Lee shot out of the alley and onto Main Street, nearly colliding with a man carrying two grocery bags.
“Hey!”
The man stumbled sideways.
A carton of eggs slid from the top of one bag, but he caught it against his chest before it hit the pavement.
“Watch where you’re going!”
“Sorry!” Lee called over his shoulder.
He kept moving.
His friends had escaped the alley several minutes earlier, but he had no idea where they had gone.
Main Street was crowded with residents, emergency workers, soldiers, and volunteers moving between tents.
Finding five teenagers should have been easy.
It wasn’t.
Military Humvees blocked several intersections, forcing everyone into narrow walking lanes between concrete barriers.
Engineers in helmets and protective gear surrounded the nearest impact zones with temporary fencing and bright floodlights.
Large transport trucks lined the road.
Their rear doors stood open while crews loaded reinforced containers into armored compartments.
Blue light leaked through the seams of several crates, faint beneath the midday sun.
Lee felt the Aether inside them.
It pressed against his senses like heat from an open oven.
The energy inside him answered.
Cold shadow stirred beneath his skin.
Fire curled beneath his ribs.
Lee tightened his hands and forced both powers down.
The fire essence he had taken from the man in the alley had not faded.
It remained inside him like a banked flame, restless and waiting for him to reach for it.
The feeling disturbed him.
The Nyxreaver’s shadow had come with hunger, violence, and corruption.
Lee had fought those instincts before the power accepted him.
The fire felt different.
Cleaner.
More natural.
That somehow made taking it from a living person feel worse.
You are brooding, Hermes observed.
I harvested someone.
Someone attempting to burn children alive.
That doesn’t mean I should feel good about it.
I would be concerned if you did.
Lee moved around a family gathered beside an emergency water station.
Did I damage him?
You removed the awakened portion of his Aether.
His physical recovery will be unpleasant, but he will live.
And his memories?
His personality?
Untouched.
Lee released a quiet breath.
That helped.
A little.
He glanced at his hands.
Faint warmth pulsed across his palms before disappearing.
The Harvest had strengthened him.
His muscles felt lighter, his movements sharper.
Even after the fight, his lungs did not burn, and his legs carried him farther with every stride than they should have.
The changes inside him were getting harder to hide.
“Lee!”
He turned.
Ella stood near a row of vehicles beside the hardware store, waving both hands over her head.
“There he is!”
William spun around first.
Relief crossed his face before he quickly buried it beneath a scowl.
Declan lowered his shoulders.
Emerson stopped pacing beside a dented pickup truck.
Lilith remained still.
She watched Lee approach with an expression that made him feel as if she had already seen what he was about to say.
Lee jogged toward them.
Ella met him halfway.
“Oh my God.”
She grabbed both his arms and inspected him from head to toe.
“You’re okay.”
“I’m fine.”
“You disappeared.”
“I know.”
“We turned around, and you were gone.
There was fire everywhere, William was hurt, and those men were chasing us.”
Her fingers tightened around his sleeves.
“We thought they got you.”
Lee forced a small smile.
“They didn’t.”
Ella did not return it.
Her gaze moved over his face, arms, and clothing.
His shirt had been burned and torn during the fight, but the skin beneath it had already healed.
“You look different,” she said.
Lee blinked.
“Different how?”
“I don’t know.”
She leaned closer and narrowed her eyes.
“You just do.”
William approached with his arms folded.
“She’s right.”
“Thanks,” Lee said.
“That clears it up.”
“I’m serious.
You don’t even look tired.”
“Adrenaline.”
It was the first excuse that came to mind.
It was also terrible.
Emerson adjusted his sunglasses.
“Adrenaline doesn’t repair burns.”
Lee looked down at his sleeve.
The cloth over his forearm had been blackened and split by fire.
Beneath it, only a faint patch of pink skin remained.
“I wasn’t burned that badly.”
Ella stared at him.
“You ran directly toward a fireball.”
“I moved out of the way.”
“After it hit you.”
Lee opened his mouth.
Nothing useful came out.
Declan stepped between them.
“Maybe we can interrogate him after we get William somewhere safe.”
William rubbed his injured shoulder.
The sleeve of his shirt had burned away, exposing red skin beneath.
