Slowly, the ground stopped rolling. Natural disaster sirens rang from tilted street posts, car alarms beeped, and people were screaming in fear. Wails for help echoed in the air, adding a sense of despair.

All the noise faded to the background as I ‘listened’ to something more than the superficial sounds around us. I was feeling for that alarming sensation I’d had right before the earthquake. But whatever it was was gone. It was like a boom and then gone.

I let out the breath I didn’t notice I was holding and let go of Aliya. As soon as I stepped back, the ground rumbled again. It was a fraction of the intensity, enough to shimmy the ground under our feet, but not enough to freak me out. There was no alarming feeling with it, and the earthquake was coming from the opposite direction.

“An echo?” Aliya asked and grabbed my arm to stay stable.

I frowned. “I … don’t think this earthquake is attached to the other. Maybe it was caused by the first, but I don’t think they’re from the same place.”

Slowly, the rumbling stopped.

“Why do you say that?” Aliya looked at our feet and the perfect circle we were in. “Weird, the debris fell in a perfect circle around us.”

I took a deep breath, watching her. Because the first earthquake was caused by magic. I didn’t say the words out loud because I didn’t want to scare her. My phone started to ring from my hip satchel. I pulled it out and flipped it open. “Hello?”

“Where are you?” Kesstel asked. There was no ‘are you okay?’ As if he knew this wouldn’t hurt me.

Aliya reached out to poke at the circle of shattered wood around us, but her finger was stopped by the semi-invisible barrier. “Huh?” She pushed at the misty wall. “What is this?”

I cancelled the barrier and watched as my sister yelped and nearly fell into the wood. “In Garden City,” I said into the phone.

“Come back to Eden,” Kesstel ordered.

I hummed under my breath and looked at the chaos around me. Quickly, I examined everything and started to plot out my next moves in my head. “I don’t think I will just yet. There isn’t a Gate Surge right now, is there?” I asked him, even though I could already feel the answer.

Kesstel paused before he reluctantly said, “No.”

I jumped over one of the downed trees and walked towards the complex with the huge crack on the side of the building. “I think I’m going to hang around here for a bit to see if there’s anything I can help with.”

Aliya scrambled over the tree and caught up with me. She looked from me to the apartment complex.

“It’s useless,” Kesstel warned, his voice low in my ear. “You’ll only get blamed for not doing enough if someone dies. You shouldn’t bog yourself down with unnecessary blame.”

My lips curled in a bitter smile. I was sure he was talking from experience. “I know that might happen, but I’m going to help anyway.” The phone started to beep, indicating another incoming call. I glanced at the name and said to Kesstel, “I have another call coming in that I have to answer. I’ll call you when I get back to Eden.”

Aliya grabbed my arm. “Who are you talking to?” she whispered. Then she looked at the leaning building. “How can we help?”

There was silence on the other side then Kesstel slowly said, “Okay.” The call ended with a click.

I snorted. He’s never been a big goodbye person, but that was almost cold. I didn’t have time to think about it long before Aunt Mina’s voice came over the phone.

“Jyn! Are you okay!” Her voice was thick with hysteria. “Do you have Aliya with you? Oh my god! Is she okay?”

Screams for help echoed from the complex, getting louder with each step I took closer to it. “Yes, we’re okay.” I looked at my sister. “I’m actually going to have her tell you about it, I gotta go.” I handed her the phone. “Talk to Aunt Mina,” I instructed her. “Calm her down and don’t move from here, got it? I don’t want you inside that building.” I pointed to the complex in front of me.

She took the noisy phone and nodded at me, confused. Then it dawned on her that I was leaving her out. “Wait. I can help too!”

“Stay there and help Aunt Mina,” I said, then ran closer to the building.

Disheveled people were running out of the stairwells, coughing from dust lingering in the air and yelling with panic. Mothers clung to their crying kids and men carried other people out. They rushed across the street and into the park, forming a noisy crowd with the rest of the people.

I stopped in front of the building and spread my arms. A thick mist covered the apartment complex and seeped into every nook and cranny that was accessible to air. A 3D picture of the entire building opened up in my mind. There was an influx of terrified screams because of the sudden mist, but I ignored that as I started to scan for injured people who couldn’t escape the building themselves, starting on the bottom and working up.

