Trying to escape out of my window was a lot harder than the movies made it look. I had to break the screen off and then jump across the street to the nearest rooftop. I leapt from house to house and hoped no one saw or heard a ninja on their rooftop trying to make sense of GPS directions.

I was relieved when the phone guided me to a portal so I didn’t have to run the entire way. When I came out on the other side, I was surrounded by trees. The smell of something burning filled the air, and a wave of heat carried on the wind. I dashed through the trees towards the sound of screaming.

Everything was on fire by the time I reached it; the cabins, most of the ground, the sheds, and signs. The buildings were starting to collapse. I didn’t know where to begin.

Luckily, I wasn’t the only one to come through the portal. I spotted Wolf trying to put out some of the fires using toilet water, Katherine was chasing the Betrayals off into the woods, and Hot Stuff was pulling people out of the buildings. I’m sure the rest of the team was running around nearby.

I raced to the first cabin that still had screaming campers inside. Fire crawled up the walls, I could get through it just fine, but I wouldn’t be able to carry someone out. I concentrated on the flames, willing them to get smaller, cold and weak. They rapidly turned to dim embers. I kicked the door down. The kids inside were coughing on the ground. Some of them had bubbling skin like cheese on a baking pizza.

“Everybody outside!” I said.

Desperate for air, those who could move, ran past me. I threw the last two over my shoulders. We didn’t get very far because fire and smoke surrounded the cabin.

“Where are we supposed to go?”

“I wanna call my dad!”

“Uh.” I looked around. Where were they supposed to go that would be safe? The camp was getting engulfed while the woods were most likely swarming with Betrayals.

A strong gust of wind surged by, clearing away the fires. Hot Stuff trotted past us, carrying a boy on her shoulder. She dropped him on a wide stretch of grass next to the other unconscious campers she’d rescued.

“Over there.” I pointed and led the way over the charred ground. My lungs felt heavy, and breathing became a labor from the smoke. The kids huddled together on the grass. I had no time to waste trying to calm them down, I turned around and searched the other buildings.

I went from cabin to cabin dispersing fires, tearing down doors, or bracing weak ceilings so campers could escape. By the time I reached the last cabin, I could no longer hear all of Wolf’s splashing, but there were still plenty of fires left. Why did he stop?

I did a quick scan; still no sign of my other teammates, only Hot Stuff carrying someone else to safety. I wanted to know where they all went. Had they gone into the woods to help Katherine? Were they hurt?

A scream brought my attention back to the cabin in front of me. I commanded the fire to move away from the building before going in. A lone girl lay on the floor no longer moving or fighting for air. When I grabbed her, she was cold. Please, don’t be dead, I thought. I pulled her over my shoulder.

As I came back to the patch of grass, I noticed Hot Stuff had stopped moving. She just stood there watching the unconscious kids at her feet. I kept my eyes on her, hoping she’d move while I set the girl on my shoulder down.

“What’re you doing? There’s probably more out there. We have to hurry!” I said, but she acted like she didn’t hear me. “What’s wrong?” I grabbed her shoulder; it was freezing. I jerked back. My hand burned like I’d rubbed it against a sheet of ice.

“You guys aren’t firefighters!” a camper said.

“Who are you? What’s going on?”

I ignored the kids. I dared to grab Hot Stuff again and forced her to face me. Her skin was white as chalk, and ice encased her eyes. “What the…? W-what happened to you?” I asked and shook her a bit. She stared at me for a long time before looking down at the unconscious kids once more. “Captain!” I couldn’t get through to her.

I let her go, and that’s when I noticed something odd about the kids lying on the ground. They were so caked in ash that I hadn’t recognized their uniforms; it was Lily, Spaz, Kavi, and Wolf. I backed away from Hot Stuff. Something had happened to her. She’d attacked her own teammates.

A girl chuckled behind me. At first, it was quiet, and then it grew louder into a high, triumphant shriek. The sound stabbed needles into my ears. The temperature plummeted. I suddenly saw my breath.

I turned around, the last girl I’d saved was getting to her feet. Long, bright blonde hair tumbled out of her sweater’s hood. Two swords that looked like big, sharp rulers slid out of her sleeves and into her hands. When she looked up, there was that hideous mask on her face.

“Did you miss me?” the Betrayal asked.

