The buzzing of the phone alarm woke Sami immediately, who summoned his Shadow Hand instinctively to turn off the alarm. Yawning, his phantom limb patted the top of his empty nightstand absentmindedly before remembering he’d set his phone in another room to force himself out of bed. If he ever wanted to access his messages in the morning, he’d need to leave the bedroom.

  Sitting up and throwing off his covers, he rubbed one eye with his Shadow Hand as he kicked his legs over the side of the bed and headed towards the beeping in the kitchen. Grabbing his phone, he tapped the alarm off without looking and placed it face down on the counter. Continuing, he went to get a drink of water and fill his water jug while he warmed a pan for eggs. After getting his fill of water, he pulled an egg out of his fridge and stared at it for a few seconds, twisting it in hand. Would today be the day?

  Gingerly, he picked it up with his Shadow Hand and held it over the heating pan. Tongue peeking out of his mouth, he lowered himself to the level of the pan, Shadow Hand and egg hovering an inch above it. Concentrating, he pinched gently to give a minor crack to the egg. The Shadow Hand crushed it, yolk jumping on both the pan and Sami’s face.

  “Next time,” Sami promised himself, wiping his forehead off with his hand and shaking bits of eggshell from his Shadow Hand.

  Handling objects with his Shadow Hand was becoming easier by the day, but he had yet to master the ability to handle something fragile like a plastic cup without crushing it. He would sometimes imagine catching a baby from a burning building with his Shadow Hand, only for it to be injured by his rough handling of the Shadow Hand. More to work on before the time came.

  Stretching his Shadow Hand, he snaked it back to the counter to grab his phone to finally check notifications while he cooked what remained of the egg. Clicking it on, he tapped a shadowy finger against the screen mindlessly before sputtering to himself. Shadow Hand couldn’t register as a finger on the display, it was like poking a rubber eraser on his phone and expecting a response. He traded his cooking hand for his phone hand, scrubbing through notifications. A few messages were from overnight, after he’d come home and face planted himself to sleep after a day of almost having his face melted off.

  Slattery Network - Is A Sweet Lemon Treat The Way To Wake?

  As always, he was only a headline reader when it came to the Slattery Network. Taking a brief glance at the state of his eggs, he continued.

  Controversy Slaps Pop Idol Sneezy Febreezy Who Plans To Meet with War Criminal on Yacht

  Sami swiped it aside, uninterested in celebrity drama.

  Is Construction Tycoon Don Crede a Little TOO Obsessed With Birds? Find Out!

  Sami rolled his eyes. Unless it was Lightcrown, he never cared for this kind of news. Flipping apps, he checked his messages.

  Gutshot: Hey Dad, headed home to talk about that thing from earlier.

  Frowning in embarrassment, Sami quickly swiped past it. Definitely wasn’t going to deal with that.

  Claire: They wanna deploy you again today. Get here when you can

  Sami smiled to himself.

  Darius: dude I saw that fight online. you good? any burns?

  Blinking to himself, Sami stared at the message with an odd sense of uncertainty. Was this what it was like to have a friend? Someone that checked up on him, unprompted? Just as he was about to reply, another notification popped in.

  Money has been transferred.

  Sami glanced up gratefully at the picture of his family pinned to the fridge. Faded and slightly burned at the edges, it was one of the few things he could recover from the Silent Scream. His parents had the foresight to set up a trust in his and his siblings’ name in the case they unexpectedly passed away. He was the sole heir, so he would receive what he called his weekly allowance. It wasn’t enough to live a lavish life, but it carried him through every week. He gave his family a forlorn smile, nodding to his parents in appreciation.

  Once he had his breakfast, he cleaned up his plate and utensils with a hand and Shadow Hand, careful not to damage any of his stuff. Sensations came to his Shadow Hand, like the feeling of water flowing over it and the fact it was warm, but his brain wouldn’t trigger a pain response. It was like the feeling of having hair cut, but for every sensation Shadow Hand experienced. He knew what was happening, but he could stab through his Shadow Hand and not feel injured. He had once tested that, just to be sure.

  Acid Gal would have left some lasting damage to him if it wasn’t for Shadow Hand. Physical and mental, he was certain.

