The black SUV stayed behind them for three turns.
Lee watched it through the rear window as Mary drove away from Graham.
The vehicle never came close enough for him to see the driver, but it maintained the same distance through every intersection.
When traffic slowed, it slowed.
When Mary changed lanes, it followed.
They are tracking us, Lee told Hermes.
Possibly.
That means yes.
It means I lack sufficient evidence to confirm your fear.
Lee kept his gaze fixed on the vehicle.
You’re usually more reassuring than this.
No, I am not.
The road curved around a wooded hillside.
Mary’s SUV disappeared behind a line of tall cedars, blocking Lee’s view.
When the road straightened, the black vehicle was gone.
He waited for it to reappear.
It did not.
That should have made him feel better.
Instead, it made the skin between his shoulders itch.
“Are they still there?” Lilith asked quietly.
Lee looked at her.
She sat beside him in the third row, her hands folded tightly in her lap.
“You saw them too?”
“I saw you watching.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Lilith turned toward the window.
“No.
They’re gone.”
Lee studied her expression.
“Did you see something?”
“I don’t know.”
Her answer had become frustratingly familiar.
Before Lee could push further, Mary looked at them through the rearview mirror.
“I’m taking everyone to Lee’s house.”
Ella leaned forward from the middle row.
“Why?”
“Because I need to call your parents, and I would rather explain this once than make five separate stops while all of you invent different versions of what happened.”
Declan sank lower in his seat.
“That seems unnecessarily efficient.”
Mary ignored him.
“You are going to remain together until I know exactly what occurred.”
Lee glanced at his friends.
That solved one problem.
It also meant he would have to keep his promise sooner than expected.
Ella looked back at him.
Her expression said she had reached the same conclusion.
Everything.
That was what he had promised.
Lee did not know whether he was ready to give them that.
The dense forests around Stump Lake gradually replaced the damaged roads and military barricades of Graham.
Tall pines rose on both sides of the narrow road, their upper branches catching the afternoon light.
Cedars and broad oaks filled the spaces beneath them, creating walls of green between the scattered homes.
The community had been built around privacy.
Most properties covered six to ten acres, separated by wooden fencing, thick undergrowth, and winding gravel driveways.
Cherry trees scattered pale pink blossoms across several yards.
Apple, pear, and plum trees showed the first buds of spring.
Stump Lake felt removed from the rest of the world.
There were no armored vehicles.
No glowing fragments loaded into military trucks.
No soldiers scanning children for supernatural energy.
Lee knew the calm would not last.
The Convergence had reached everywhere.
People just had not discovered all the ways it had changed their community yet.
As Mary turned onto Lee’s private road, a pair of squirrels raced across a wooden fence.
Declan suddenly leaned toward the window.
“One of them stole something.”
William looked back from the front seat.
“It’s a squirrel.
That’s most of what they do.”
“No, it stole something shiny from the house across the road.”
Declan watched the animals vanish into an oak.
“The other one says it smells like a storm.”
Emerson adjusted his sunglasses.
“Do squirrels have a broad understanding of meteorology?”
Declan listened for a moment.
“It says you smell strange.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s the answer you got.”
Ella looked down at her hands as a faint breeze moved through the closed vehicle.
She pulled her fingers into fists.
The breeze stopped.
Mary glanced toward the air vents.
“Why did the air conditioner turn on?”
“It didn’t,” Ella said too quickly.
Mary looked at her through the mirror.
Ella stared out the window.
Lee felt the tension building.
His friends were losing control of abilities they barely understood.
Hiding them from their parents might not be possible for long.
Hiding his own secrets had already put them in danger.
Mary turned into Lee’s driveway.
His family’s house appeared beyond the trees, a broad two-story home surrounded by cedars, flowering cherry trees, and thick bushes.
Sunlight reflected from the tall front windows.
The damage in the backyard remained hidden from the road.
So did the crater.
Lee hoped it stayed that way.
Mary parked near the front steps and turned off the engine.
“Nobody leaves.”
She looked directly at Declan.
“That includes following talking animals into the woods.”
Declan blinked.