“What the heck is that?!” a camper yelled. The kids began to panic. The Betrayal stabbed the ground, and a thick layer of ice shot away from it, covering the ground. Once the ice touched the campers’ feet, they stopped moving. All color drained away from their skin, and ice covered their eyes. Their arms hung limply from their bodies, and they stared ahead of them blankly.

“What did you do to them?” I asked, trying to hide my unease.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she said and gazed out into the woods. “Now, there’s only one loose end to tie up.” The Betrayal turned to Hot Stuff. “Retrieve the commander.” Hot Stuff nodded and disappeared.

“No! Katherine—!” I was about to go after Hot Stuff, but someone grabbed me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Castile with the same iced over eyes and pale skin. I tried to raise my temperature to make it too hot for him to hold me, but his hands remained cold. He pushed me onto my knees. Trying to squirm out of his grasp was no use, either. I was trapped.

The Betrayal came over to me. Her hands patted across my body. I wiggled around trying to make it difficult for her to find whatever she was looking for. Then her arm blurred and her fist struck my ear. I was blinded by a white light for a second, and my ear rang. The pain rendered me immobile. She pulled the phone out of my belt and crushed it.

“No calling for help.”

My head throbbed, and my ear felt like it was swelling up to the size of an orange. I struggled to speak. “Why’re you doing this? I thought once I’d been sworn in, you guys were supposed to move on to the next potential recruit? Why do you keep coming after me?”

The Betrayal paced back and forth, occasionally twirling her swords. She didn’t seem worried about the fact that the other Betrayals weren’t there to back her up.

“You’re clearly wasting your time. I won’t join you,” I said.

Suddenly, about a hundred trees sounded like they broke apart. The ground rumbled, and a powerful blast of air hit us. My chest filled with dread. Would Katherine be alright? Surely, Hot Stuff couldn’t do much damage to her; she was a commander after all. But, then again, she wasn’t expecting an attack to come from a member of her squad.

A minute later, Hot Stuff came marching towards us. Her sword was against Katherine’s neck and what hope I had was crushed. Katherine didn’t try to escape, or else Hot Stuff would slash her throat in an instant.

Katherine took notice of the others lying unconscious on the ground, the lifeless campers staring at nothing, but when her eyes found me, they grew wide. She quickly hid her worry. Hot Stuff pushed her onto her knees.

“Well done,” the Betrayal said and strode up to Katherine. “You won’t be coming to the rescue this time, will you? And I think I owe you something from our last encounter.”

The Betrayal whirled around, ramming her foot into Katherine’s face. The impact sounded like thunder. Katherine’s head was half-way buried into the dirt. Wavering, she sat back up. Blood began to soak her mask, and there was a thin cut on her neck where she’d brushed against Hot Stuff’s sword. Hot Stuff was quick to put her blade back in place.

The Betrayal leaned in close to Katherine’s face. “I will take him this time.” She walked away and kicked Kavi’s leg. “I’ve decided to be merciful and let your sad little squad live, but I can’t risk you coming after us.”

She grabbed Katherine’s chin. Fear wrapped cold fingers around my chest. I tugged against Castile’s grip, not caring if it hurt.

“If you kill me, I can guarantee he’ll never join you,” Katherine said through her teeth. The Betrayal hesitated. She looked back at me.

“Oh, I see. How very clever of you,” she said and squeezed Katherine’s jaw. Katherine’s eyes pressed together from the pain.

“Stop it!” I begged.

“Can’t you see she’s been manipulating you from the start? You stupid boy!”

I didn’t buy it for a second. “You’re lying.”

“I bet she told you she just picked you off of some list, that it was mere chance you were put on her squad, correct?” the Betrayal said. I stopped my struggling. I knew I couldn’t trust the words of my enemy, but the look of defiance in Katherine’s eyes shifted. “Go on, tell him the truth.”

“What truth?” I looked at Katherine but she wouldn’t meet my gaze.

My commander shrugged. “You were never supposed to be a ninja,” she said. “Your name was black listed. No commander was to recruit you under any circumstances.”

“It wasn’t until we came for you that the ninja suddenly had a change of heart. Suddenly, they decided it was better to have you on their side than fall into their enemy’s hands,” the Betrayal said.

“Well of course we did! We’re not stupid,” Katherine said.

“But what did you tell the council exactly? Surely, they were worried about how you were going to keep him in line? What did you tell them?”