Several minutes earlier, the wound had been blistered and raw.
Now the edges had already begun closing.
Lee stared.
William noticed.
“What?”
“Your shoulder.”
“I know.
It looks disgusting.”
“No,” Emerson said.
“It looks better.”
William rolled the shoulder carefully.
He winced, then tried again.
“That thing hit me with a fireball.
I could barely move my arm when we got out of the alley.”
He raised his arm halfway above his head.
“Now it mostly feels like a bad sunburn.”
Ella looked down at her hands.
Something troubled her expression.
Lee felt Hermes’ attention sharpen.
Pay attention.
I am.
No.
You are pretending to listen while hoping no one notices the stolen fire inside you.
There is a difference.
Lee resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
What am I supposed to see?
Your friends.
Lee looked around the group.
Ella kept flexing her fingers.
William tested the movement in his injured arm.
Declan stared toward a flock of sparrows perched along the telephone wires.
Emerson watched a loose pebble near his shoe.
Lilith watched all of them.
She seemed to be waiting for something.
The attack forced their dormant Aether to awaken, Hermes said.
Fear, pain, and desperation can open doors that might otherwise remain closed for years.
Lee’s stomach tightened.
They all awakened?
Yes.
Already?
The Convergence does not follow mortal schedules.
Lee glanced toward the soldiers.
Can anyone else tell?
Those with proper training or sufficiently sensitive equipment may detect unusual concentrations of Aether.
Lee looked toward the scanners near the military checkpoint.
Several technicians moved handheld devices over the people entering the restricted area.
Then we need to leave.
First, understand what has changed.
How?
Use Aether Sight.
Lee rubbed one eye as if dust had blown into it.
Here?
Unless you would prefer to remain blind.
Lee lowered his hand.
Anything else I should know?
Do not stare directly into their eyes.
Newly awakened power can react unpredictably when observed.
“That sounds like something you should have mentioned before telling me to do it.”
Ella frowned.
“What?”
Lee realized he had spoken aloud.
“Nothing.”
Her suspicion deepened.
Lee focused inward.
Aether Sight opened.
Gold washed across his vision.
The ordinary world fell away.
Streams of blue energy flowed beneath the pavement, gathering around impact zones and trailing after the transport trucks.
Soldiers carried different concentrations within them.
Some possessed only faint sparks.
Others glowed brightly enough to stand out from the surrounding crowd.
The government had more awakened people than Lee realized.
He turned toward his friends.
Ella stood inside a current of pale green Aether.
It moved around her body like wind, circling her wrists, ankles, and shoulders.
The current reacted whenever she moved.
When Ella pushed a loose strand of hair away from her face, the air around her hand followed.
Wind affinity, Hermes said.
Possibly more.
More?
Air is rarely only air.
With sufficient development, it can become speed, pressure, sound, or storm.
Lee remembered the burst of wind that had extinguished the flames consuming William’s shirt.
Ella had done that.
She just did not know how.
Lee shifted his attention to William.
Aether filled the muscles around his injured shoulder, glowing deep green beneath his skin.
Threads of energy pulled damaged tissue together faster than Lee’s eyes could follow.
Regeneration, Hermes said.
Moderate now, but growing stronger with every injury it repairs.
Is it like mine?
Different in source.
Your healing is one aspect of your enhanced body and consumes your reserves.
His body appears designed to convert Aether directly into restoration.
William rolled his shoulder again.
The redness faded another shade.
Could he heal from anything?
No.
Hermes’ answer came sharply.
No gift should be mistaken for immortality.
Severe trauma, exhaustion, poison, or the destruction of vital organs may kill him before the power can respond.
Lee committed the warning to memory.
William was exactly the kind of person who would test his limits by doing something reckless.
Declan remained focused on the birds overhead.
His Aether appeared different from the others.
Thin golden-green threads extended from his chest toward the sparrows.
The connections strengthened whenever one of them chirped.
Declan tilted his head.
One bird hopped along the wire.
Declan’s eyes followed it.
“Why are they still here?” he murmured.
William looked toward him.
“Who?”
“The birds.”
“They live here.”
“No.
I mean why are they staying above us?”
Ella glanced upward.
The sparrows crowded the telephone line, all facing the group.