“I didn’t say anything about talking animals.”
Mary stared at him.
He looked toward Lee.
“She’s good.”
Mary stepped out and pulled her phone from her pocket.
“I’m calling your parents.”
The moment the door closed, everyone turned toward Lee.
Ella folded her arms.
“We’re inside your property.”
Lee glanced toward Mary through the windshield.
“That isn’t the same as being inside the house.”
“Lee.”
“I know.”
William pushed open the passenger door.
“Let’s get this over with before my mom arrives and grounds me until I’m thirty.”
They climbed from the SUV.
Lee had barely reached the front porch when barking erupted from inside.
A second later, something struck the door.
Then again.
Lee unlocked it.
Buster exploded through the opening.
The French bulldog launched himself at Lee’s legs, snorting and whining as his short body wriggled with enough force to shake his entire backside.
“Hey, buddy.”
Lee crouched and caught him before he could sprint into the driveway.
Buster licked his chin, twisted free, and began a series of frantic circles across the porch.
He ricocheted off William’s boots, charged between Ella’s legs, then slid across the hardwood floor inside the house.
Declan laughed.
“Someone missed you.”
Buster barked once and raced toward the living room.
He attempted to turn too sharply, lost traction, and struck the side of the couch with a soft thump.
He stood, shook himself, and continued running as though nothing had happened.
For several seconds, everyone laughed.
The sound loosened something inside Lee’s chest.
Then Ella looked at him again.
The relief vanished.
“Living room,” Lee said.
Mary remained outside making calls while the six friends gathered around the living room.
William sat in an armchair with the emergency blanket still covering his damaged shirt.
Ella and Lilith took the couch.
Declan lowered himself onto the floor beside Buster, while Emerson remained standing near the window.
Lee closed the curtains.
Emerson noticed.
“Are you expecting surveillance?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“It isn’t supposed to be.”
Lee checked the front door, then moved toward the rear windows.
The crater was still visible beyond the yard.
Broken fencing, burned grass, and scattered debris surrounded the impact site.
Ella followed his gaze.
“What happened back there?”
Lee remained silent.
This was the moment.
Once he told them, he could not take the truth back.
Hermes’ voice entered his thoughts.
Secrets can protect people.
Lee looked at William’s nearly healed shoulder.
They can also get people hurt.
Yes.
Lee turned toward his friends.
“The lightning last night didn’t just hit the house.”
Ella leaned forward.
“What did it hit?”
“Me.”
Nobody spoke.
Lee continued before he could lose his nerve.
“One of the falling stones landed in the backyard.
I went outside to check it, and lightning struck the crater.”
William frowned.
“You were hit by lightning?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re alive?”
“Obviously,” Declan said.
William glared at him.
“I meant how?”
Lee rubbed his palms against his jeans.
“The stone contained something called Aether.
The lightning forced it into me.”
Emerson took off his sunglasses.
“Aether is real.”
“Yes.”
“The soldiers used that word.”
“They have devices that can detect it.”
Ella’s expression tightened.
“You knew what they were scanning for.”
“I figured it out.”
“That isn’t everything.”
“No.”
Lee glanced toward the empty space beside the fireplace.
“Hermes?”
Golden light gathered in the room.
Declan scrambled backward.
A man appeared beside the fireplace wearing white-and-gold robes.
Winged sandals rested on his feet, and a golden staff leaned against one shoulder.
Buster barked wildly.
Hermes looked down at him.
“An excellent guardian.”
Buster rushed forward and sniffed his sandals.
Hermes’ image flickered as the dog’s nose passed through him.
Buster jumped backward, barked twice, then hid behind Lee’s legs.
Everyone else remained frozen.
William slowly stood.
“Is that…”
“Hermes,” Emerson whispered.
Hermes inclined his head.
“Hermes Argeiphontes, herald of Olympus, guide of travelers, patron of thieves, and currently the unfortunate tutor of your reckless friend.”
Declan stared.
“You’re a god.”
“A title with many interpretations.”
“Are you dead?”
Hermes raised an eyebrow.
“That is generally not the first question mortals ask.”
