As the tents in Mill Row lit up with flashing red and blue, Shon and Vye ducked into the back alleys, away from the prying eyes of the cops.

  The effects of the cryo grenade had finally worn off, and Shon could feel his thermal sense returning. As the breeze of night air brushed against his face, he closed his eyes, diving into his sensations. Gradually, he rippled out, uncovering the layers of air currents beyond, until he could reach around the entire block.

  Suddenly, Shon braked hard. He grabbed Vye’s arm, nearly throwing her off balance.

  “What the —”

  “Shhh,” Shon hissed.

  He kept his eyes closed and attention focused. There was a waft of something odd in the air, an unnatural substance blocking the normal atmospheric convection.

  He narrowed his perspective and extended his range, turning his thermal sense into a long, pointy probe. One block, two blocks, three blocks…

  Shon gasped.

  “There’s thermal-reactive gas ahead of us,” Shon whispered.

  “Thermal — What?”

  “Thermal reactive gas. It can detect temperature change.”

  It was the same gas used during the Stormrunner Exam’s political loyalty test. Even the smallest temperature change would alter the color of this gas. If Shon and Vye were to walk into the gas, their motion would be visible to Fraxian and Valerian officers alike.

  Shon quickly reined in his thermal sense, praying that he had not given himself away. With thermal sense, the mere act of observation could cause temperature change. While it could slip past most Fraxians, it would still be detected by the gas.

  “Us academy kids are surely obnoxious, huh?”

  “Shut up.”

  With this exit blocked by the thermal reactive gas, only one small alleyway remained. Shon carefully probed with his thermal sense, only a few feet at a time. He inched forward, and Vye followed him like a ghost. Her footsteps were so quiet that Shon had to keep turning back to confirm her presence.

  When they were halfway through the alleyway, Shon sensed something off.

  “Officers,” Shon whispered.

  Vye realized that too. She searched around for a way out, but it was too late. The footsteps drew closer. The noise of climbing would only draw more attention.

  There was no choice but to hide.

  Shon dived behind a pile of crumpled boxes, and Vye followed suit. There was barely enough space for the two of them. Shon curled up, and Vye’s torso pressed tightly against him. He could feel the heave of her chest every time she breathed.

  “Can’t you move in a little?” Vye said. “I’m gonna suffocate here.”

  “Says the one on top,” Shon said. “Move it yourself.”

  Vye tried to budge over but to no avail.

  “What a smartass,” she said.

  The footsteps drew closer. Shon sensed something new.

  “Shit, there’s a Fraxian officer.”

  Although they concealed themselves in the shadows, their body heat still shined brightly to a Fraxian’s thermal sense.

  “Can you conceal your thermal field?” Shon asked.

  “What?”

  “Thermal field. The area of heat around your body. Doesn’t have to be perfect,” Shon said, recalling how the Brotherhood members concealed themselves in plain sight. “They don’t know we’re here. Just conceal it well enough so they won’t look twice.”

  Vye closed her eyes. Shon could feel her trying, but all she managed was to drop her temperature by a few degrees.

  “This isn’t enough,” Shon hissed, feeling the footsteps draw closer. “Stop trying to lower your actual body heat. Think of insulating it.”

  Vye tried again, with little success. Shon could not blame her. After all, this skill took years of academy training to develop, and nobody could learn it in mere minutes.

  The footsteps drew closer. There was no time.

  “Damn it,” Shon said. “Last resort. Breathe slowly so you don’t have body temperature spikes.”

  He grabbed Vye and flipped her over, shielding her body from the outside with his own. Vye gasped out of surprise, but she quickly followed Shon’s instructions and calmed her breathing.

  Shon closed his eyes and gripped Vye’s hands, tuning into the steady currents of heat around her body. Then he reached out to his own. Slowly and steadily, he sifted through the clashing pockets of heat until he isolated the outermost layer. Then he began lowering their temperature.

  Vye shivered. Letting someone else manipulate your thermal field was uncomfortable, especially for the first-timers. Shon looked at her apologetically and loosened his grip. However, Vye grabbed onto his hands and nodded reassuringly.

  The footsteps approached the neighboring alleyway. Shon had to get this done now.

  He closed his eyes, fully focusing on their bodies. He felt Vye drop her instinctual guards, her thermal field now open to his manipulation. Their breathing synchronized. He reached in, letting their body heat blend into one.

  Then, he honed his focus. His grip tightened. Using every ounce of his willpower, he began cooling the outermost layer of their combined thermal field. He focused intently on the surroundings, adapting their temperature to every subtle fluctuation in ambient heat.

