When Daniel got to the school, he was sweating and pale. The blood had drained out of him and he wondered how he could keep everyone from immediately knowing that he had just willed that hover-car to explode. He raced toward the Fortress. But when he got to the blacktop, he felt some relief as he saw the pandemonium. Proctors tried to get the kids to line up to be counted but kids were either too scared, and running around like crazies or too shell-shocked to even move.

“Children, there has been an accident,” Miss Trevor said over and over again. “There has been an accident. We need you to be good citizens. Children!”

The Junior Guards yelled out orders to calm down and get in line but Daniel could see that even they were too terrified to know what to do. Some kids were crying. Some just looked around, confused. But most were watching the great black plume of smoke in the distance. Watching in wonder and fear.

The school alert bell was ringing. Daniel just noticed it —the only time that the bell had gone off was for drills and he always looked forward to it because it meant he didn’t have to listen to another boring lecture about math or good citizenship or the patriotic travails of our forefathers in the Great Fight. Now he dreaded it and knew what it really meant: danger. He had caused this. This chaos. This turmoil. It was all because of him. His stomach sank. His throat tightened. He wondered if anyone knew.

“Daniel! Daniel Cotton! Come here this instant,” Mr. Totter’s voice blasted across the blacktop. Mr. Trotter was angry and when he was angry, you would never even think of making fun of him because he could see right through you and into your brain and know exactly what you thought was so goddamn funny. And he wasn’t even a telepath; he just scared the truth out of people.

Daniel looked up and wondered how long it would take Mr. Trotter to see his guilt. He wondered if even Mr. Trotter could stop himself from immediately pounding him into nothingness.

“Daniel—get in line, son,” Mr. Trotter said. That was all he said. He didn’t look into his soul and find that evil part of him. Just “get in line” like all the other kids. Daniel immediately went to the queue.

“Cotton, where the heck were you, citizen?” Chad screamed. Chad was a second lieutenant in the Junior Guards and a first-class dick. As always, he was in uniform. As always, he made everyone aware that he wielded some power in a situation like this—that this was in fact why the Junior Guards existed. Daniel gave him a steely stare that he had perfected to be just unclear enough in its intention.

Len and Shawn were already there. There was a knowing look amongst the three of them like maybe they had gotten away with skipping class. But this offered no relief. Standing in line meant you had nowhere else to look but at the horizon and there was only one thing there to look at: the death plume of smoke.