eye level in front of me for a few seconds. Stumbled briefly in the air and moved on.

Still nothing.

"If there's a rift anywhere," I said, "it should be here."

Kai tried to find some way inside. He spoke to a guard at the gate. Had him scan his WristChip. The guard read the information twice, shook his head.

"Sorry. No one gets in here who isn't registered. Especially not a suspended officer with a civilian."

Kai argued for a few minutes. The guard remained polite but immovable.

Meanwhile I looked back at the complex and tried to find the flickering.

But I found nothing.

On the way back to the car I stopped briefly.

"Maybe it's not the computer," I said.

"What else could it be?" Kai asked.

"I don't know. But if it were the computer, I should be seeing something."

Kai had no answer to that.

We drove on. Three server farms in southwest Canfield. An industrial lot with about twenty facilities I can't all name. A charging station for free-hovering CityPilots that, according to Aya, draws more energy than a small hospital.

Nothing anywhere.

At the third server farm I started doubting my own sight. I stared at the grounds longer than necessary. Blinked, squinted, looked away, looked back.

"Reo," Kai said at some point. "If something were there, you would've seen it already."

"I know."

"Let's move to the next one."

We drove until early evening. Seven locations. No rifts.

On the drive back, the car was quiet.

"Maybe Canfield is just different," Kai said eventually.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe your theory doesn't work in the city. Maybe there's no visible rift here, but something else."

I looked out the window.

"Then I'd have no idea what."

Kai said nothing more.

Before I went to bed, I walked through the main church one more time. I saw strong flickering in someone's eyes.

I helped him, even though I knew it wouldn't do me any good.

But if I can't find the solution, then I at least have to help this way.