  Checking the time on his cracked phone, he sped out of his apartment, locking the door without looking with his Shadow Hand. He’d practiced that since day one of his Awakening with Shadow Hand. Doing things without looking felt like the peak usage of his Shadow Hand. In fact, that was all he wanted to do with it. Pretend it had a mind of its own while he focused on important things. If only it had such a feature.

  Heading down the stairs, he stopped short in front of the exit, spinning on his heel and rushing to the gym included in the apartment complex. Badging in, a sense of adrenaline rushed through his system when he entered the dank, empty room.

  Power Sense had manifested within him when he was running on the treadmill one morning. His second power appeared while working out, as well. Long ago he came to the conclusion that everyone had their own particular trigger to bring out the Awakening, and his just so happened to be working out. But Shadow Hand appeared overnight, so he could never be certain if there was something else to the theory.

  Connecting his phone to an old greasy speaker in the corner, he played Run Your Day by Anvil Latreen and hopped on a treadmill. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply and took a swig of his water, then started the machine and ran.

  Running was the worst. It felt lame and he wanted to skip it every single day. But he knew the gains of endurance would help with HUE work, so he pushed himself. Whatever he could do to help himself could be a means of helping others.

  Following his run, he completed a light leg day workout, cursing the Bulgarians for exporting their split squats to the rest of the world. Completing his jug of water, he caught his breath and carefully waited to see if there was anything new blooming in his mind. Power Sense would tell him just as quickly as the sensation appearing in his mind of a new power. More than two powers was already something of a rarity, but he could always hope for more.

  Like Lightcrown. Or Apex, if he had to lower his standards.

  Nothing new today. Maybe next time.

  Quickly rushing upstairs, he cleaned himself of sweat, showered, and headed out in another pair of athletic clothes. It was the best thing he had for maneuvering in active scenarios like HUE constantly put him through. Rushing out the door, he was more than excited to have the opportunity to see Lightcrown at Manny’s Diner. Briskly walking through Hammerton, he smiled pleasantly through the streets and curves of the industrial city. As Rudy suggested, he kept Power Sense on, scanning everyone for latent abilities.

  Bubbles passed by in cars or by pedestrians and he took note of the colors with a sense of importance. Red was the most common, followed closely by blue, then green. There had to be something to the colors, something that he could know about powers immediately. Every person that attacked him the previous day had red Power Sense bubbles. If he could find their commonality, maybe he could find the way to pop all red bubbles and come up on top of a fight like that before it got serious.

  Slowing his pace, his eyebrows drew together in a mix of confusion and interest at the sight ahead. A line. Formed outside Manny’s Diner.

  He’d rarely, if ever, seen more than four customers inside before, even when he was one of the people dining. He expected it filled up later, but the morning was usually so quiet.

  What was most stark about the crowd was that there were very few Power Sense bubbles among them, and the few that existed were green. Channeling Rudy, he tried to extract something about that. Green bubbles could be associated with food? That was a reach. Curious, Sami went to go talk to the closest Awakened man halfway down the line.

  “Hey, do you know what your power is?” Sami asked.

  The man gave him a sidelong stare. “Why do you think I’m in line?”

  “I dunno! They have someone here to tell you your powers?” Sami asked, looking ahead with interest.

  “No! They have the… Actually, if you don’t know, then I don’t want you getting in line, anyway. More for me.”

  Confused, a wash of concern suddenly rushed over Sami’s heart. Had Lightcrown been found out? Was this going to be his last time seeing Lightcrown in the diner? No, the line was too orderly. People would be breaking down the door to get a view of a resurrected Lightcrown.

  Making his way ahead, Sami felt a tug at his shoulder.

  “You best not be cutting in line, kid,” the man warned him.

  Sami brushed him off with a smile and a light tap from his Shadow Hand, from which the man flinched away from.

  “Name’s Sami.” Sami continued on his way, undisturbed by the eyes following him.

  Once he reached the front of the line, he saw a large hastily written sign taped to the inside of the window.

  Limit one Lemon Cake Slice per customer!!