“You’re transparent.”
“I am appearing through Lee’s Aether Soul.
My physical form is elsewhere.”
Emerson stepped closer.
“Where?”
Hermes smiled.
“That is a better question.”
He did not answer it.
Ella looked from Hermes to Lee.
“How long has he been with you?”
“Since last night.”
“And you didn’t tell us?”
“I didn’t know how.”
“You could have started with ‘a Greek god is living in my head.'”
“It sounds worse when you say it that way.”
“It sounds exactly as bad as it is.”
Lee took a breath.
“There’s more.”
Ella leaned back.
“Of course there is.”
Lee told them about the Elysian Void.
He explained that time moved differently there and that Hermes had introduced him to Milo and Ajax.
He described the training arena, though he left out some of the more painful details.
Then he told them about the Nyxreaver.
Ella’s anger gave way to disbelief.
“A monster was in your backyard?”
“Yes.”
“And you fought it alone?”
“Hermes helped.”
“I advised,” Hermes said.
“Lee fought.”
Ella glared at him.
“That isn’t better.”
“No,” Hermes agreed.
“It is not.”
Lee explained Mimicry next.
Emerson interrupted repeatedly, asking how connections formed, how long copied knowledge lasted, and whether skills degraded without practice.
Hermes answered some questions and ignored others.
Lee explained that observation created a weak link, proximity strengthened it, and touch created the strongest connection.
William looked at Lee’s hands.
“Did you use it on us?”
“Not intentionally.”
“What does that mean?”
“I can feel pieces of people’s abilities when I’m close.
Touch makes it stronger, but I haven’t tried to copy any of you.”
Ella’s eyes narrowed.
“You grabbed my arm earlier.”
“I wasn’t using Mimicry.”
“Can you turn it off?”
Lee hesitated.
“Mostly.”
“That means no,” Emerson said.
“It means I’m learning.”
Lilith had not spoken.
She watched Lee with an unreadable expression.
Everyone looked at her.
Lee knew what she meant.
“Aether Harvest is different from Mimicry,” he said.
“Mimicry helps me temporarily understand or reproduce something.
Harvest can make an ability permanent.”
William lowered himself into the chair.
“You took the shadow power from the monster.”
“Yes.”
Black mist curled briefly across Lee’s fingertips.
Ella recoiled before she could stop herself.
Lee closed his hand, extinguishing it.
“And the man in the alley?” Lilith asked.
Lee looked at her.
“You already know.”
“I saw part of it.”
“What did he do?” William asked.
Lee stared at the floor.
“I removed his fire ability.”
Silence settled across the room.
Ella’s voice was careful.
“You stole it?”
“He was losing control.
The fire was growing, and there were people inside the buildings.
Hermes said it could have killed everyone nearby.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Lee met her eyes.
“Yes.
I took it.”
Warmth spread across his palm.
A small orange flame appeared above his fingers.
It burned without smoke, moving with the rhythm of his breathing.
William stared at it.
“So you can use fire now.”
“Barely.”
“You used shadows too,” Lilith said.
Lee extinguished the flame.
“Yes.”
Ella looked toward Hermes.
“What happened to the man?”
“He survived,” Hermes said.
“His awakened power was removed.
Nothing more.”
“Did it hurt?”
“Yes.”
Ella looked back at Lee.
He could see the discomfort in her face.
He shared it.
“I don’t know if I made the right choice,” he said.
“But I couldn’t let him burn the building or attack the soldiers who found him.”
William touched his healed shoulder.
“He threw fire at us.”
“That doesn’t mean Lee gets to decide who deserves powers,” Ella replied.
“I know,” Lee said.
Her attention returned to him.
The quick agreement seemed to surprise her.
“I don’t want Harvest to become something I use whenever I win a fight.
The Nyxreaver was dead.
The man wasn’t.
It felt different.”
“How?” Declan asked.
Lee remembered the heat flooding into him.
The sense of certainty.
The temptation.
“Worse.”
Hermes stepped forward.
“Power rarely corrupts by changing who someone is.
