The hall felt colder than the rest of the school.
Students packed together like a trembling ocean of uniforms and whispered fear. Teachers lined the walls, pretending they were calm. The principal stood near the podium, gripping a folder so tightly the paper edges curled.
Eshan stood with Riya in the middle, chest tight, the fracture inside him throbbing in uneven beats. Every few seconds, he felt a faint tug—like the world was plucking invisible strings tied to his ribs.
Something was coming.
He didn't know what.
But it was coming fast.
Riya nudged him. "Why are there police vans outside?"
"That's not the police," Eshan said quietly.
She stared. "How do you—"
He didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
The doors at the front of the hall slammed open so hard the hinges rattled.
Silence drowned the room.
Six people walked in wearing matte-black coats emblazoned with a silver emblem on the sleeves—a circle split by three lightning-shaped fractures.
Eshan's gut twisted.
The Audit Bureau.
The same organization that everyone online called fake.
The same one governments never acknowledged publicly.
The same one that had shown up in conspiracy videos.
Except now it wasn't a rumor.
They were here.
The man in front stepped onto the stage, scanning the crowd with eyes that seemed too sharp, too still—like he was measuring each student's potential threat level.
He spoke without a microphone, but everyone heard him perfectly.
"My name is Officer Kael Varin, Senior Auditor. We're here to conduct a mandatory anomaly screening following the temporal disturbance at your institution."
"Temporal… what?" someone whispered.
Eshan swallowed.
This was no school talk.
This was an investigation.
Kael's gaze moved like a laser, cutting through rows of terrified faces.
"This school experienced an Audit intrusion. One student manifested an Unlived Entity. That is… unacceptable."
The words dropped like stones.
Riya muttered under her breath, "They make it sound like someone brought a wild animal to class."
A girl in the front started crying. A boy beside her clenched his fists, as if he could punch the fear away.
Kael raised a hand.
A holographic disc appeared above his palm, rotating slowly—spinning with symbols Eshan had seen only once: on his own chest yesterday.
The fracture patterns.
Eshan's heartbeat spiked.
Kael spoke again. "We need all students to step forward one by one. The scan is harmless. Unless you are hiding something."
He let the implication hang.
The teachers began organizing the line, forcing trembling students forward.
Riya grabbed Eshan's sleeve. "If that thing you saw yesterday… if it left some kind of mark—"
"It did," he whispered.
She froze.
"What do you mean it did?!"
He didn't respond.
He couldn't.
The fracture in his chest pulsed hard enough that he winced.
The Bureau's scanning device hummed softly whenever a student stepped close. Blue light washed over them. Most passed. A few caused the scanner to flicker a bit longer, but Kael merely narrowed his eyes and waved them through.
Then—
A boy two spots ahead of Eshan stepped up.
The scanner glowed red.
A harsh, klaxon-like tone rang.
Students screamed.
The boy tried to step back—but two Bureau agents grabbed him instantly, pinning his arms behind him.
"H–Help!" he cried out, voice cracking. "I didn't do anything! I didn't—!"
Kael looked at the scanner's reading.
"Residual contamination," he said coldly. "His shadow flux is unstable."
"I don't know what that means!" the boy sobbed.
Kael gestured.
The agents dragged him out.
Kicking. Crying.
Begging.
Riya shook. "Eshan… what if—"
"I know."
He was next.
His turn.
He stepped forward.
The scanner hovered toward him, humming with faint, electric light. He felt the fracture in his chest tighten, heat blooming under his ribs.
Stay quiet.
Stay invisible.
Stay—
The scanner glowed blue.
Then blue flickered.
Then—
Purple.
The hall fell silent.
Purple wasn't normal.
Purple hadn't appeared for anyone else.
Even Kael's expression broke for a fraction of a second—surprise, confusion, something else.
The scanner started glitching.
Symbols spun too fast. Lines of neon fractured.
It pulsed once—twice—
"UNDEFINED ENTITY DETECTED"
The holographic message burst into existence for everyone to see.
Students gasped.
Teachers froze.
Riya's hand flew to her mouth.
Kael stepped down from the stage immediately.
He approached Eshan with slow, precise movements—as if approaching something volatile.
"What did you interact with?" Kael asked softly.
Eshan's breath hitched. "I—nothing—"
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Your reading isn't Possibility exposure. It's… something else."
One of the agents stepped closer.
"Sir. Should we restrain him?"
Kael lifted a hand. "Not yet."
The scanner flickered again.
"UNDEFINED ENTITY: UNIQUE"
"SIGNAL SOURCE: UNKNOWN HUMAN/POSSIBILITY OVERLAP"
"STATUS: UNCLASSIFIED DANGER"
The entire hall broke into chaos.
Students backed away from Eshan like he might explode.
Teachers whispered urgently.
Two agents reached for cuffs.
Kael grabbed Eshan's wrist.
"Come with us," he ordered. "Now."
Riya instinctively stepped forward. "Wait—he didn't do anything! You don't even know—"
Two agents blocked her instantly.
"This isn't a request," Kael said.
Eshan's throat tightened.
He didn't know what terrified him more:
The Bureau taking him…
Or what might happen if they tried.
Kael pulled him toward the exit.
The fracture in Eshan's chest flared—furious.
A voice whispered behind his ears:
"Not them."
Every light in the hall shattered.
Students screamed.
Shadows warped.
Wind burst from nowhere.
A crack split open in the air beside Eshan.
A hand—his hand—shot out of the rift and grabbed Eshan's shoulder.
Kael reached for him—
Riya screamed—
Eshan's heart stuttered—
And the world tore apart again as his Possibility pulled him into the fracture—
straight out of the Bureau's grasp.
—