“Oh, I see. You haven’t added the filter code,” I said, fingers flying across Lela’s keyboard as I rewrote a few lines. “There. That should do it.”

Her eyes lit up when the compiler finished and the robot’s sensors whirred to life. I couldn’t help but envy her laptop—mine would’ve taken ten minutes to process the same thing.

“Whoa… the data’s so much cleaner now!”

“Of course it is.” I straightened up, stretching my legs like I needed to confirm they still existed after two hours of sitting. “Guess I forgot to tell anyone about the filter code earlier. That one’s on me.”

I handed the laptop back, then frowned at the screen again. “And while we’re at it, this code’s a mess! You should add comments. You won’t remember what does what a month from now.”

Lela giggled, scratching the back of her head. “I thought since I wrote it, I’d remember everything.”

“Classic mistake,” I muttered, though a small smile betrayed me.

“Thanks, Theo. And… thank Rina too, please.”

Rina. Right.

She was the one Lela went to instead of me. The two were close, even though Rina was a year older. Still, every time someone said her name, I could almost hear her voice—teasing, light, calling out my so-called “scary face.”

“Hey, Lela,” I said, hesitating.

“Yeah?” She didn’t look up, still admiring the clean data logs.

“…Is my face really that scary?”

“What?”

“Uh... never mind.” I cleared my throat and glanced at the clock. Past six already. “It’s getting late. I’ve got things to do.”

I slung my bag over my shoulder. “Lock up if you’re staying... or better yet, head home soon.”

“I will! Just cleaning up a bit. See you Monday!”

I nodded and stepped out of the robotics lab, still smirking. It’d been a while since I’d seen someone that determined.

The corridor was quiet, ceiling lights stretching a pale glow across the polished floor. My gaze drifted to the wide window overlooking the street—outside, the sky burned orange against fading blue.

Without thinking, I stopped.

I pulled out my phone and snapped a photo, adding it to my small collection.

“Eh? You’re still here?”

I turned. “Oh. Val.”

He leaned against the wall near the junction, gym bag slung over one shoulder.

“Yeah,” he said with a grin. “Promotion test at the karate club. Some of the new faces are gorgeous.”

I snorted. “So you’ve been sparring, or flirting?”

“Maybe both.” He chuckled, wiping sweat from his brow.

With his tall frame—almost one-eighty—and that athlete’s build, it wasn’t surprising he was the club captain. The guy once helped me take down a group of rogue Arcanes using nothing but his bare hands.

We still got called to the principal’s office afterward. Ruled as self-defense.

“So,” I said, “you’ve been letting newbies kick you around for hours?”

“That’s a bit exaggerated,” Val laughed. “But yeah. They’ve got potential.”

We walked together down the stairwell, our footsteps echoing against concrete walls. After changing shoes at the lockers, we stepped outside.

The red sky deepened into violet as the air sharpened with cold. February still clung stubbornly to the ground—patches of snow refusing to melt.

I shoved my hands into my pockets.

Then I stopped.

“…Smoke,” I muttered.

Val sniffed the air. “Probably someone burning trash.”

“Hopefully.”

The school grounds were eerily calm. Even the usual chatter near the gates was gone. After what happened on national TV last Monday, everyone was on edge.

“Good thing you didn’t wait at the front gate,” Val said. “You’d freeze.”

“Right. Where would I get your level of bravery?”

“Bullshit,” he shot back, smirking.

We passed a half-broken lamppost, a wrinkled poster still taped to it. A man’s face stared back at us, a deep wound splitting his forehead.

The caption made my stomach tighten.

He’d burned down an entire building in Hordrigg. Injured several Roxley students. Then vanished.

Special ops still couldn’t track him. They said his Gift let him disappear like a ghost.

For days now, the whole city had been holding its breath.

Kids were told to be careful. Parents warned to keep their eyes open. Even we weren’t supposed to be out this late. Curfews were in place, patrols doubled.

That was why we walked faster.

“Don’t you find this exhausting? Last Sunday was fine,” Val muttered, keeping pace beside me, a faint chuckle in his tone.

“What did you expect?” I said, forcing a grin that didn’t quite stick. “We should count ourselves lucky they even let us walk home at this hour.”

“Lucky, huh? I bet the others just stayed in school.”

Val nodded twice. “Yeah. Sleeping in the clubroom doesn’t sound great anyway. I’m a picky sleeper.”

He tilted his head, eyes tracing the sky as the last orange drained into gray. “Still… it’d be better if this area had a guard. Like the ones stationed at school.”

Val laughed. “That’s not like you to run.”

“If the enemy’s a terrorist, what else am I supposed to do?”

My steps slowed.

I knew it.

He already knew about the red envelope.

Damn it, Rina.

“She texted you, didn’t she?”

Val’s grin turned sly. “Hard to say. Maybe our conversations are just… naturally productive.”

“No shit.” My voice sharpened. “I told Rina I’m not taking it.”

“I know.” Val lifted his hands slightly, backing off. “What’s your excuse? You’re sharp, good in a fight, and you’ve got a Gift.”

“Not the height.”

He snorted. “Shortest Roxley registrant last year was 154 centimeters. Shorter than you.”

“How do you even know that?”

“The internet.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I sped up. “That’s that.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Val caught up easily. “Don’t tell me you still don’t get what we talked about at lunch!”

So that was his angle from the start.

“Like I said, I don’t—”

The siren cut through the night.

We both froze as fire trucks tore through the intersection ahead, one after another, red lights carving streaks through the snow-dark street.

“Fire…?” Val murmured. “Where?”

My chest tightened.

I knew that road.

I took it every morning.

My fingers fumbled for my phone, numb, shaking. The screen lit up—live alerts already flooding in.

The headline burned into my eyes.

Herike Village - Multiple Fires Reported.

I stopped breathing.

“Herike Village… part of the village is on fire…” My voice didn’t sound like mine.

I was already moving.

I didn’t hear the rest.

My legs went first. Thought followed too late. The sidewalk blurred, lights streaking past as I ran for the bus stop. Shit, it's empty. No buses. Of course not. 

The taxi stand ahead was chaos. A line already forming, people whispering, phones glowing. A girl from our school stood frozen at the door of the first cab, eyes still on the fire trucks.

I didn’t stop.

I shoved past and yanked the door open, climbing in.

“HEY!” she shouted. “WHAT’RE YOU—”

A hand caught her shoulder.

Val.

“I’ll explain,” he said quickly, voice tight, eyes locked on me. “Go, Theo.”

For half a second, we just stared at each other.

Then I nodded.

I leaned forward, breath coming fast, words tumbling out before the door even closed.

“Herike Village,” I said. “Now.”