One chirped twice.
Declan frowned.
“It keeps warning the others not to go near the buildings.”
Everyone looked at him.
Declan slowly turned toward them.
“What?”
Emerson lowered his sunglasses.
“What did you just say?”
Declan’s face reddened.
“I don’t know.”
“You said the bird warned the others.”
“I know what I said.”
William pointed upward.
“You understand birds now?”
“No.”
The sparrow chirped again.
Declan looked toward the alley Lee had escaped.
“But I understood that.”
Hermes sounded pleased.
A bond with living creatures.
Rare, and more useful than your friend realizes.
He can talk to animals?
Communication may be only the beginning.
Animals see what humans overlook.
They hear what soldiers cannot and sense dangers long before mortal senses recognize them.
Declan stared at the sparrow.
“This is weird.”
The bird chirped.
Declan’s expression soured.
“Hey, I didn’t ask for your opinion.”
Ella looked between him and the sparrow.
“Did it insult you?”
“No.”
The bird chirped again.
Declan crossed his arms.
“Maybe.”
Despite everything, Lee laughed.
It slipped out before he could stop it.
The sound felt good.
Normal.
Only for a second, but he needed it.
Then Emerson raised one hand.
The pebble near his shoe trembled.
Lee’s laughter stopped.
A faint, glasslike field surrounded Emerson’s fingers.
It stretched toward the ground, distorting the Aether between him and the stone.
The pebble rose.
Only half an inch.
It hovered for a moment, wobbling violently, then dropped.
Nobody spoke.
Emerson stared at his hand.
“I didn’t touch it.”
William stepped closer.
“Do it again.”
“I don’t know how.”
“You just did it.”
“That doesn’t mean I know how.”
Emerson spread his fingers.
The pebble scraped across the pavement, lifted again, then shot sideways.
It struck the tire of the nearby pickup with a sharp tap.
Everyone flinched.
Emerson lowered his hand.
“Okay,” he whispered.
“That’s new.”
Telekinesis, Hermes said.
Weak at present, but versatile.
Given time, he could move weapons, form barriers, alter trajectories, or crush an opponent without touching them.
Lee noticed Emerson’s nose had begun to bleed.
A thin red line ran toward his lip.
“Your nose,” Lee said.
Emerson touched it.
His fingers came away red.
“That’s probably not good.”
“Stop trying,” Lee said.
Emerson looked at him.
“You sound like you know something.”
Lee froze.
Ella turned toward him again.
“So did you in the alley.”
“What?”
“You knew that man was different before we saw the fire.”
“I saw the glow around his hand.”
“No, you said he had changed.”
“I meant the fire.”
Ella shook her head.
“That isn’t what you said.”
Lee felt the conversation closing around him.
His friends were frightened, confused, and awakening abilities they did not understand.
He had answers.
Some answers.
But telling them meant explaining Hermes, the Void, Mimicry, the Nyxreaver, and the power he had taken from the man in the alley.
It meant admitting he had been lying since the Convergence began.
Lee turned toward Lilith.
Silver light flashed behind her eyes.
It vanished.
Then returned.
Each pulse sent narrow rings of Aether outward from her body.
Hermes fell silent.
What is it?
Lee asked.
No answer.
Hermes?
I am considering the possibilities.
That doesn’t sound good.
It may be very good.
Or very dangerous.
The difference often depends upon the person holding the gift.
Lilith’s gaze shifted toward a military transport truck across the parking lot.
She covered one ear.
A second later, the truck’s engine backfired.
The sharp crack echoed between the buildings.
Several people jumped.
Lilith did not.
Lee’s skin prickled.
She had reacted before the sound.
She knew.
Perhaps, Hermes replied.
Her gift may involve foresight.
It may also allow her mind to perceive immediate possibilities before they fully occur.
Can you tell which?
Not yet.
Hermes paused.
And I dislike not knowing.
Lee studied Lilith.
She looked toward him.
For one uneasy second, silver light filled her eyes completely.
The parking lot vanished from Lee’s vision.
He saw himself standing beneath a red sky.
Shadow tendrils stretched from his back.
Fire covered both hands.
His friends lay scattered around him.
Above them, something enormous descended through the clouds.