  The officers were now at their alley. They closed in. Click. Clack. Their boots hit the pavement in slow intervals.

  Shon held his breath. He kept his eyes closed, fearing that any extra sensory input would break his focus. The soft touch of the Fraxian officer’s thermal sense brushed against his back, against their camouflaged thermal field. Shon grabbed tightly onto Vye. The two of them held completely still, not moving a single muscle.

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  The officer stopped.

  Shon froze. Did he find out?

  After an eternity, the footsteps began again, this time stepping away from them. Finally, they faded away.

  Shon opened his eyes. He found Vye staring back, her eyes faintly glowing inches away from him. For a moment, all they did was hold each other’s gaze.

  Then, with a thud, Vye shoved him off. She jumped back to her feet and turned away. She kept her eyes fixed on her clothes as she patted them down, trying to get rid of the dust that was barely there.

  They darted out of the alleyway and headed to the edge of Mill Row. Shon wanted to say something but could not. That bizarre sensation had also caught him off guard. It was uncomfortable — almost intrusive — and certainly not something to be done with a stranger.

  But to make matters worse, once the immediate threats had passed, there was nothing else for his mind to latch onto, nothing but the reality of his own actions.

  The images flooded back. The two Valerian men. Shon pointing at one of them. Blood gushing out of their open throats. The blazing eyes of the gang members.

  And no, not just the images. Shon could vividly remember how he felt. The restrained anger as the Valerians taunted him. The rage and helplessness as they got away. The catharsis of watching them cower in fear before the gang. The burning desire for vengeance as Shon lied about the skinny Valerian’s deeds. Then… The horror.

  Without realizing it, Shon had been trying to convince himself that the broad-shouldered Valerian deserved to die. He was beating up these homeless Fraxians, almost killing one of them. He had to be stopped. His death would save others.

  Yet, no matter how hard Shon tried to rationalize everything, he knew the skinny Valerian did not deserve his fate. Even the vilest insults should not be met with violence.

  And Shon sentenced him to death.

  Shon was so lost in thoughts that he did not see Vye staring at him.

  “Hey, I apologize,” Vye said. “I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s weird seeing you so quiet all of a sudden.”

  “Oh no, not at all,” Shon shook his head, realizing Vye was referring to how she shoved him off. “The thermal transfer thing was quite uncomfortable, I get it.”

  “No, I’m serious. You did what you had to do to save us. It felt damn weird, but it’s not your fault.”

  “I appreciate that,” Shon nodded, his gaze losing focus as he returned to his thoughts.

  “Something else bothering you?” Vye asked.

  Shon debated whether to tell her, but given she had saved his life earlier, she deserved some transparency.

  “These two Valerians,” Shon muttered. “They just got murdered like that.”

  “Yeah, those Dragon cultists have a fucked up sense of justice,” said Vye, referring to the Brotherhood Fraxians.

  “I wonder if it’s my fault.”

  “The cultists killed them. Ain’t much you could have done.”

  “I… I lied about what one of them did,” Shon spoke in a bare whisper. “I was angry. He insulted us, treated us like dirt. But… But he never physically hurt anyone. If I had known they would kill him, I… I wouldn’t have lied.”

  Vye sat in silence for a while.

  “Maybe it’s true,” she said. “But what’s happened, happened. I’m in no place to judge you, but if you truly feel bad, then make it right next time.”

  “Has this ever happened to you? I mean…” Shon trailed off. “Sorry, that might be too personal.”

  “If I didn’t save you, your blood would have been on my hands. This is how I make things right.”

  Shon considered her words. The scenes began replaying in his head once again, but this time, he saw something he had overlooked earlier.

  “Why did you fight the Brotherhood with your fists? You got a gun the entire time.”

  “You noticed that too, huh,” Vye smirked a little. “I want everyone to see that these motherfuckers are not indestructible.”

  “Why?”

  “You really are out of touch, aren’t you? The Brotherhood controls most of the turf around the country. They terrorize innocent people just as much as the scumbags in power.”

  “I thought they don’t hurt Fraxians.”

  “It’s not just about Fraxians! Who gives a damn about your eye color when you are sleeping on the streets?” Vye took a deep breath. “Besides, the Brotherhood still goes after the so-called race traitors.”

  “Race traitor. That’s what they called you,” Shon gasped. “Does this mean they will come after you again?”

  “I’ll manage. Won’t be the first time I fend them off.”

  Seeing that the exit was close, Shon picked up his pace. At this hour, the Stormrunner Ceremony had not begun yet. As much as Shon enjoyed Vye’s company, he had other places to be.