More often, it removes the limits that prevented them from becoming what they already desired.”
Ella looked at him.
“Is that supposed to make us trust Lee more?”
“No.
You should not trust anyone merely because they possess power.”
Hermes’ gaze shifted toward Lee.
“Including him.”
Lee felt the words strike harder than he expected.
But Hermes was right.
His friends deserved to know what he could do.
They also deserved the choice to be cautious around him.
Emerson broke the silence.
“What happened to us in the alley?”
Hermes studied each of them.
“The Convergence returned Aether to your world.
All living things are beginning to respond, though not equally.
Fear and danger forced your dormant affinities to awaken.”
Ella looked at her hands.
“The wind.”
“Yes.”
Hermes turned toward William.
“Your body restores itself by converting Aether into accelerated regeneration.”
William touched his shoulder.
“How much can it heal?”
“That depends upon your reserves, your training, and how badly you are injured.”
“So I could survive anything?”
“No.”
Hermes’ answer snapped through the room.
“Regeneration is not immortality.
A severed head will remain a considerable inconvenience.”
William swallowed.
Hermes looked toward Declan.
“You have begun forming Aether bonds with animals.”
Declan glanced toward Buster.
The dog stared back.
“Can he understand me?”
Buster snorted.
Declan tilted his head.
“He says I smell like smoke.”
“Buster did not need magic to notice that,” Ella said.
Hermes continued to Emerson.
“You possess a developing telekinetic affinity.
Your mind can exert force upon physical matter, though your current reserves and control are poor.”
Emerson touched the dried blood beneath his nose.
“I noticed.”
Finally, Hermes turned toward Lilith.
He remained silent longer with her than with the others.
Lilith held his gaze.
“What am I?”
“Human,” Hermes said.
Her expression tightened.
“You know what I meant.”
“I do.”
Silver flickered behind her eyes.
Hermes studied the light.
“You appear sensitive to possible futures.
Whether you see events that will happen, might happen, or are merely likely to happen remains unclear.”
“I saw Lee fighting in the alley.”
“Before it happened?”
“Pieces of it.”
“And the vision you shared with him?”
Ella turned sharply.
“What vision?”
Lilith looked at Lee.
He had hoped to avoid that subject.
Lee described the red sky.
The bodies of his friends.
The vast shape descending through the clouds.
He did not mention how helpless he had felt standing among them.
Ella went pale.
“Were we dead?”
“I don’t know.”
Lilith wrapped her arms around herself.
“I couldn’t see clearly.”
Hermes’ expression became grave.
“Visions are not commands.
Nor are they promises.
A future glimpsed may be avoided, caused, misunderstood, or replaced by another.”
Lee thought of his father beneath the cyclops’s club.
“That’s what you said about my dream.”
William looked toward him.
“What dream?”
Lee closed his eyes.
He had promised everything.
So he told them.
He described seeing his father on a distant battlefield.
He explained the cyclops, the spiked club, and the moment he believed he had watched his father die.
Nobody teased him.
Nobody interrupted.
When he finished, Ella’s anger had vanished.
“You’re trying to get stronger because you think that might happen.”
“I know it might not.”
“But you can’t risk it.”
Lee nodded.
“And you think a war is coming?” Emerson asked.
“Hermes does.”
All eyes turned toward the god.
Hermes’ golden expression lost its faint amusement.
“The barriers surrounding Earth are weakening.
Creatures have already begun crossing.
Governments are collecting celestial stone and preparing weapons.
Powers older than your civilizations have waited for this moment.”
William leaned forward.
“How long do we have?”
“I do not know.”
“That’s becoming your favorite answer,” Lee said.
Hermes gave him a thin smile.
“It is preferable to a confident lie.”
A car door closed outside.
Voices carried from the driveway.
Their parents were arriving.
Ella stood.
“We’re not finished.”
“I know,” Lee said.
“What are we supposed to tell them?”
Lee had no answer.
Emerson looked toward the window.
“We could tell them the truth.”
William gave him a doubtful look.
“That a Greek god appeared in Lee’s living room and explained we have superpowers?”
“When you phrase it like that, no.”
