The morning fog drifted between skyscrapers like it had forgotten the sun existed. Seattle’s skyline was swallowed in cloud, the air humming with the kind of tension only the quiet could carry. The streets felt like they were frozen in time, as if reality itself was holding its breath.

  Rian Kaelborne stood just outside a glass-walled café, the rain tapping overhead like an impatient drummer on the awning. A half-empty cup of coffee steamed beside him on the small metal table, barely touched. The cold seeped through his jacket, but he didn’t move to close it, his gaze locked on the silent cityscape.

  Across from him sat Zara Kehlani, casually leaning back in her chair. Her dark, silky hair shimmered with a fresh mist of rain, her fingers flicking an unused sugar packet between her knuckles. She looked relaxed, but her eyes were alert, scanning the empty streets as if expecting something to lunge from the shadows. On her other side, Devika Stryne sat straight-backed, a worn book open in her lap, eyes tracing its faded words. Her curly brunette hair, damp and a bit unruly, framed a face that rarely gave much away, but her fingers traced the edge of the page with a restless energy.

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  Zara finally broke the silence. “You two ever notice how weirdly quiet it’s been lately?” Her voice cut through the stillness, barely louder than a whisper.

  Rian glanced up, one eyebrow raised. “You mean besides the usual existential dread and overpriced coffee?”

  “No, seriously.” She leaned forward, lowering her voice instinctively. “Like, listen. No dogs barking. No sirens. Even the crows shut up this morning.”

  Devika didn’t look up. “It’s the kind of quiet that comes before something breaks.”

  Rian smirked, but a small chill crept under his collar. He looked out at the street again. A cyclist paused at a red light, unmoving. A food cart vendor flipped something on a griddle, the sizzle oddly muffled. Business as usual — but somehow… off.

  He tapped his fingers once against the cup. “Let’s not jinx it.”

  A low-frequency hum passed beneath the sound of the city, subtle, like a pressure drop just before thunder. None of them noticed it fully, but Devika’s eyes flicked up for the briefest second.

  They didn’t know it yet, but this moment — this still, fog-covered hour—was the final breath before everything changed.

  End of Chapter 1.