Katherine looked at me. “I only said that you were a good person and you would do the right thing. There wasn’t some grand scheme—”

“Like hell there wasn’t! Look at the facts, Daniel. She watched you for months. Studied you. She knew exactly what you longed for and then became that. She knew what it would take to get you to fall madly in love with her because she knew if you did, you’d never turn. What better way to ensure your loyalty?” My stomach cringed. My heart felt like it had been run over by a car. “And that’s what you told the council, wasn’t it? That’s what convinced them to change their minds?”

“She’s making it sound worse than it really is. I’m your friend because I want to be, not to control you. I never intended you make you fall in love me—”

“That’s just an added benefit, right? It doesn’t matter if you intended for it to go as far as it has, you knew your specific influence on him would make him do whatever the ninja wanted. You knew you’d make him your puppet,” the Betrayal said.

I slouched and my face contorted with pain. Could the Betrayal be right? Was she only my friend to control me?

“Absolute power is all that the ninja desire and they’ll stop at nothing to have it.” The Betrayal pointed at me. “I’m sure that even in the little time since you joined them that you’ve come across a few of their questionable methods.”

I looked at the broken pieces of my phone. It reminded me of how uncomfortable I felt about the ninja spying on everyone.

“Please, tell me you aren’t buying this…” Katherine said.

“There’s nothing to buy. Just ask yourself; why is it that an organization that’s been around since the dawn of civilization, technologically advanced, and with abilities far above that of humans, are completely powerless to ensure peace? If that was their goal all along, why has suffering increased over time? More people died in the wars of the last century than all of the proceeding centuries combined! The Earth is closer to collapse than a Golden Age,” the Betrayal said.

“Maybe if it weren’t for your kind, we would have!” Katherine said.

“Of course, blame it on someone else.” The Betrayal shook her head. “Listen, boy. I’m offering you the cold, hard truth. I’ll tell you everything that they won’t; why you were given that sword; and how the ninja plan to use you in the coming war. All you have to do is come with me. I’ll even show you why I refuse to stop chasing you.”

She made a good point. Either she was great with words, or a sliver of truth rested in them.

Above anything, I wanted to know why the Betrayals kept hunting me. Why was I so valuable to them—so valuable that the ninja reconsidered having me join them?

Katherine gave me a pleading look. “She’s just trying to get you away from me to kill you.”

I shut my eyes and lowered my head. I ran through my options. I could try to set the Betrayal on fire using my eyes, but I’m sure the moment I did Hot Stuff would cut Katherine’s head off. Even if she’d lied and was manipulating me, I didn’t want her to die. Besides, the Betrayals would keep coming after me, and I wanted to know why.

“I’ll go with you under one condition,” I said. “You let her live.”

“You realize she’ll come after us. She won’t stop, she might even be as persistent as I am,” the Betrayal said.

“I want to be clear. I’m not going with you because I’m joining you, I’m only giving you a chance to explain yourself,” I said.

“Trust me, that’s all it’ll take. I agree to your terms. Your commander shall live,” the Betrayal said. She still held Katherine’s jaw in a firm grip. I heard the sound of ice forming. Katherine groaned. Before I could do anything, the color faded from her skin and a sheet of ice covered her eyes. Suddenly, she lost all expression and stared at the ground lifelessly.

“Hey, I said—!”

“Don’t worry, if she’s strong, she’ll overcome it. Of course, it may take a century or seven to do it.” The Betrayal snickered and made a gesture. Castile let me go, and I ran to Katherine. I gripped the sides of her head, but I may as well have not been there. “Come on, let’s go have our little chat.”

She snatched the back of my shirt and dragged me along the ground. We left the zombie-like people behind. Those poor campers, my teammates, and Katherine. They were trapped there, waiting until the Betrayal commanded them to do something. How long would they be waiting? Until their need for water killed them?

As we reached the woods, the other Betrayals came out from behind the trees. I was surrounded now with little chance of escape. I gulped. What had I done?

The Betrayals didn’t head for the portal. Instead, they kept walking until we reached a dark road. Parked on the shoulder were three cars and a purple racing motorcycle. The Betrayal let me go as she mounted her motorcycle.

“Get on,” she said. I didn’t have any other choice, so I got on the bike and wrapped my arms around her. I felt like I was hugging an ice sculpture. The engine came to life, and we sped down the road.

For a while it was dark, the only light came from the headlights and the stars. Eventually, I saw the patchwork of the city through the gaps in the mountain peaks. We drove past the houses on the foothills and on towards the outskirts of the city. She finally slowed down as we reached the warehouse district. She parked in front of a building that looked like Serial Killer Bob’s dream home, complete with decay, mildew, and a dark alley to ensnare victims. The rest of the Betrayals spread out to guard the perimeter.

