I located my trail and started in its direction. I could just make out the cop down the street. He was looking around and yelling into his wrist while sirens screamed in the distance. People scanned their surroundings, looking for the source of the commotion, and more than a few sets of eyes landed on us. We probably looked guilty as hell, running along the sidewalk as we were.

“Why don’t you teleport us again?” Em said. Her hand gripped mine tight, and she was already breathing hard.

“Did you see the faces of those people?” I said. “It’s bad enough I did it once, but now that we have some distance, I want to find a secluded spot before doing it again.”

A cop car rounded the corner in front of us. There was no way the driver could fail to see us knocking people out of our way as we fled. The car stopped, and two officers jumped out, their weapons drawn.

“Stop!” one of the officers shouted.

I felt a pull on the threads of chance and erected a shield moments before the car exploded. The concussive force knocked me to the ground. Broken glass showered onto me as nearby windows shattered. People screamed as another explosion rocked the street.

I felt panic welling up in me again. Why was it always fucking explosions? Em’s whimpers pulled me back to reality, and I turned to her. A large piece of steel protruded from her left side, and blood spurted from the wound.

“I told you it wouldn’t end well!” Jinn called.

I looked up and saw her floating in mid-air. The smile on her face was insane as she laughed and sent another fireball down the street. The two cops weren’t moving, and most of the people were either lying still on the ground or hunkering behind any cover they could find.

I needed to help Em. The arterial spray of blood was slowing, and her skin grew paler by the second. Her aura was fading quickly, but I knew if I saved her, there was no way I could evenly distribute the adverse effects of my actions.

Jinn launched another fireball at us. I reinforced my shield and managed to deflect the deadly attack. It hit a van that a group of people was hiding behind. Goddamit! I doubted any of them survived. I watched Jinn float to the ground.

“It’s a pity,” she said. “I was hoping this wouldn’t have to happen. But you met with the emissaries, so there’s no going back now.”

I looked between Em and Jinn. What could I do? I couldn’t fight Jinn, and saving Em was going to get more people killed. The screams of the innocent washed over me. They blended with Jinn’s incessant laughter and the faraway sirens. Fury galvanized me. I wasn’t a goddamn victim, and I wouldn’t let Em be one either. Fuck the world, fuck Jinn, and fuck the Universal Probability.

I pulled chance to me and began spinning it together. Em’s labored breathing slowed as I pulled from her as well. I pulled in every thread I could get my greedy hands on. I was dimly aware of Jinn’s slack-jawed expression as the vortex of power grew in size. I compressed the energy, and, slowly, the threads of chance started to separate.

A smaller, darker, ball of color formed next to the impossibly bright sphere of energy. My body quivered, and my head felt like it was going to explode as I compressed it further. Sweat poured from me, but I held onto the threads. I expanded my reach and pulled even more into the wildly rotating mass.

The dark orb got more massive, and when it was nearly the size of the brighter one, I launched it at Jinn. The mass enveloped her, and she wailed as it tore through her body. Negative probabilities warred with one another in an attempt to assert their dominance.

Falling debris changed course midair to strike Jinn while gouts of flame from her fireballs redirected themselves and burned her flesh. A puke-green sedan swerved to miss a bystander and slammed into her. She flopped onto its hood, and her head bounced a few times before coming to rest.

She lay still, not making a sound. The threads condensed into a black hole of chance that her existence could not escape. Little by little, her body fell away from reality, until no trace of her remained. I slumped on top of Em and released the rest of the energy.

I closed my eyes against the white light that rolled over the entire area. A loud thunderclap filled the air, and the screams and moans stopped. Em’s breathing gained strength, and I felt her hand close around mine.

I blinked several times once I opened my eyes again. The area was bathed in threads of chance so bright, it was nearly blinding. Not a single harmful probability remained, and it would be weeks before any showed up.

The aftermath of Jinn’s attack was plainly visible, however. The two officers stood, stunned, next to their devastated car. Debris covered the ground, and craters dotted the area where Jinn’s fireballs had hit. People milled about, plainly confused by what happened.

“What happened?” Em said. “I felt like I was dying, the pain in my side was so—"

I pulled her into a weak hug. “Shush, don’t worry about that. And don’t worry about Jinn either. I took the bitch out.”

“Really?” she said. She looked around. “No one’s hurt or dead?”

“I took care of that too,” I said, “but I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a reckoning.”

“Okay,” Em said. “So, if everything’s fine, we need to go.”

I didn’t move. My whole body felt weak and insubstantial, and the pain in my head hadn’t abated. She seemed to sense I had no strength left and leaned into me and stroked my hair.

“I love it when you do that,” I said.

I closed my eyes again and listened to the crowd. The sounds of despair and disbelief came to me as people tried to make sense of what had happened, or come to terms with nearly dying. I didn’t focus on any one voice since I didn’t really care. Em was safe, and that was all that mattered. One of the cop’s voice got my attention through the din.