My search stopped just seconds in. On the first floor was an older woman on the ground under a pile of books and broken porcelain dolls that had obviously fallen from the shelving on the wall. Next to her was a crying little girl. Something inside that apartment was contaminating my mist. I didn’t know what chemical was mixed in the air, but it wasn’t oxygen or hydrogen.

I frowned and sprinted to the apartment, stopping just outside the window. There was a large crack in it, but it was still intact. I materialized my kindjal, then lightly hit the window with the crystal-steel blade. The glass shattered into pieces, raining down at my feet. Instantly I smelled a gassy odor emanating from the apartment.

Oh shit, I thought and jumped through the window, into the messy home. The girl and the older woman were in the back room, on the floor by an off-centered bed.

The blond child reached out and shook the woman. “Grandma! Wake up!” Her high, hysterical plea was painful to my ears. A large bruise was already forming on the side of her face, but it was nothing compared to the damage done to the woman.

I dropped down next to them and paused. With a sigh, I touched the side of the woman’s neck. There wasn’t a pulse and her body was going cold.

The girl jumped and let out a piercing scream. “Who are you?”

“I’m here to help,” I said. “We have to go. There’s a gas leak.”

I needed to look at the rest of the building before a fire sparked. I was certain there was a sparker somewhere in the building that had malfunctioned. Energy crystals weren’t electric, so house fires were less common compared to a couple decades ago, but that didn’t mean they didn’t happen. And I didn’t know when the police or firemen could get here. The closest one was at least a mile away, if I remembered correctly. It would be over ten hours before they got here, and that’s if they worked fast.

I grabbed the girl and spun around.

She screeched and reached over my shoulder, struggling. “Grandma!” she sobbed.

I didn’t pause as I ran through the home and jumped out of the window. She was still screaming and wiggling as I darted around the people exiting the building. I stopped next to Aliya and handed her the crying child. “Take her. Her grandma’s dead and someone needs to watch her until the authorities get there.”

The girl froze at my words then crumpled into Aliya’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably. “Save Grandma,” she pleaded in a broken voice. “Save … Grand … ma.”

My phone slipped out of Aliya’s hands as she fumbled with the girl until she was holding her better. My sister’s eyes were wide with shock as she looked between the girl and building. Then she nodded, her face settling. “Okay,” she promised me and started to pat the girl’s back soothingly.

I picked up my phone and slipped it into my hip satchel. “I don’t know how many people I’m going to bring back,” I warned her. “You might need to get some help, depending on how many people are injured. There’s a gas leak, so tell everyone to back up. I don’t know if this building is going to blow or not.” I turned around to go back.

Aliya gasped and caught my arm. She shifted the crying girl in her arms as she stared at me. “Don’t go! What if it blows up with you in there?”

My lips curled up in an almost bitter smile. “I have to say, I’ve been through worse. I’ll be fine.” Hell, I’d already been in a burning building, and that was before I was level fifty. “I’m counting on you,” I told her and ran back toward the building.

According to the 3D picture from my mist, there were four people on the second floor, lying on the ground. I wouldn’t know if they were alive or not until I checked every single one. My eyes narrowed in determination, and I put more speed in my step.

*****

I walked slowly through Eden’s front gates a minute to 5PM. The quake happened at 11AM and I’d been running since then. In and out of buildings, collecting injured and disabled into a growing pile in the middle of that park. Luckily, there were two other Hunters in that immediate location who were able to assist me. Aliya was able to rile some people into helping her tend the injured and the five orphaned kids we found. All of the first aid items I had in my Items Bag, as well as the ones in the other Hunters’ bags, were used up.

After hours of running and lifting, even at the level I was, I was tired. I stopped by a bench at the end of the main street and sat down.

Eden wasn’t nearly as damaged as Garden City. The buildings in Eden were made to handle destruction. They were also newer, all built with reinforced steel structures that could bend and settle back into place. Most of the damage that I could see were things like cracked brick walls and broken windows. There were a couple fallen trees and tilted street posts, but it was all superficial.

The main reason was that Garden City existed before the Gates appeared. When the city was taken back, it was cleaned up and the buildings were modified to be powered with energy crystals, but most of the structures were original or half original to the way they used to be. The apartment building my family was currently living in was well over fifty years old. When Eden was built, they knew it was going to be under heavy attack, given the monsters and monster-like people living in it, so extra care was taken with each building. It was like a fortress, built to withstand anything. Well, at least in the majority of the city. The living buildings in E District fell under that category, but things like storage units, sheds and other smaller buildings in that part of the city were more in line with Garden City’s build. I wasn’t too excited to see what that part of the city looked like right now.