I followed her up to the door which somehow still worked. She had no trouble navigating the pitch-black interior. She led me to a staircase. As we went up, we passed by some windows. I stopped when I recognized the playground outside. It was Hannah’s favorite playground. Had we been watched every time we came here?

The upstairs was just as empty and dark as the floor below except it looked like someone had been living up here. A couch rescued from the side of a dumpster was getting used as a bed. Old crates were set up like tables. A black cube the size of a jar of peanut butter sat on the center crate.

“That will answer most of your questions.” She pointed to the cube.

I approached it but didn’t see any buttons or lights, so I had no idea what to do with it. I poked it and the surface rippled. Suddenly, a hologram projected onto the couch. I recognized the man right away. He had been one of the four that had chased Katherine and me in the mall’s parking lot. Now that I saw more details of his face, he looked eerily similar to me.

“Daniel, if you’re watching this, then it means that I am dead and I’ve failed to rescue you from the commander trying to recruit you.” The man sighed and ran a weary hand over his face. “And by now you probably know all there is to know about the ninja because, most likely, you are one. In that case, watching this will come as a bit of a surprise.”

I looked back at the Betrayal. I was tempted to ask her how he knew my name. My stomach sat a little too heavily in my body. I had a bad feeling.

“I am a descendant of one of the most powerful and ancient bloodlines the ninja have ever recorded. We’ve been dubbed the Dragon Clan because we carry the ability to manipulate fire. My father was Master Pyralis, the second longest reigning master in history. I am a former member of the Black Guard, and I am your father,” he said.

The news didn’t startle me. I wasn’t surprised or horrified. I didn’t feel anything. This was merely a stranger telling me facts.

“I’m sure your mother’s hostility towards me has passed on to you and your sister, but for the obvious reasons, I couldn’t explain why I left to your mom. I stayed away to protect you. I was afraid the ninja would use my family to threaten me back into submission. And, yes, they are willing to hurt innocent people just to bring someone under their control. It’s one of the dangers of betraying the ninja.

“Even though I separated myself from you, the ninja still retaliated. They confiscated the money I left to your mother. They made it difficult for her to find a stable job. They made you suffer because they knew I’d be watching. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to step in…but I couldn’t. I had a responsibility to the world.

“Earth is on the verge of catastrophe, and the ninja are doing nothing about it. They’re content to pull back to their base and watch the Earth burn. Then, once the human population is reduced, they’ll create an immortal dominated society. Enki wants to recreate the Anunnaki civilization. He’s given up on the humans.

“That is why I left, and why it’s so vital that you join us. Your grandfather had no qualms with raining down fire from the heavens and destroying entire cultures that the ninja deemed undeserving of life. They will ask you to do the same, son. If you don’t leave them now, in time, you will see the truth and hopefully by then it won’t be too late—”

There was a loud ringing sound, and the black cube fell off of the crate in two pieces. Katherine jumped down from the ceiling. She looked almost back to normal. Half of her face was still white, and one eye still blue from the ice. She shook as it tried to spread and consume her again, but she kept it at bay somehow.

“Well, I guess they don’t call you a prodigy for nothing,” the Betrayal said. Her two short swords melded together to form a bow. She drew back and a lightning arrow formed. She fired at Katherine but missed. Her arrow exploded into sparkly snowflakes against the floor.

She released another arrow. It landed by Katherine’s foot and froze it to the floor. The Betrayal grabbed a handful of my shirt and jumped out of the window. We landed by her motorcycle. I noticed the Betrayals guarding the building all lay dead.

She threw me onto the back of the bike, and we zoomed down the road. I watched the warehouse get smaller and smaller. How long was Katherine going to be pinned in place?

We turned a corner and came onto a busy road. A few heads turned as people noticed our peculiar ensembles. I didn’t know where the Betrayal was taking me, but I’d satisfied my curiosity. I tried to slip off of the motorcycle casually. Before I hit the pavement, she snatched my shirt.

Only the speed of the bike kept me from being dragged over the ground. My head was by the front wheel. Just an inch too far in the wrong direction and the skin would get ripped from my face. I screamed as we turned a corner and the wheel came dangerously close to me.

Then, I spotted a giant boulder falling from the sky. The Betrayal veered into oncoming traffic to avoid it. Cars whizzed past me, kicking dust into my eyes and almost running me over.