“10-4 dispatch, 10-35 in progress, 10-52, Broadway and 35th. Request immediate assistance.”

I couldn’t hear the response, but the second cop moved toward me, so I guessed it wasn’t good.

“10-4,” he said into his mic, “Rawlins is 10-23, I’ll just hang out here until he finds me.” He walked up to Em and me and gave us a cursory inspection. “Ma’am, sir, I need you to remain still.”

He pulled his taser and held it loose at his side. His posture was relaxed, but I had no doubt that if either Em or I moved, we’d have fifty-thousand volts coursing through us before we could explain we just wanted to scratch our ass. Em tensed up, and I whispered into her ear.

“Don’t worry. I’ll feel better soon, so there’s nothing they can do that I can’t get us out of. After this shit, I don’t think us teleporting will cause too much of a fuss.”

“I don’t care about that,” she said. “Are you sure Jinn’s dead?”

“Yep, I watched her kind of disintegrate.”

The officer watching us straightened his posture. The cop that started all this walked up to his fellow and waved him away. The beat cop wasted no time complying.

“Easy,” the cop said when he noticed the change in my body language. “I’m detective Rawlins, Austin P.D. Anti-Terrorism Division.” He produced a badge and tossed it down to me. “Feel free to look that over, and when you’re satisfied, we’ll continue.”

I made a show of examining his credentials, but I wasn’t terribly interested. I tossed it back onto the ground when I felt enough time had passed. Rawlins smiled and knelt to pick it up.

“So,” he said, “kind of a shit show we’ve got here.” He gestured at the increasing activity. “Anything you want to say?”

“Yeah,” I said, “if you plan on arresting us, I plan to fucking well resist.”

“I’ll take that under advisement,” he said. “But for now, I don’t have any notion of arresting you or her. I’d just like to get your side of the story here.”

Huh. I wasn’t expecting this level of professionalism, and I was damn sure he wouldn’t have been this nice a few minutes ago. Probably all the positive probability. Still, there was no way he was getting the truth out of me.

“I understand,” he said when I didn’t respond. “After your treatment the other night, I don’t blame you for staying silent.” He put the badge back in his pocket. “For what it’s worth, I spoke to the A.D.A before coming to talk to you. They agree your arrest was premature and unwarranted. If you cooperate, they won’t pursue charges for evading and resisting.”

“Does that mean we’re not criminals anymore?” Em said.

Rawlins nodded. “If you cooperate.”

“I want it in writing,” I said, “Signed by the D.A., not the A.D.A, and notarized by a public notary.”

Rawlins's smile faltered. “I don’t have any control over that. All I can do is give you my word.”

“Yeah,” I said, “we all know what the word of a cop is worth. I guess it’s plan A, then.” I stood and only wobbled a little as I pulled Em up with me. “Come one, Em. We’re leaving.” I seemed to be saying that a lot lately.

Judging by the balance of probability in the area, I didn’t think there was much chance Rawlins would try to stop me. Though, that got me thinking. With no negative probability in the area, wouldn’t me getting away be a negative outcome for Rawlins? And if so, how did that square with the fact that I knew, absolutely, there was no chance of any negative result? That seemed to imply that what I saw was skewed based on my own moral compass. I wondered what a different genie would know if he looked at this area.

Shit, that raised another question. If what I saw as a positive or negative outcome was determined solely by my morality, how the fuck did a Universal Probability exist in the first place? Wouldn’t that mean there had to be a single being who determined the balance in the world? And, didn’t that invalidate the laws prohibiting me from altering that balance? Fuck it, those were questions for another time. Right now, it was time to leave.

“Hold up,” Rawlins said, pulling out his phone. He dialed a number and took a few steps away.

“Should we wait?” I asked Em.

“Can’t hurt,” she said. “I’ll go wherever, but I’d like to still have a home to come back to.”

That made sense. It wouldn’t be fair to make Em suffer if there was a chance that we could clear our names. I’d just have to ignore the driving urge to ram my foot up Rawlins’s ass.

“Okay,” Rawlins said, coming back to us, “the D.A. has agreed to your conditions, but has a condition of her own.”

“What’s that?” I said.

“That if either of you leaves the jurisdiction, the agreement becomes void.” He said.

I thought about it. There would be no way for them to know if we left, and even if they did, we’d only be back to square one. There didn’t seem to be a downside, except that our cooperation was going to be a steaming pile of bullshit. I looked at Em, and she nodded.

“Deal,” I said. “If you get the D.A. to prepare the contract, we’ll meet at United Bank on 3rd to get it notarized. But it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. We need to get something to eat, and we’re both tired as hell.”

Rawlins didn’t look happy. “If that’s what it takes, but I’m going to assign an officer to watch your apartment. For now, you’re free to go.”

Em and I walked away, and Rawlins called out to us.

“Don’t disappoint me.”