I leaned back against the bench and sighed.

Hunters ambled down the street in front of me, looking just as dirty, flustered, and tired as I felt, all coming from Garden City. Most were on their phones, talking to family and whatnot.

My own phone was out of battery, or else I would probably be on mine too. Surprisingly my family’s apartment was fine, rattled and a mess, but structurally sound, so they were back home for the night. As for the condo, I was going to have to wait for the building to be checked out before I knew, but it seemed okay. Hopefully I was right.

My aunt and uncle were beside themselves with worry when I brought Aliya home. As soon as they were convinced we were okay, despite all the dirt and blood on our bodies, they were proud that we had stayed and helped the needy people. Both of them had been at work when the quake happened and had to walk home since transit wasn’t working. They arrived home only a couple hours before Aliya and I did.

As for my mother, the phones at the hospital were so busy, we couldn’t get through. But the hospital did put out a statement that all Sleeper patients were safe and to please give the hospital space so they could care for the injured people faster.

A large group of people came marching down the street, towards Garden City, opposite of the direction most tired feet were moving. I turned my head and watched as the tired Hunters stepped out of the way for the large group of fresh Hunters to go. There were over three hundred Hunters, Melee and Mage alike, mostly in street clothes or in a semi-armored state.

I noticed Emma walking with her group on the outside of the army of Hunters and called out.

She heard me and waved, then worked her way over to me. Her group followed behind. “Hi, what are you doing here?” she asked.

Billy, just to the side of her, muttered, “You look like hell.”

I rolled my eyes at his comment. He should have seen me before I washed my hands and face at my aunt’s house. Instead of commenting, I motioned to all the people. “What’s going on?”

“The Council is letting Hunters assist Garden City,” she explained. “These are the people who have registered and been allowed to go out and help.”

My eyes widened. “I’m a little surprised. Healing magic doesn’t work on humans.”

“There’s more than just injured people out there, there’s a lot of damage that needs to be cleared and whatnot,” Mason said. “Besides, Healing might not work, but first aid does. We’re supposed to record any materials that we use so the government can reimburse us.”

I nodded slowly. “It’s a mess out there. Be careful of gas explosions and falling buildings.” The first apartment building I cleared never did blow, but quite a few people suffered from gas poisoning. While none of the structures I worked on collapsed, I know of at least a dozen that did between the condo and my family’s apartment.

Emma’s gasped. “Were you just out there?”

“Yes. I was in Garden City when it happened. I just got back.”

Someone from the army called out to Mason and urged him to hurry up. The army of Hunters had reached the front gate and were funneling out into Garden City.

Mason tapped on Emma’s shoulder. “We need to go.” He nodded a farewell to me.

Emma waved bye and rejoined the rest of the Hunters in the back of the army.

A moment later, I felt a familiar powerful presence behind me. I turned my head as Kesstel sat down on the bench beside me. He held out a small bag of chocolate-covered pretzels.

“You’re so weird,” I muttered but my lips hooked up in a small smile as I took the bag from him. I’d been so busy today that I hadn’t eaten much. Most of the food in my Items Bag had gone to Aliya or the victims that I helped. “Thanks.”

“You don’t need to thank me for this.” He pulled out a bag of peanuts and munched on them as I ate my own snack.

I took a second to savor the salty sweet in my mouth before I spoke. “This earthquake wasn’t natural.”

“No,” he agreed. “The first quake was not. The second was a reaction to the first and could be considered natural, though, I suppose.”

I blinked up at him. Why wasn’t I surprised that he knew what happened? Then again, he grew up training to be the secret eyes and ears behind the crown on his world. I guess some habits die hard, even if this wasn’t his natural world.

“What happened?” I asked.

He paused and munched a couple more peanuts. “It probably had something to do with me,” he said softly.

My eyes widened. “What?”

He glanced at me. “A Portal appeared in the Las Vegas waste, which caused the first earthquake. Earth is so unstable that the act of the Portal ripping open caused what was left of the Florida peninsula to sink into the Atlantic Ocean. That was the second earthquake that you felt.”

*****