  Followed by a smaller, even more hastily written sign taped just below it, letter casing totally inconsistent:

  LemoN CaKes twEnty Dollrs a Slice

  Sami would have sworn that the menu said that slices of cake were five dollars each just the day before. Placing his face up to the window, he looked inside to search for Lightcrown at his usual spot. Instead, he caught eye contact of a flustered-looking Kelly who shook her head slightly and gave him a weak smile behind her frayed hair. Lightcrown wasn’t there. Sami should have known he would avoid such a large crowd.

  Turning to the woman at the front of the line, he saw she had no power.

  “What’s with everyone lining up? Is it for lemon cake?” Sami tilted his head to the sign.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “You didn’t hear? There was a video of someone eating cake online, followed almost immediately by him Awakening!”

  “Wasn’t there another incident like a week ago where someone put on a ring and supposedly ‘Awakened’ on the spot? I am Awakened, and I can tell you I’m pretty sure there’s no cake involved.” Sami waved to her with his Shadow Hand.

  She shushed him and shooed away Shadow Hand like it was a bird that flew in.

  “What?” Sami asked, returning Shadow Hand to his shadow.

  “You think I don’t know?” she hissed at him quietly.

  Sami peered at her, confused. “Huh?”

  “The cake thing is obviously some viral scam by Big Lemon! But that doesn’t mean some moron won’t buy a piece off me for $100 a slice! I buy from the diner and I get some suckers to buy off me.”

  Sami blinked, frowning in surprise.

  “But you can’t promise them it’s gonna give them power.”

  “Yeah, neither does the diner, but look around.”

  Sami looked back up at the line of dozens of people waiting impatiently for their turn at Awakening. Turning back to the window, he confirmed there wasn’t even an implication that lemon cake had special properties on the sign. Yet the people waited anyway. Even those that were Awakened.

  “Well, good luck, I guess.” Sami started to walk away.

  “You wanna help me by saying your power came from eating a slice of cake when I sell a slice? I could probably triple the profits and split it with you!”

  “I’m not gonna lie to people.”

  “You’re right, it would be too convenient to have you there with me. Would definitely draw suspicion,” she said, pursing her lips in thought.

  “No, that’s not… Whatever.” Sami walked away, taking another confused glance at the green Power Sense bubbles above people. One of his own Power Sense bubbles was green.

  Spinning in place, he stalked to the closest Awakened lady and stuck a thumb at the line ahead.

  “Why are you waiting for cake when you’re already Awakened?”

  The woman scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. “Maybe because I’m not Awakened.”

  “You are. I can see with one of my powers!” Sami pointed with Shadow Hand to her Power Sense bubble, hoping the display of his power would be a convincing corroboration.

  She shook her head. “Leave me alone, kid. I think I would know if I was Awakened.”

  Disappointed, Sami headed off to HUE. The green Power Sense ability meant something; he just knew it. Maybe a physical enhancement the owner wasn’t aware of, like better eyesight or some dexterity. No inspiration came to mind like it did with Shadow Hand and Power Sense. He just saw it floating there. Waiting to be discovered. And as much as he liked to learn the nuance of his existing powers, the lack of understanding of his full abilities was a constant itch on his mind.

  Working his jaw, he slid Shadow Hand back and forth on his chin, considering the power bubbles. Maybe red wasn’t a sign of power, but the strength of it. Red was stronger than blue. But then what was gold? The strongest? Gan Wen had a gold power, where Apex had no gold. Something felt like he was right at the cusp of understanding.

  Turning the corner, he saw the HUE Warehouse just ahead, construction continuing on the back end with trucks emblazoned with Crede Construction. Workers scraped away Steve’s replacement clay wall and filled in gaps with their own substance. Peering closer, he wondered how much progress was made and how much closer they were to actually completing the wall.

  With the right Awakened, it should have taken minutes. Something like Steve’s power, but for concrete instead of clay.

  Pounding footsteps brought his attention back to the sidewalk as a haggard young man with deep, sunken eyes sprinted at him with full force. Black hair disheveled and light skin pale, he stared at Sami with such an intensity that it felt like he was trying to bore a hole with his eyes alone. Snapping to attention, Sami raised his fists defensively. The other man stopped in his tracks, scratching at his hair and staring in confusion between Sami’s hands.

  “HUE. Right?” He sounded confused.

