Elia was still alive.
Professor Halden checked the side of her neck again. Her pulse remained weak, but it was no longer disappearing beneath his fingers. Her breathing was still shallow, and no more blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.
His attention shifted to Marek’s right shoulder.
One of the broken scales surrounding the empty black circle had filled with dark-red light.
"What did you do?"
Marek remained seated on the floor. The force inside his shoulder moved again, struck the boundary surrounding it, and retreated. A dull pain passed beneath his collarbone before reaching his ribs.
"I removed it," he replied.
"The bleeding?"
"The thing causing it."
"What thing?"
Marek did not answer immediately because he did not know how to properly explain what he had seen.
Something had been moving inside Elia’s body. It resembled momentum, although momentum was supposed to end with the movement that produced it. Elia had moved once. The force had continued, repeating the same motion and damaging the same part of her body every time it returned.
Marek had taken it.
At least, that was what appeared to have happened.
"I do not know what it was," he said.
Professor Halden’s expression became more serious. "You said you removed it."
"I did."
"But you do not know what you removed?"
"That is correct."
Professor Halden remained quiet.
Marek understood why the answer was not reassuring. It was still true.
A siren passed somewhere outside, followed by another several seconds later. The sound reached the sixth floor easily enough, although there was no way to tell whether either came from an ambulance, police vehicle, or fire truck.
An emergency alarm from another university building joined them. People were shouting below. Something crashed near the road, and a car horn began sounding without stopping.
The activity outside pulled everyone’s attention toward the windows.
Marek pushed himself to his feet.
Most of the university campus remained visible from the sixth floor. The buildings had not disappeared. The courtyard was still where it had always been, and the road remained in front of the medical sciences building with several vehicles stopped along it.
Everything beyond the familiar parts of the campus was wrong.
The dark forest remained where several streets should have continued. Farther away, beyond buildings Marek recognized, water reflected the light from the thirteen constellations.
There had never been a coastline there.
People were running across the courtyard. Some were barefoot. Several still wore laboratory coats.
Near the opposite building, a group of students had gathered beneath the windows. Most of them were watching something above them.
A young man stood near the edge of the fourth floor. Two people remained several meters behind him.
Marek could not hear what the young man was saying through the laboratory windows. His mouth moved continuously while one arm pointed toward the people trying to approach him.
A red Mark glowed around his wrist.
One of the people behind him stepped closer.
The young man shoved him.
It should have moved the other person back by one or two steps.
Instead, the movement continued.
His shoes scraped across the floor while his body traveled several meters before striking the wall behind him.
Everyone on the fourth floor stopped. The young man raised the hand he had used. The red Mark around his wrist became brighter while the injured person slid down the wall.
The second person no longer approached.
The young man backed away until his heel reached the edge.
Marek already knew there was nothing behind him.
"Wait."
There was no possibility that the young man could hear him from another building. The young man lowered his head toward the ground below, then stepped backward.
He disappeared from the ledge.
Several people in the courtyard screamed.
The lower section of the opposite building blocked where he landed. People immediately began running toward that side.
Professor Halden moved closer to the window before stopping himself. "Stay away from the glass."
Nobody argued.
Another scream came from somewhere inside their own building. This one was clearer and followed by hurried footsteps in the corridor. Someone called for help from a lower floor. Another person shouted something about the stairs.
Marek took out his phone.
Seven missed calls from Mara remained on the screen.
So did her last message.
Do not forget the noodles.
He called her. The call failed before it could ring. The second attempt ended the same way. The signal indicator remained empty.
He typed another message.
Stay inside. Do not leave the apartment. Tell Mom where you are if you reach her.
He pressed send. The message remained pending. Marek kept the screen open for several seconds before putting the phone into his pocket.
"What did you remove?"
The question came from behind him in Professor Halden’s voice.
Marek turned.
The professor had not spoken.
"What did you remove?"
A woman stood beside one of the workstations with both hands raised in front of her. Twin symbols glowed in the center of her palms.
She was facing Professor Halden. The voice had come from her. It simply did not belong to her.
Professor Halden slowly stood straighter.
The woman copied him.
Her shoulders straightened at the same time. Her right hand lowered toward her side while the other remained slightly raised. It matched his posture closely enough that she noticed it herself.
Her hands pulled against her chest. "I did not mean to do that."
The voice belonged to Marek.
Her eyes widened. "That was not my voice."
The final sentence sounded like Elia.
The researchers nearest to her moved away.
"Why are you moving?"
Her voice changed several times before she finished the question. The first word belonged to Professor Halden. The second sounded like Marek. The remaining words came from two other researchers.
Professor Halden raised one hand. "Stop speaking."
The woman raised hers.