Then the vision broke.
Lee staggered.
Ella caught his arm.
“Lee?”
He blinked until the parking lot returned.
Lilith had gone pale.
She had seen it too.
He knew from her expression.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
Her voice barely rose above the surrounding noise.
“What did you see?”
Lilith looked toward the others.
“Nothing.”
It was the first obvious lie Lee had ever heard her tell.
Hermes’ voice became quiet.
Whatever her gift is, it connected with yours.
Lee let Aether Sight fade.
Gold drained from the world.
The currents vanished, leaving Graham ordinary again.
Or as ordinary as a town filled with glowing rocks, military convoys, and newly awakened teenagers could be.
Ella flexed her fingers.
“The wind moved when I told it to.”
William glanced at her.
“You told the wind what to do?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.” Ella looked down at her hands.
“When we were running, I felt something around me.
It pushed me forward.
Then the fire hit William, and I wanted it to stop.”
A weak breeze circled her ankles.
She stared at it.
“The air listened.”
William looked at his shoulder.
“My burn is disappearing.”
Emerson wiped the blood from his nose.
“I moved a rock with my mind.”
Declan pointed toward the telephone line.
“The birds won’t stop talking.”
A sparrow chirped.
Declan glared at it.
“And they’re rude.” This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Nobody laughed this time.
They slowly turned toward Lee.
He felt five sets of eyes settle on him.
Ella stepped closer.
“You knew.”
Lee looked at her.
“I suspected.”
“How?”
He could not find another excuse.
Not one they would believe.
Behind them, two military technicians approached the parking lot carrying one of the crystalline scanners Lee had seen earlier.
The device flashed blue.
One technician looked down at its display.
Then directly toward the group.
Hermes spoke sharply.
Leave.
Now.
The scanner flashed again.
The technician raised his radio.
Lee’s pulse quickened.
“We need to go.”
William frowned.
“Why?”
“Because those people are scanning for Aether.”
Emerson stared at him.
“How do you know that?”
Lee looked toward the approaching technicians.
“I’ll explain later.”
Ella grabbed his wrist before he could move.
“No.”
“This isn’t the time.”
“It’s exactly the time.
You knew about the man.
You knew something was happening to us.
You disappeared into an alley with two armed adults, and now you don’t have a scratch.”
The technicians were getting closer.
Twenty yards.
Maybe less.
Ella lowered her voice.
“What happened to you last night?”
Lee looked at his friends.
He could tell them part of the truth.
Enough to satisfy them.
Enough to keep them close.
But partial truths had brought them into the alley unprepared.
William had been burned because Lee hesitated to reveal what he could do.
If the fire had struck a few inches closer to William’s neck, regeneration might not have saved him.
Lee could not keep making decisions for everyone.
But Main Street, surrounded by soldiers and surveillance equipment, was not the place to explain that a Greek god lived inside his soul.
“Not here,” he said.
“I promise I’ll tell you everything, but we have to move.”
Lilith looked toward the technicians.
“He’s right.”
Ella glanced at her.
Lilith’s silver eyes flickered again.
“They’re going to separate us.”
That ended the argument.
William grabbed the emergency blanket Ella had wrapped around his shoulder and pulled it higher to hide the healing burn.
Emerson wiped his nose and pushed his bloodied hand into his pocket.
Declan looked toward the birds.
“Is there another way out?”
William stared at him.
“You’re asking them for directions?”
“I’m working with what I have.”
The sparrows erupted from the telephone line.
They circled above the group, then flew toward the rear of the hardware store.
Declan watched them go.
“They said follow.”
“Of course they did,” Emerson muttered.
Lee led the group between two parked vehicles.
The technicians called after them.
“Excuse me!”
Nobody stopped.
They crossed behind the hardware store and entered a narrow service lane.
Ella lifted one hand as they ran.
Wind gathered behind them.
It pushed the group forward, adding speed to each step.
Ella gasped but held the current.
William kept pace despite his injury.
Emerson glanced over his shoulder.
A metal trash can tipped into the lane behind them, blocking the path.
“I did that,” he said.
“This is not the time to sound impressed with yourself,” Ella replied.
“I’m a little impressed.”
Declan followed the birds around the next corner.
