Noel stared at the message on her screen:
> "The second fragment is already in play. Choose wisely."
No sender. No traceable source. Just those words.
She copied the message, ran it through encryption filters, IP trace tools—nothing. Whoever this was, they knew how to cover their tracks.
She glanced at the shard again, now inert, its pulse hidden beneath smooth violet glass. But her fingers still tingled where she'd touched it. The vision hadn't been a hallucination. It was memory—real, encoded, ancient.
"Jack," she said quietly, "this second fragment—do you know where it could be?"
A pause. "No. But if it's in play, someone either found it or used it."
Her stomach tightened. "Then I need to find it before they do."
"You're already ahead. The shard you have—it responded to you. That means your resonance is syncing faster."
"What does that mean practically?"
"You're beginning to match my frequency. With time, you may be able to sense the others... if you learn how to focus."
Noel frowned, trying to stay grounded. "And if someone else finds a shard—someone not like me?"
"They could try to awaken it. But it might fight back. These fragments weren't meant to be controlled by just anyone. Especially not alone."
A soft ping broke her focus—a second message. No text this time, just a map attachment. A section of the city's old subway tunnels, beneath the industrial quarter. Dated. Half of it condemned.
At the top corner:
"Fragment Two - Retrieval Point Confirmed"
Time window: 8 hours.
Her breath hitched.
It was a test. A lure. A warning.
She grabbed her coat, stashed the shard securely in a museum transport case, and checked the time. If she left now, she could reach the coordinates within the hour. She didn't know who was baiting her—or why—but she couldn't ignore it.
---
Later, beneath the city...
The air was thick with damp and rust. Noel descended carefully into the tunnel marked on the map, flashlight in one hand, a small detector in the other. Jack had helped her fine-tune the device before she left—it pulsed in low frequencies, tuned to the shard's resonance.
"Signal strength?" she whispered.
"Faint," Jack answered, his voice more present now, like he was closer to the surface. "But it's here. Somewhere deeper."
She moved quickly but cautiously, passing graffiti-scarred walls and the remnants of old machinery. It wasn't long before she heard it—footsteps. Not hers. Fast. Echoing.
She slipped into the shadows, heart thudding.
Two figures appeared down the corridor, dressed in sleek dark gear, masks covering their faces. One held a scanner much like hers. The other—
The detector in her hand lit up.
They were tracking the fragment too.
She waited until they passed, then slipped out behind them, moving silently.
"Who are they?" she asked Jack.
"They're not Spectra. Gear's wrong. Movement too erratic. Could be scavengers. Or worse—rogue awakeners."
"Fantastic," she muttered.
She followed until they reached a collapsed train car, rusted through the middle. One of them crouched and pried up a panel in the floor. Inside—a hidden compartment. Something shimmered.
Her detector spiked.
The second shard.
She moved fast.
The first figure turned just as Noel tackled him, her elbow slamming into his ribs. The second lunged for the shard, but she was quicker—her hand closed around it, and once again, the world tilted.
But this time—no vision. No memory.
Just raw heat. Pressure.
Too soon.
She staggered back, nearly dropping it. The two figures closed in.
Jack's voice was sharp in her mind. "Noel—use it. Focus."
"I don't know how!"
"Yes you do. Feel it. Let it echo."
The fragment pulsed, this one warmer than the first—gold threaded with red. She drew on it, let her mind settle, and then—
She saw them.
Not with her eyes, but with Jack's ability: fractal paths of intent. One attacker was bluffing. The other was seconds from panic. She stepped into the space between them, feinted, and drove her knee up hard.
They broke, retreating with a hiss and a curse. One dropped a blade. The other disappeared into the dark.
Noel stood still, panting, the second shard clutched tight in her gloved hand.
The detector died. Both fragments now pulsed in sync.
Jack's voice was steady again. "You did it."
"I didn't know I could."
"You're learning. Faster than I expected."
She tucked the shard into her case, heart still racing. "We need to go. Whoever sent me the map... they'll know I succeeded."
Jack didn't argue.
Noel moved fast, already forming a plan.
Someone was watching. Testing her. Leaving pieces. But now she had two shards—and more questions than ever.
Still, she was closer. And with each step, she was becoming someone new.
Not just a girl with a ghost in her head.
A force.
And soon... a Spectra.