"Stop speaking."
"I did not ask you to repeat that."
"I did not ask you to repeat that."
Professor Halden lowered his arm.
She copied that too.
The woman stepped backward. One foot moved behind the other while her hand reached toward empty space, almost matching the way Marek had fallen away from Elia earlier.
Her elbow struck the edge of a metal tray.
The tray hit the floor.
Several people nearby flinched.
The woman copied them.
Her shoulders jerked. Her head shifted toward the noise and then toward two different researchers. Her hands opened and closed as though her body had received several instructions at the same time.
"I cannot stop it."
Her own voice returned for a moment.
Then the sentence repeated in Professor Halden’s voice. "I cannot stop it."
Another shout came from the corridor.
"Move!"
The woman repeated it immediately.
"Move!"
The original shout had come from outside.
She covered her mouth.
The force inside Marek’s shoulder struck its boundary again. His right arm became numb for a moment before the sensation passed.
"Close your eyes," he said.
The woman faced him.
"Close your eyes," she repeated in Marek’s voice.
Then she obeyed.
Her hands continued moving. Her right copied the motion Professor Halden had used while checking Elia’s pulse. Her left repeated the way Marek had pressed his hand against Elia’s abdomen.
The movements gradually slowed and stopped.
The twin symbols remained visible in her palms.
"Did it stop?" The voice was hers again.
"For the movements."
"What about the voices?"
Marek had no answer yet. Someone shouted again from the corridor.
The woman’s lips moved. "Help me!"
The voice belonged to whoever had shouted outside.
The color left her face.
"She is copying what she sees and hears," Marek said.
Professor Halden considered the woman for a moment. "Keep your eyes closed."
"That does not stop me from hearing." She pressed both hands against her ears, regardless.
Professor Halden addressed the rest of the laboratory. "Keep your voices down unless you need to speak."
Nobody argued.
The building was already loud enough without them.
A fire alarm began several floors below. Footsteps continued through the corridor. Someone struck a door repeatedly. The continuous car horn outside finally stopped. Another one replaced it a few seconds later.
The woman had stopped copying their movements. That was enough for the moment.
A container rolled from one of the tables. It had been knocked near the edge when the researchers moved away from the woman. Pale-blue markings along another researcher’s forearms released a faint light as the container fell.
He caught it.
Water spilled across his left hand.
The researcher tried to turn the container upright.
The water did not fall.
It gathered across his palm before moving toward the blue markings beneath his skin. The liquid traveled along his wrist and forearm, then disappeared beneath the sleeve of his laboratory coat.
The researcher lifted his arm away from his body.
Blue light moved beneath his clothes until it reached his shoulder and crossed his chest. The markings along his right forearm brightened.
Water emerged from his right palm and fell onto the floor beside him.
The container remained empty.
The researcher examined both hands. "What happened?"
Professor Halden approached carefully. "Did the water enter your body?"
"I don’t know."
"You watched it enter your hand."
"I am aware of that."
"Did you feel it?"
"Yes."
"What did it feel like?"
"Water."
Professor Halden waited.
The researcher frowned. "I don’t know what else you want me to say."
Marek examined the markings.
There was no swelling beneath the skin. The researcher’s clothes had not become wet where the water crossed his chest. Whatever path the liquid had taken, it had not moved through any visible organ.
Professor Halden gestured toward his left forearm. "Where did it go?"
The researcher touched the markings.
"Here."
His finger followed them upward to his shoulder, then across his chest toward the opposite arm.
"And out."
"That is not normal anatomy."
"I noticed." His attention dropped to the puddle beside his shoe.
Professor Halden noticed the movement of his hand.
"No."
"I only want to touch it."
"You already touched the water."
"That was an accident."
"Yes."
"I want to know whether I can do it again."
Another scream came from outside the laboratory.
Professor Halden took a breath. "One drop."
The researcher crouched and touched the water with the tip of his left index finger.
Nothing happened at first.
Then the blue markings brightened.
The drop disappeared.
Moisture formed on the tip of his right index finger.
The researcher raised it slightly. "I did that."
"Yes."
"What else can I move?"
"Do not find out."
"I was not going to—" His eyes shifted toward one of the electrical cables running along the floor.
Professor Halden followed the direction. "Especially not that."
The researcher slowly moved his hand away.
Marek returned his attention to Elia.
Her breathing remained weak but steady. The dark-red scale beneath his collarbone pulsed, and the force inside it struck the boundary again.
Around them, alarms continued sounding while people moved through the corridors. Outside the sixth-floor windows, the university remained where it had always been.
The things surrounding it did not.
Professor Halden faced Marek. "You are included in the list of people who do not understand what happened to them."
"I know."