Lilith ran beside Lee.
She did not appear winded.
“What did you see?” Lee asked quietly.
Her face tightened.
“I don’t know what it meant.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Lilith looked ahead.
“You were standing alone.”
A cold sensation moved through Lee.
“Where were the rest of you?”
She did not answer.
Behind them, a radio crackled.
The technicians had called for assistance.
Hermes appeared at the far end of the service lane, invisible to everyone except Lee.
His golden staff rested against one shoulder.
The soldiers will search the obvious routes.
Do you have a less obvious one?
Hermes smiled faintly.
I am the god of travelers, thieves, boundaries, and fortunate escapes.
I would be insulted if I did not.
A dark doorway stood open beside him.
Lee recognized the building.
The rear entrance led into an old sporting-goods store that connected to another street.
“This way,” Lee said.
The others followed him inside.
The store had been abandoned during the emergency.
Shelves had fallen across the aisles, and broken ceiling tiles covered the floor.
Lee guided them through the darkness, following Hermes between overturned displays.
They reached the front entrance just as two military vehicles passed the building.
The scanner technicians were nowhere in sight.
Mary’s volunteer station stood across the street.
Ella stopped beside Lee.
“You promised.”
Lee watched the vehicles disappear.
“I know.”
“Everything.”
Lee hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Everything I understand.”
Ella accepted the correction.
For now.
Mary rushed from the emergency tent as soon as she saw them.
“Where have you been?”
Her gaze moved over William’s burned shirt, Emerson’s bloody nose, and the dirt covering the rest of them.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered.
Mary’s expression hardened.
“Ella?”
“There was an accident,” Ella said.
“What kind of accident?”
William stepped forward.
“A generator caught fire.”
Mary stared at him.
“You were told to stay in the crowded areas.”
“We did,” Declan said.
“Mostly.”
Mary pointed toward the SUV parked beside the tent.
“Inside.
All of you.”
No one argued.
As they crossed the street, Lee looked back toward the military checkpoint.
The technician with the scanner stood beside one of the vehicles.
He stared directly at Lee.
Then he lifted his radio and spoke into it.
Lee could not hear the words over the generators and helicopter blades.
He did not need to.
They had been noticed.
Half a world away, the ice beneath Antarctica cracked.
The sound rolled across the continent like distant thunder.
A jagged fracture split the ancient ice sheet, racing for miles beneath a sky stained violet and red.
Then the heat came.
Not from the sun.
From below.
Vast sections of ice collapsed into boiling rivers.
Meltwater carved through land that had remained buried for millions of years.
Black mountains rose from beneath the thaw.
Their peaks pierced the storm.
Forests appeared along their slopes.
The trees grew too quickly.
Roots tore through stone.
Trunks widened within minutes, and dark branches climbed toward the clouds.
Pale fruit glowed beneath leaves the color of dried blood.
Lakes formed between the mountains.
Their waters churned.
At the center of the largest lake, a whirlpool opened.
Blue-green light spiraled toward the sky.
A horned head broke the surface.
Then shoulders.
Then a body taller than a house.
The frost giant climbed from the water carrying an axe of ancient ice.
White fire burned within its eyes as it surveyed the reborn land.
More shapes followed.
Serpents longer than warships slid through the lakes.
Winged beasts erupted from the glowing water and vanished into the storm.
Dragons dragged themselves onto the shore, their scales reflecting violet lightning.
Across the mountains, towers began rising from bare stone.
Walls of living ice formed around vast courtyards.
Crystal bridges stretched across ravines, connecting black castles that had not stood upon Earth since before humans recorded history.
Armored figures gathered beneath forgotten banners.
The thaw spread outward.
Fast.
Far too fast.
Inside a remote research station, alarms screamed as temperatures climbed.
Scientists crowded around monitors, watching red lines race across satellite maps.
One technician leaned closer to the screen.
“That can’t be right.”
The ice boundary had shifted again.
Miles in less than a minute.
Outside, something enormous passed over the station.
Its shadow swallowed every window.
The radios filled with static.
Then went silent.
High above the awakened continent, lightning split the sky.
Deep within the largest whirlpool, far below the surface, two golden eyes opened.
The ancient being beneath the water began to rise.