  Activating Power Sense, Sami saw a shining gold bubble above the stranger, radiating with light. “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “You said you could make it stop?” his voice cracked with desperation.

  Lowering his fists and tilting his head, Sami stopped seeing him as a threat.

  “Maybe someone in HUE did, but I don’t think we’ve met. What’s going on?”

  “We haven’t met?” Squeezing his eyes tight in consternation, he scratched his head harder. He looked between Sami’s hands again like there was something wrong with them. “Okay. But you can still take it away, right?”

  “Take what away? What’s your name?” Sami asked, leaning forward.

  Like a flash of a camera bulb, the man shined pale blue for just a moment then vanished. Eyes wide and lips curved down, Sami’s eyes narrowed on the point where the man had previously stood.

  Invisibility?

  “Hello?” Sami scanned for a Power Sense bubble.

  Nothing.

  “Dude? Hello? Did you teleport somewhere?” Sami called louder, circling in place as he checked for signs of the distressed young man.

  Oblivious cars drove by, coughing exhaust in the road ahead of HUE. Waving the smoke away with his Shadow Hand, Sami stopped spinning, lips oscillating between a smile and slight frown. He couldn’t tell if he’d just been pranked or something deeply serious had happened, and Schr?dinger’s reaction sent a spasm through his face.

  He turned his neck back to HUE Headquarters. “Last chance to come back. If you need help, then you should call out.”

  Sami looked over his shoulder, double checking his surroundings one last time. Finally, he landed on a smile, shrugging to himself. Classic prank. Hopefully. He made his way toward his workplace.

  Waltzing into HUE, Sami gave a cursory wave to Darius and Lily, mind elsewhere. Darius nodded his head up in acknowledgement and allowed him to go on his way while Lily waved. Head flicking like a sprinkler, Sami gave reception a double take as he realized they could have information. Spinning on his heel, he headed to the counter.

  “Do we have a teleporting guy in HUE?” Sami asked.

  Darius and Lily exchange a glance, shaking their heads.

  “Why?” Lily asked.

  “I dunno. I just saw someone outside who seemed like they knew me and needed something from me, but then they just disappeared. Well, they either knew me or someone in HUE, it was really unclear.”

  “Sounds like a scam to me,” Darius shrugged. “Also, you good? I heard about yesterday.”

  Sami noticed the light bags under his eyes and immediately regretted not stopping for coffee on his way over. There was also something about how Darius checked on him without noting he sent a message first that he appreciated. Darius actually cared. If he wasn’t distracted by the money transfer from the trust coming in and the egg breaking, he would have replied.

  “Sorry about not replying. Yeah. It was pretty messed up. I thought I’d be free of fights for a while. But people weren’t hurt. Well… Non-criminals. And… Well…” Sami measured his words, uncertain how to put it.

  “You can just say Rudy bailed,” Lily encouraged.

  “Yeah! He dipped as soon as five o’clock rolled around! That’s happened before?” Sami stared, dumbfounded at the implication.

  “Pretty much any time he’s deployed toward the end of the day,” Darius said.

  “But… like…” Sami waved his hands around, gesticulating what wasn’t coming to his mouth.

  “Yeah.” Lily sighed with embarrassment.

  “How many people have been hurt because he leaves?” Sami asked, annoyed.

  “None,” Darius answered.

  Sami blinked.

  “None?”

  “It’s just never happened.”

  “Yet!” Lily added. “He can’t keep running away and expect the people in the area to leave unscathed.”

  “Has he done this a lot? Is it normally safer? How could no one get hurt?” Sami asked.

  Lily placed two thoughtful fingers to her chin. “We’ve gotten five reports of him doing something like this, but no injuries.”

  Sami worked his jaw. “That’s… weird.”

  “Sounds like something we should be happy about,” Darius suggested.

  Lily folded her arms. “I’m not gonna be grateful about a guy that leaves in serious situations just because they just so happen to go well.”

  “Hey, I forgot to mention, I thought about your power some more,” Sami said.

  Lily perked up until she realized his attention was on Darius and she slumped back into her chair, pouting.

  Darius rubbed at a tired eye. “I told you not to.”