Mary knocked once and entered with William’s mother behind her.
Other vehicles turned into the driveway.
Hermes vanished before anyone crossed the living room doorway.
Buster barked at the empty space where he had stood.
Lee and his friends exchanged a silent agreement.
Not yet.
Their parents were frightened enough.
They needed to understand their abilities first.
Then they could decide how much to reveal.
Mary looked around the room.
“Everyone staying calm?”
Declan nodded.
“Extremely.”
A sparrow landed on the outer windowsill and chirped.
Declan frowned at it.
“Not now.”
Mary stared.
Declan pretended to cough.
It took nearly an hour for the parents to finish their questions.
Most accepted the story that the group had interrupted two men threatening a younger boy and that a strange fire had broken out during the confrontation.
Nobody mentioned powers.
Nobody mentioned Hermes.
Nobody explained why William’s burn had nearly healed before his mother arrived.
That part became an uncomfortable silence.
Eventually, the others were taken home with strict instructions not to leave their properties.
Ella was the last to go.
She stood on the front porch while Mary waited near the SUV.
“You should have told us earlier,” she said.
“I know.”
“I’m still angry.”
“I know.”
“But I understand why you were afraid.”
Lee looked at her.
“That doesn’t make lying okay.”
“No.”
A breeze circled the porch, lifting several fallen cherry blossoms.
Ella watched them spin.
“I don’t know how to stop this.”
“Hermes can help.”
“He isn’t my teacher.”
“He could be.”
Ella looked through the front window, as though expecting the god to appear again.
“Do you trust him?”
Lee considered the question.
“Mostly.”
“That isn’t reassuring.”
“It’s the truth.”
Ella nodded.
“Text us tonight.
All of us.
No more making decisions alone.”
“I won’t.”
She pointed toward him.
“That sounded too easy.”
“I’ll try not to.”
“Better.”
Ella walked toward the SUV.
Before entering, she looked back.
“And Lee?”
“Yeah?”
“If the military comes here, don’t try to fight them.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Her stare lingered.
“Try harder.”
The house felt unnaturally quiet after everyone left.
Lee locked the doors and checked the windows twice.
Then he moved to the kitchen and filled Buster’s food bowl.
The French bulldog attacked the meal with loud, determined crunches, pausing only to glance behind himself as though someone might steal it.
Lee crouched beside him and scratched between his ears.
“Things got complicated today.”
Buster continued eating.
“You’re a great listener.”
The dog snorted into the bowl.
Lee stood and looked through the rear windows.
The crater remained hidden beyond the damaged fence and thick vegetation.
Afternoon sunlight filtered through the cedars, casting long shadows across the yard.
No black SUV waited on the road.
No soldiers stood among the trees.
That did not mean nobody was watching.
Lee flexed his hands.
The new fire remained inside him, less restless than before but still unfamiliar.
His shadow Aether answered it with cold pressure beneath his skin.
“I need control.”
You have experienced several days of training since the Convergence.
“Inside the Void.”
Time experienced remains time experienced.
“I almost lost control in the alley.”
And yet you did not.
“I punched a tendril through a brick wall.”
Hermes appeared near the kitchen doorway.
“A wall is less troublesome than a person.”
“That’s not a high standard.”
“No.
It is merely evidence of improvement.”
Lee looked toward Buster.
“Can he come with me?”
Buster lifted his head at the sound of his name.
“The Void is currently the safest place for him,” Hermes said.
Lee touched the mark of the Aether Soul within his chest.
The world folded.
Star-filled darkness surrounded him.
Galaxies turned across the distant expanse, their light reflected on the polished stone of the Greek arena.
Buster appeared beside Lee.
The dog looked around, barked once at the endless stars, then charged across the marble floor with renewed energy.
The arena rose around them.
Cracked columns emerged from golden mist.
Olive trees appeared beyond the outer walls, their leaves moving in a breeze that smelled faintly of salt and sun-warmed stone.
Lee’s ordinary clothing remained.
Black shirt.
Jeans.
Damaged shoes.
No armor.
No weapon.
