“Wait, come back!” someone shouted. But Justin was already moving.He ducked into the crowd, the flashing lights of approaching ambulances slicing through the rain. Cameras snapped. Voices followed him like ghosts. “Doctor! Doctor! What did you inject her with?”“Sir, what’s your name?”“Is it true you killed a patient at St. Mark’s?”He kept walking until walking turned into running. His shoes slapped against the pavement, echoing between the tall glass towers.Inside a deserted parking structure, he stopped. His lungs burned; his hands still trembled. When he looked down, faint blue lines pulsed beneath his skin, flickering like veins filled with lightning.“What’s happening to me?” he whispered.The echo answered with silence. He flexed his fingers; the light dimmed, then vanished. Only the faint ache remained, a dull reminder of something impossible. His phone buzzed again. Dr. Miles.Justin answered, still catching his breath. “Miles, listen, something just happened downtown. A g

Gunfire split the air.“Down!” Lydia dove, dragging Justin behind an overturned cart. Shells clattered, echoing through the concrete chamber. Patients screamed; someone knocked over an IV stand that shattered against the floor.Justin’s heart hammered. “They’re shooting at civilians!”“They’re not aiming for them,” Lydia hissed. “They’re aiming for you.”He peeked out, two of Rafe’s men advancing, weapons raised, their faces calm, professional. Assassins, not guards. Justin’s hands itched, that strange current surging again. Not now, he thought. Not like this.Lydia yanked a metal tray from the floor and tossed it toward the lights. The reflection flared, one shooter flinched.Justin grabbed a rusted pipe and slammed it against the second man’s wrist. The gun clattered away. “Move!” Lydia shouted.They sprinted toward the back corridor. Bullets sparked off the steel walls. Justin gasped, “Why would Rafe set me up?”“Because power like yours doesn’t stay free,” she answered. “He wanted

Smoke clawed at Justin’s throat as he and Lydia sprinted through the fractured tunnel. The air pulsed with sirens and collapsing stone. “Keep left!” Lydia shouted over the roar.Justin stumbled over a fallen pipe, clutching his side. “We’re boxed in!”“Not yet!” She slammed a maintenance door open with her shoulder and dragged him through. Behind them, the passage caved in, sealing the way with a wall of dust and fire.For a long moment, neither spoke. Their breath came in ragged gasps. Then Justin whispered, “He’s dead.”Lydia’s expression hardened. “So are we if we stay here. Move.”He nodded, but his gaze lingered on the smoke. For an instant, he swore he saw Marcus’s silhouette standing in the haze, eyes glowing faintly blue, lips moving in silence. “Justin?” Lydia grabbed his arm. “What is it?”He blinked, and the image vanished. “Nothing. Just, let’s go.”They followed a service stair up into the underbelly of the city. Water dripped from the ceiling; somewhere above, traffic ru

Rain softened to a mist by dawn. Dock 47 was nothing but wreckage and silence. Lydia picked her way through the twisted steel, coughing on smoke. “Justin!” she called. “Talk to me!”No answer, only the hiss of cooling metal. She found April kneeling beside a scorch mark where Justin had fallen. The ground was blackened, but his body was gone. Lydia stopped short. “Where is he?”April’s voice was barely a whisper. “He… vanished. The light swallowed him.”Lydia knelt. The concrete was still warm. “Nobody just disappears.”“He did.” April’s hands shook. “I felt him go.”Lydia stared at her. “You were glowing blue ten minutes ago. Maybe you felt something else.”April’s eyes, now normal, met hers. “No. It was him. He’s not dead.”“Then where is he?”April looked toward the river. “Somewhere between life and memory.”Hours later, the city buzzed with rumors, explosions at the docks, military cleanup, curfews reinstated. Newsfeeds called it a chemical spill.In the safehouse, Lydia slammed

Rain lashed against the shattered glass as they burst out of the hospital’s side entrance. The sirens were closer now, sharp, metallic howls bouncing off skyscrapers. Lydia slammed the SUV door and yelled, “Drive!”April barely got in before Justin floored the gas. Tires shrieked, water fanning behind them like wings.“Helix has us locked,” Lydia muttered, reloading her weapon. “We tripped every sensor from here to Midtown.”Justin’s eyes flickered gold in the rearview mirror. “They didn’t need sensors. They can see through me.”April looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”He gripped the wheel tighter. “The Origin Signal, whatever it is, it’s running inside my neural system. It’s using me like a satellite.”“You’re saying they can track your mind?” Lydia asked.“Not just track,” Justin said quietly. “They can talk through it.”April leaned forward. “Justin, if you can hear them, maybe you can find their next base before they find us.”He didn’t answer. His breathing slowed, eyes g