  “And I told you I’d give it some thought,” Sami countered. “Can you, like, pick up your hand and make a call?” Sami waved a hang loose symbol above his ear with a wiggle of his Shadow Hand.

  “What?” Darius scoffed, but grinned slightly. “No, how would that work?”

  Sami lightly drummed three hands on the counter. “I dunno. Explain your power again.”

  “I’m telling you, it’s not worth it.”

  “You said it was like operating a switchboard. I don’t know how that works.”

  “I do. Kinda. It’s worthless. Well, not worthless, but we already have machines that handle these operations, so essentially worthless.”

  “But you could pick up calls and transfer them?” Sami suggested.

  “No, the existing stuff already handles all of that.” Darius leaned back in his chair, hands covering a yawn.

  “But theoretically, if all that was gone, then you could handle calls?”

  “You wanna take down all the phone lines?”

  “No, I meant like if we were on a mission in a desert, you could give us a signal, right?”

  “You know what? Maybe. Happy now? Done thinking about it?”

  “Darius, don’t be mean just because he’s trying,” Lily said, typing something on her work computer in response to a notification ding.

  “I’m saying this is a waste of time and he’s putting a lot of thought into it for nothing. There isn’t a desert around Hammerton for miles.” Darius spun in his chair.

  Sami measured the comment in his head. “Maybe our deployments will expand.”

  “Yeah, call me when that happens. Honestly, I’d love the excuse to be anywhere that isn’t behind this desk, but HUE can’t use me out there. They barely use me in here,” Darius said, leaning forward and displaying empty palms.

  Sami worked his jaw. “Yeah, you should be the one to direct traffic.”

  “And get hit with acid on my shift?”

  “You could leave with Rudy right when the shift ends,” Sami suggested, half joking.

  “Weren’t we just saying that was a bad thing?” Lily asked, looking up from her computer. “By the way, you’re getting deployed to a city gala. Some fundraiser. I hope that isn’t the only set of clothes you brought.”

  Sami looked down at his athletic garb, tugging at it and feeling a warmth pass over his face. “I don’t think I even own clothes for formal occasions.”

  “Borrow from Gan Wen. I saw his stuff in the dorms yesterday. The guy literally has eight sets of the same robes.”

  The door to the entrance burst open and Francine sprinted out of the warehouse, Ranking badge in one hand and half-eaten bagel in another. Sami looked in surprise, wanting to offer help, but feeling like she already knew where she was going. Her red hair was in a loose ponytail, dancing like a flame, and her amber eyes were laser focused on the door.

  Lily stood up when she entered the reception area and pointed to a water cooler. “Steve will meet you out front. The fire is enormous. You should get some water before going.”

  Nodding, Francine spun on her heel, changing trajectory and colliding with the water cooler. Arms around its side, she heaved and pulled the half-full five-gallon jug free from the base and carried its sloshing contents with her outside. The door closed behind her and Sami followed with his eyes, envy under his smile.

  “She’s called to put out fires and I get to go to dinners,” he sighed.

  “I only meant for her to take a drink of water before she left, not take the whole cooler,” Lily grumbled.

  The door from the warehouse slid open again.

  “I told you he’d be out here,” Claire said, entering the area with Gan Wen at her side.

  Disbelief hung at his open mouth when he saw her. While Gan Wen wore his usual brilliant white robes with gold accents, Claire was wearing an emerald green dress. It was a floor-length, flowy contraption with sleeves that went all the way down to her wrists, like it was trying to smuggle her arms into a party without her realizing. The fabric swished dramatically with every step, and the high neckline felt like it was conspiring with the cuffs to keep her fully contained.

  Sami would have described it as “elegant,” but he also got the distinct feeling that a dress was the last thing on the list of things Claire wanted to wear. Particularly at work.

  Agitated, she tugged at her hair tied up into a neat bun. “Shut up.”

  “I didn’t even say anything!” Sami held up three hands defensively.

  “It’s my mom’s, and it’s all I could get on short notice. You’re going in that?” Claire asked, sounding a mix of embarrassed and impressed.

  “You mean the dinner?”

  “Who told you it was a dinner? We’re gonna be late.” Claire led the way out, Gan Wen just a step behind her.