  Suddenly, a blinding flash lit up the entire alleyway, illuminating even the darkest corners of Mill Row. Before Shon could react, Vye tackled him onto the ground, shielding him with her body. Her mouth opened, but her words were drowned out by a deafening explosion. Screams echoed through the streets. The tents shook, the poles rattled, and even the most overdosed vagabonds tremored in fear.

  And as quickly as it had broken out, the chaos subsided.

  “What the hell was that?” Shon said, catching his breath. “Did someone attack us?”

  “I thought it was a grenade, but no. No grenade can be this big.”

  Shon closed his eyes and reached out with his thermal sense.

  “The atmosphere seems… odd,” he said. “I can’t reach any further without tipping off the thermal reactive gas.”

  Suddenly, he remembered something.

  “Vye, there was a storm on the Exam day. What was it like from the outside?”

  Vye paused for a second, as if struggling to recall.

  “People talked about it,” she said. “They said a storm broke out near the Exam facility. I heard it got put down in less than thirty minutes.”

  “Did you personally see or feel anything?”

  “No. Not from here. But the storm was twenty miles away,” Vye thought for a moment and added. “It was not reported either.”

  This was odd, but not unreasonable. A level 5 storm could not have reached that far. Besides, with the Republic’s best Stormrunners on site, it must have been a piece of cake to contain a level 5 storm. It was typical that small, non-destructive storms like this would go unreported.

  However, the mere occurrence of a storm in the Capital was alarming. In the last few days, Shon had been so devastated by his Exam results that he had not paid attention to this fact. But the more he thought about this now, the more uneasy he felt.

  If a storm had emerged once, it could certainly do so again.

  “Do you think another storm is coming?” Vye asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Shon said. “If you have family here, you should warn them. But it’s not like they could do much. There are no bunkers in the Capital.”

  “I will warn them. It’s not the storms that worry me. It’s the people.”

  With that, they picked up their pace.

  As they turned a corner, a wave of flashing red and blue inundated their eyes. Dozens of police officers patrolled the block, barking orders and setting up fences. Police automobiles were parked horizontally on all major roads, blocking any possible exit.

  The entire Mill Row was locked down. There was no chance for a stealthy exit.

  “What the hell?” Shon muttered. “They sent an entire army for a homicide.”

  “Must have been my cryo grenade,” Vye said, not giving any further explanation.

  A flurry of motion caught their eyes. A black limousine slowly approached the blockade on one of the roads. A few officers marched over, shouting and signaling the automobile to turn around. After a few words through the window, however, they scurried back and removed the blockade.

  The limousine drove in. At a closer look, the windows were completely tinted, and no visible license plate could be seen. The entire automobile was black.

  The automobile crawled towards Shon and Vye, blending deeper and deeper into the shadows all around. Shon took a few steps back, ready to run. At that sight, the automobile stopped.

  An old man stepped down. His hair was thin and gray, but his stature remained tall and sturdy. He approached them slowly, each step measured and firm. He raised his empty palms, signaling no threat.

  “My name is Miles,” he spoke loudly. “I’m here on behalf of Theo Xeta.”

  Theo Xeta! Relief washed over Shon. Seemed like he had not forgotten about the deal with Shon.

  Shon approached the man, but when he glanced back, Vye was not following. Instead, she turned her face away, concealing it in the shadows. He was pretty sure he heard her curse under her breath.

  “Mr. Xeta asked me to escort you out of here,” said Miles. He noticed Vye’s bizarre action and added, “He meant both of you.”

  Vye hesitated, her gaze sweeping over the surroundings. She eyed Miles up and down. Then she glanced over at the police barricade on the streets, at the dozens of armed officers.

  “You two must have seen the lightning flash,” Miles added, noticing Vye’s hesitation. “A storm is coming. You do not want to be trapped here.”

  Vye considered for a bit more. Finally, she sighed and followed Miles.

  By this point, Shon had understood that something was going on between Theo Xeta and Vye as well. Regardless, Miles was their only shot at escaping the lockdown.

  The three of them entered the limousine.

  “Mr. Shon, the Stormrunner Ceremony will begin in half an hour,” said Miles. “Would you like me to take you there?”

  Shon closed his eyes. All his earlier hesitation had dissipated. He knew his answer.

  “Yes please.”

  Miles nodded and started the automobile.

  “And miss…”

  “Vye.”

  “Miss Vye, if you will excuse me, Mr. Xeta had requested to speak to you. He fondly enjoyed the conversation with you at the gala a few nights ago, and he hopes to continue where you left off.”

  “Shit.”