Milo of Croton stood at the center of the arena.
His thick arms were folded across his chest.
“You are late.”
“Only by a day.”
“In the arena, a day is sufficient time to become weaker.”
Lee walked toward him.
“I want to work on conditioning and unarmed combat.”
Milo studied him.
“You possess new power.”
“Fire.”
“And you wish to train without it.”
“I need to know I can still fight without relying on abilities.”
Milo smiled.
For some reason, that worried Lee.
“A sensible request.”
He pointed toward the arena floor.
“Run.”
Lee looked around the massive circle.
“How far?”
“Until I tell you to stop.”
The next several hours were brutal.
Lee ran until his lungs burned.
Then Milo made him sprint.
When his legs trembled, he carried stone blocks across the arena.
When his arms weakened, he performed push-ups with Milo pressing one foot against his back.
Lee’s enhanced body recovered faster than before.
Milo responded by increasing the difficulty.
There was no point at which Lee’s strength satisfied him.
Only another exercise.
Another failure.
Another demand to stand.
“Your Aether allows your body to endure more,” Milo said as Lee dragged himself upright after another round of squats.
“That does not make suffering meaningless.”
Lee wiped sweat from his face.
“It feels pretty meaningful.”
“Pain speaks.
A fool obeys it.
A dead man ignores it.
A warrior listens and decides.”
Milo attacked before Lee could respond.
His fist drove toward Lee’s chest.
Lee redirected it and stepped sideways, but Milo hooked one leg behind his ankle.
The arena flipped.
Lee struck the marble on his back.
Air left his lungs.
Milo caught his wrist and forced his arm toward a joint lock.
Lee rolled with the pressure, planted one foot, and twisted free.
He regained his stance.
Milo nodded once.
The approval lasted less than a second.
Then he struck Lee in the stomach.
Ajax arrived after Lee had recovered.
A wooden sword and round shield appeared on the ground between them.
“Take them,” Ajax ordered.
Lee lifted both.
The shield felt heavier than he remembered.
Ajax drew a practice sword.
“No shadow movement.
No tendrils.
No fire.
No healing unless the injury prevents continued training.”
Lee adjusted his stance.
“That sounds safe.”
“It is not.”
Ajax attacked.
Lee raised his shield.
The impact numbed his arm.
Ajax followed with a strike toward Lee’s leg, forcing him backward.
Lee tried to counter, but the larger warrior struck the edge of his shield and turned it aside.
A wooden blade stopped against Lee’s throat.
“You watched the weapon,” Ajax said.
“It was coming toward me.”
“You watched what could hurt you and ignored what controlled the fight.”
Lee reset his stance.
“What did I miss?”
“My feet.”
They began again.
Lee lost repeatedly.
Ajax controlled distance, angles, and tempo with movements that seemed almost simple.
He forced Lee toward columns, drew his shield out of position, and punished every attempt to attack too quickly.
Eventually, Lee began to see the pattern.
Ajax did not merely respond to Lee’s actions.
He created the actions he wanted Lee to take.
During their next exchange, Lee allowed himself to be driven toward a cracked column.
Ajax pressed forward.
Lee turned at the final moment, placed one foot against the stone, and pushed away.
He passed beside Ajax instead of retreating.
His wooden sword struck the warrior’s ribs.
The blow barely moved him.
But it landed.
Ajax stopped.
Lee waited.
“Well?” he asked.
“You struck me.”
“I noticed.”
“Do not become proud.
Pride makes a poor shield.”
Ajax raised his sword again.
“But remember the lesson.”
They continued.
Lee did not know how much time had passed when Hermes finally entered the arena.
Buster trotted beside him carrying an olive branch in his mouth.
“You should test the fire,” Hermes said.
Lee leaned against his shield.
“I thought you wanted me to learn the basics first.”
“You have spent nearly two days learning the basics.”
Lee looked toward the stars.
“Already?”
“Time is generous here.”
Hermes gestured toward a row of stone targets.
“Fire is not a sword.
Do not treat it as something you merely swing toward an enemy.”
Lee set down his shield.
