The wind stopped blowing so fiercely through the broken windows. The screaming of the VIPs turned into quiet, shocked sobbing. The immediate danger was over. The building was safe. The city below was safe.Marco let go of Evan’s hand. They both fell back and lay flat on their backs on the wet, foamy carpet. They were breathing hard. They stared up at the cracked, broken ceiling of the lobby."I hate heights," Marco panted, wiping sweat and foam from his forehead.Evan let out a short, tired laugh. "Me too."Evan slowly sat up. His body ached everywhere. His throat was deeply bruised. But he was alive. And the building had not fallen. He looked at the Master Terminal. The black drive was still plugged in."Glitch," Evan said into his earpiece, his voice raspy. "You did it. You saved the city.""We did it," Glitch corrected him. The little hacker sounded completely exhausted, but very happy. "I have locked the balance engines down. The Architect cannot turn them off remotely again. The

Caspian ignored them completely. His glowing chrome eyes scanned the crowd. He was looking for one thing. He was looking for a boy with white hair and a dirty yellow vest.Caspian’s eyes locked onto Evan.Evan froze. He was fifty yards away, trapped in the middle of a dense crowd of civilians.Caspian reached into his ruined jacket. He did not pull out his electric stick. He did not pull out a normal gun. He drew a high-tech pulse pistol. It was a large, heavy weapon made of sleek, polished silver. The barrel was shaped like a square, and it hummed with a terrifying, bright green light. It was a crowd-control weapon. A weapon meant to destroy a whole group of people at once.A civilian woman standing near Caspian looked at the glowing green gun. She looked at Caspian’s angry, bleeding face. She realized he was not there to rescue them.The civilian screamed. It was a high, piercing sound of pure terror. And then, time froze for Evan.It did not actually freeze. But Evan’s brain, des

The wind was not just air. It was a monster. It was a giant, invisible hand pulling Evan Kennedy toward the broken glass dome in the ceiling. The air inside the massive Grand Atrium was rushing out into the cold, dark, smoggy sky.Evan held onto the heavy brass railing with his left hand. His fingers were turning white. His knuckles ached with a sharp, burning pain. His right hand was wrapped tightly around Marco’s thick leather belt. Marco dangled below him, his legs kicking in the empty air, completely lifted off the floor by the terrible vacuum."Hold on, kid!" Marco yelled. His voice was almost entirely swallowed by the roaring wind.Evan gritted his teeth. He squeezed the railing tighter. But his strength was completely gone. He had used all of his magic. He had used all of his purple fire. He was just a human boy now, tired, beaten, and bruised. He looked down at the white marble floor.Caspian, the Headhunter, stood there. He was perfectly safe. His magnetic boots locked him t

Evan threw himself in right behind the grifter.Caspian pulled the trigger. BANG!The heavy black bullet flew across the room.Evan hit the floor of the elevator. He reached up and slammed his fist into the panel of buttons, hitting the highest button he could find.The golden doors began to slide shut. The bullet hit the closing doors. CLANG!It was an armor-piercing bullet. It punched a jagged, ugly hole straight through the thick gold metal of the right door. The bullet passed through the door and struck the back wall of the elevator, right between Evan and Marco’s heads, burying itself deep in the steel.But the doors closed completely. They were safe. The elevator gave a smooth, silent hum, and it began to shoot upward at incredible speed.Evan lay on his back on the soft, carpeted floor of the elevator. He stared at the ceiling. He was breathing so hard his chest hurt. He looked at the smoking bullet hole in the back wall."That was too close," Marco said, sitting up slowly. He

Marco was breathing fast. "I could be a king," Marco repeated softly. "I have lived in the dirt my whole life, Evan. I have stolen pennies. I have lied and cheated just to get an extra hour to breathe. And now... a billion years. We would be immortal. We would live forever."Evan felt a terrible weight drop onto his chest.This was the true power of the Bank. The Bank did not just kill you. It tempted you. It used your own pain, your own poverty, and your own desperation against you."Glitch," Evan whispered firmly into the radio. "If you take the time and put it into our accounts, what happens to the people in the South District?"The radio went silent for a few seconds."Glitch. Answer me," Evan demanded."The... the people in the slums will still hit zero," Glitch admitted quietly. "The time will be gone from the main system. Vane’s program will still register a total drain. The city will die, Evan.""Then we cannot do it," Evan said instantly. There was no hesitation in his voice.