Katherine seemed to have lost all concern for secrecy. She sprinted up the road until she matched our speed. The incoming cars swerved into the other lanes to avoid hitting her which caused several accidents.

Katherine swung her sword at the Betrayal’s head. The Betrayal ducked, then threw me up into the air. I yelled as I soared up past the streetlights.

My arms and legs flapped around as I tried to get my bearings. Then I fell towards the ground. Just before I face planted on the road, Katherine caught me. “Oh, thank—” A dark blur shoved Katherine aside. The Betrayal had abandoned her motorcycle and tossed me over her shoulder. Using her super speed, she crawled up the side of a building.

The Betrayal jumped from one rooftop to the next. Each time she landed, her shoulder dug into my stomach. I tried to wiggle out of her grasp, but she held me with an iron grip. I looked back and saw Katherine catching up to us. She wasn’t alone, either. Spaz, Lily, Kavi, and Wolf were racing to catch up. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Hot Stuff or Castile.

I was starting to get a little dizzy from the sensation of momentarily flying over the streets between the buildings and the hard impact upon landing. It was like going over the big hill on a roller coaster and then crashing at the bottom. My stomach was bruising, and my dinner threatened to make a comeback.

My teammates were almost within reach when the Betrayal jumped as far as her legs could push her. The wind rushed through my hair. I looked down as we flew over a parking lot. We started to descend when the Betrayal kicked off of a tall billboard to keep up our momentum. I screwed my eyes shut; I knew whenever we landed it was going to hurt.

CLANG! We hit something metal. The impact threw me from the Betrayal’s shoulder. I slid across a cold, sleek surface. I opened my eyes as I rolled right off of the trailer on a semi-truck. I caught the edge of the trailer and whipped side to side as the driver freaked out. I pulled myself back onto the roof.

Wind blasted my face. I had to squint to see. I realized we were on the highway when I saw a bunch of red taillights surrounding us.

The Betrayal got up and stomped across the trailer to confiscate me. Suddenly, Katherine landed behind her, grabbed hold of her hood, and yanked her back. Katherine tried to stab the Betrayal’s stomach, but she missed as the Betrayal rolled to the side.

As she flipped onto her feet, the Betrayal’s bow transformed back into her two short swords. One swung for Katherine’s left arm and the other towards her right. Katherine leaned back, letting the blades swipe by harmlessly above her. Angered, the Betrayal struck the top of Katherine’s head. Her commander’s hat rang like a gong, and she seemed dazed for a moment.

Using the precious seconds she had before Katherine recovered, the Betrayal came towards me. Lily got in her way this time. Their swords collided and sparks flew in every direction. Then, Katherine lunged towards the Betrayal from behind. For a moment the Betrayal fought sideways, one sword was fending off Lily while the other tried to keep Katherine at bay.

Spaz, Wolf, and Kavi landed on the trailer. For a moment, they were reluctant to help the girls. The Betrayal was moving so fast she was a black blur. The boys tried their best to attack her. The Betrayal sent Spaz flying into the windshield of a car, knocked the wind out of Kavi, and slashed a deep cut into Wolf’s leg.

Next, Lily got hit so hard she fell onto the road. Cars honked and screeched as they tried to avoid running her over. I was about to go after her, but she hopped onto the roof of a car a second later. She skipped across the cars to catch up to us.

I looked back to see the Betrayal doing everything she could to get past Katherine. She punched, she kicked, she did all kinds of crazy flips in the air, and she tried to get a hand on Katherine to get her under her control again. I think the Betrayal realized she wasn’t going to win, so she gave up and tried to escape by jumping across the cars. Maybe she figured she could come back another time with reinforcements.

“Don’t let her get away!” I yelled.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Katherine said and disappeared. I caught sight of her again bounding over the cars in the distance.

With a twirl of her sword, Katherine sent chunks of the highway, signs, and vines at the Betrayal. A chorus of breaking glass and crumpling metal followed as each projectile missed. The Betrayal was like a fly Katherine couldn’t swat.

I unsheathed my sword and flames burst onto the blade. I jumped onto the little Honda driving in front of the semi-truck I’d been riding. The moment I landed on the roof, I dented it. The woman driving squealed. The car jerked left and right. I hopped onto another car before I was thrown off. Only the same thing happened.

