LEONARD'S POVInstead of calming down after striking the orphanage manager. She actually raised her hand again.The orphanage manager was still standing there, one hand pressed against the side of his face where she had struck him moments earlier. He was still trying to recover from the unexpected slap and clearly wasn't prepared for another one.The second I realized she intended to hit him again. I moved. Before anyone around us even understood what was happening, I stepped forward and caught her wrist firmly in midair. Her palm stopped only a few inches from the manager's face.The entire movement happened so quickly that many of the reporters standing nearby blinked in confusion, wondering if they had actually seen it correctly.Even Sonia herself froze. She slowly turned her head toward me, her eyes widening with complete disbelief as she stared at my hand wrapped firmly around her wrist. For a long moment. She simply stared at me and everywhere went silent.Sonia was the first to

LEONARD'S POVThe uneasy feeling in my chest refused to disappear. I slowly released the handle of my SUV door and pushed it shut again.The door closed with a soft click behind me."No," I muttered quietly to myself as I narrowed my eyes at the ambulance. "Something isn't right here."I folded my arms briefly while watching them prepare to leave. The old man had already been loaded into the back of the ambulance."I need to know what's really going on," I said under my breath.Without wasting another second, I stepped away from my vehicle and began walking toward the opposite side of the road. At first, I maintained a normal pace so I wouldn't attract unnecessary attention. Cars continued passing by, and I carefully waited for an opening before crossing the busy street. By the time I reached the opposite sidewalk, I noticed one of the people dressed as a paramedic reaching for the rear doors of the ambulance."They're leaving already," I said to myself.My pace immediately quickened

LEONARD'S POVThere were two things that shocked me more than anything else.The first was the realization that the Power Reapers were no longer hunting only me in town. Until now, I had always believed that I was their primary target because of the ancient ring on my finger. But now, as I watched that helpless old man sitting in chains, I finally understood that I wasn't the only one. They were chasing other people with extraordinary abilities just like me, they were hunting every Awakened they could find. My mind carefully pieced together everything I had heard from the old man. They must have believed that the ring itself contained all of his power. To them, taking the artifact meant taking everything they needed. The second realization unsettled me even more than the first. Until this moment, I had always believed that if I stayed careful enough,I could continue staying ahead of the Power Reapers. But now I understood something terrifying. Nowhere was truly safe from them. The

LEONARD'S POVMy mind was still trying to make sense of everything I had heard about the Awakened when the woman spoke again, and the confidence in her voice immediately drew my full attention.She folded her arms across her chest and looked down at the old man with a smug expression. "You know," she said calmly, "despite all the resources our organization devoted to hunting Henry Blake, we repeatedly failed to capture him. Every operation ended the same way. He slipped through our fingers." She shook her head with visible annoyance before a slow smile appeared on her face. "Eventually, our superiors reached a very important conclusion. Continuing to chase him the way we had been doing was a complete waste of time."One of the men standing beside her nodded in agreement."So," the woman continued, "we changed our strategy entirely. We no longer intend to hunt Henry Blake through brute force. Instead..." She smiled confidently. "We're preparing something much bigger. Henry Blake, now k

SONIA'S POVI sat on the cold floor of my bedroom with my back pressed tightly against the wall. My knees were drawn up to my chest, but even that position did nothing to calm the storm raging inside me. My mind felt as though it was about to explode. Every humiliating event of the past few days replayed over and over inside my head until I could no longer bear it. Frustration consumed me completely, and before I even realized what I was doing, I buried both hands in my hair and pulled at it with all my strength."Ahhh!"A loud scream escaped my lips, echoing throughout the mansion.The bedroom door flew open almost immediately.My mother rushed inside first, her face filled with alarm, while my father hurried in right behind her. The moment they saw me sitting on the floor in such a miserable state, both of them stopped in their tracks."Sonia!" my mother cried as she hurried toward me. "What happened?"She knelt beside me and reached for my shoulders, her eyes filled with concern.