He focused on the warmth beneath his ribs.
The fire answered quickly.
Too quickly.
Orange flames erupted around his right hand.
Lee pulled his arm back.
The fire spread toward his elbow.
“Control it,” Hermes said.
“I’m trying.”
“You are attempting to smother it.
That is not control.”
The flames climbed higher.
Heat rolled across Lee’s face.
Hermes remained calm.
“Fire requires three things in your world: heat, fuel, and air.
Aether fire replaces the fuel, but the principle remains.
Decide what you are feeding.”
Lee focused on the flow inside his body.
Aether rushed from his chest into his arm.
He narrowed the channel.
The flames shrank.
They gathered around his fist, no longer spreading beyond his wrist.
“Better,” Hermes said.
Lee opened his hand.
A small flame hovered above his palm.
It flickered but remained stable.
“How do I throw it?”
“You do not.”
Lee frowned.
“The man in the alley did.”
“He forced uncontrolled Aether outward until it ignited.
Effective.
Wasteful.
Dangerous.”
Hermes pointed toward the first target.
“Extend the flame without releasing it.”
Lee concentrated.
The fire stretched from his palm in a thin stream.
It reached several feet before collapsing.
He tried again.
The flame curved sideways and nearly struck Buster.
The dog jumped away, dropped the olive branch, and barked at him.
“Sorry.”
Hermes smiled faintly.
“Your first critic.”
For hours, Lee practiced producing smaller flames.
He learned that a narrow flame required less Aether than a large burst.
He learned to ignite both hands without allowing the fire to spread across his clothing.
He also learned that fire reacted strongly to emotion.
Frustration made it flare.
Fear caused it to shrink.
Anger gave it power but weakened his precision.
That worried him most.
The fire had belonged to a man who used it to terrorize someone weaker.
Lee did not want to inherit the same relationship with power.
By the end of training, he could hold a steady flame above each palm.
He could not yet launch a reliable fireball.
Hermes considered that progress.
Lee considered it proof that the ability would require far more work than touching someone and taking their gift.
That made him feel better.
Lee returned briefly to his bedroom.
Only forty-three minutes had passed.
Buster lay on the bed, snoring with his face pressed into a pillow.
Lee checked his phone.
The group chat contained twenty-seven messages.
Most were from Declan.
Declan: A deer is standing outside my window.
Declan: It says there are bad smells in the woods.
Emerson: Define bad.
Declan: It is a deer.
Its vocabulary is developing.
Ella: Stop asking random animals questions until we understand your ability.
Declan: It approached me.
William: You left food outside again, didn’t you?
Declan: That is unrelated.
A message from Ella appeared at the bottom.
Ella: Any sign of the SUV?
Lee typed a reply.
Lee: Nothing yet.
Keep your curtains closed.
Don’t use your abilities where anyone can see.
Emerson responded immediately.
Emerson: That recommendation would have been more useful before I spent ten minutes attempting to lift my desk.
Ella: Did you?
Emerson: No.
A second message appeared.
Emerson: The lamp moved slightly.
Lee smiled.
Then Lilith sent him a private message.
Lilith: I had another vision.
His smile vanished.
He typed back.
Lee: What did you see?
The reply did not come immediately.
Lee watched the screen.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
Lilith: Your house.
A cold pressure formed beneath his skin.
Lee: What happened to it?**
This time, her answer came quickly.
Lilith: Men were searching the crater.
Lee moved toward the rear window.
The yard appeared empty.
Trees swayed beyond the damaged fence.
Cherry blossoms crossed the grass in the afternoon breeze.
Nothing moved near the crater.
Then Buster lifted his head.
A low growl vibrated in his throat.
Lee froze.
The dog stared toward the bedroom door.
Downstairs, the floor creaked.
Someone was inside the house.
Hermes appeared beside Lee.
His expression had lost all trace of humor.
You were followed.
Lee summoned the fire into one hand.
Shadows gathered behind his shoulders.
Another floorboard creaked beneath the stairs.
Then a man’s voice spoke from the hallway.
“Lee Woods?”
The bedroom doorknob began to turn.