The drivers kept freaking out. They’d swerve and crash into a car beside them, or slam on their breaks and nearly throw me off of the roof. The wreckage was beginning to accumulate behind me, but I had no time to care. I was getting closer. I could feel the chill coming from the Betrayal’s body.

She must’ve known we were gaining on her. She spun around and fired a wave of arrows at us. Katherine and I scrambled to dodge them. One arrow hit the road and turned it into a sheet of ice. Cars went in every direction, drifting and fishtailing into each other.

The cars piled up into a wall of wreckage in front of me that nothing could get through. The truck I was riding hit the brakes, but there was no friction to stop in time. I braced as we crashed into the wall of cars. I flew forward.

I landed on the ice and slid across it on my stomach like a penguin. I got up, slid carefully to the edge of the ice sheet, and then sprinted to catch up to the rest of traffic.

I climbed onto a van when a lightning arrow flew past me and broke against a car beside me. A burst of winter air hit my side.

Frost grew on my uniform and cold nipped at my skin.

At least ten cars ahead of me, Katherine reached the Betrayal. Their blades met, again and again, neither having the upper hand.

Sometimes the Betrayal would retreat onto another car, but Katherine would be right on her heels.

I was panting as I tried to get to them. Katherine made a boulder appear out of nowhere and sent it at the Betrayal, but she ducked, and the boulder came straight at me. I froze a moment too long. The boulder caught my shoulder and knocked me over like a bowling pin.

I smashed into the road. The breath got kicked out of my lungs. A semi-truck drove over me, the tires almost squashed my fingers, but by some miracle, I rolled out of the way. The pavement shredded my uniform. Rocks and dirt flew into my eyes.

Like a fishing pole, I flicked my sword out in front of me. A lava-like whip shot out from the tip, and it wrapped around some car’s side-view mirror. The car’s momentum pulled me out from underneath the cars speeding over me. I pushed off of the ground and held onto my sword desperately.

I went skidding across the highway on my shoes like a water skier. I used the inertia to propel myself up onto the roof of another car. The lava whip shrunk back into the flames on my sword. I looked down to see my slippers were smoking and had lost all traction on the bottom.

The sound of the Betrayal’s and Katherine’s swords bashing together grew louder as they struck with all of their strength. Then, at last, Katherine’s blade sunk into the Betrayal’s chest. Only this didn’t seem to have any effect on our enemy. The Betrayal kicked Katherine hard enough to send her flying off of the highway. She gripped Katherine’s sword, pulled it free of her torso, and chucked it out of sight.

I growled and sent a flurry of fireballs at the Betrayal. The darkness lit up like the Fourth of July as my fireballs met a dozen lightning arrows. They canceled each other out on impact leaving a trail of sparkly snowflakes and embers.

Wolf flew over my head and landed on the highway barrier. He raised his arms like a conductor. The sound of sloshing came from underneath the highway. Then tall walls of water surrounded both sides of the road (we must’ve gone over a bridge). Mist tickled my forehead.

Wolf sent the water towards the Betrayal. It looked like the highway had flooded. Waves went crashing down the road, picking up cars and tearing down light posts. Before the water could overtake her, the Betrayal fired an arrow, and the waves froze.

A car flew towards the Betrayal. I looked back to see Spaz had thrown it. The Betrayal dove out of the way rolled back onto her feet and ran down the empty highway in front of her. We’d finally caused enough chaos that every car on the highway had come to a halt.

Before the Betrayal could get far, the concrete morphed into a hand and grabbed her. Katherine landed in front of her. Streetlights hopped towards the Betrayal and formed a cage around her. I saw Kavi controlling them. The rest of the team all closed in. Finally, we had her!

I climbed down from the car I was crouched on and weaved my way through the narrow spaces between the wrecks. Confused people got out of their cars to figure out what on Earth was going on. I snatched the phone from someone who managed to take a picture of the frozen waves and crushed the device.

“Hey!”

I was only a few feet away from Katherine’s side when the lights went out. It wasn’t just the street lights, the car lights went out too. Buildings went dark, entire streets, entire area codes; the whole state went black. The only light came from the fire on my sword. Aside from that, the world seemed to have disappeared.

The people in the crowd cried out in fear. Even I had jolted. Blackouts had always startled me, but I knew there was no need to worry. The power would always come back on. Still, in that brief moment when I’d been sitting in the dark and nothing was working, I was scared. The power was all that separated civilization from pure anarchy.

Then a terrible noise tore through the darkness.

Sirens.