The sky above the city was breaking apart.

  Thin cracks of shimmering distortion spread through the clouds like fractures in glass. The enormous shadow descending through one of the rifts grew larger with every passing second.

  Rain drifted sideways in the strange wind created by the distortion.

  My heart pounded as I stared upward.

  “That thing is getting closer,” I said.

  Elias didn’t answer.

  His eyes were fixed on the sky.

  Mr. Moyo stood beside him, calm as always, but I could see the tension in his shoulders.

  “We don’t have much time,” Mr. Moyo said quietly.

  “What exactly is that thing?” I asked.

  Elias swallowed before replying.

  “It’s a probe.”

  “You said that already.”

  “Yes.”

  “But what does that mean?”

  “It means,” he said slowly, “the Architects are searching for something.”

  The shadow shifted again, revealing a massive metallic structure slowly emerging from the fracture.

  It looked like a floating tower made of dark steel and strange glowing lines.

  But the structure wasn’t fully solid.

  Parts of it flickered in and out of existence.

  Like it didn’t fully belong in our timeline.

  My stomach twisted.

  “That thing came from the future?”

  “Not exactly,” Elias said.

  “Then where?”

  “From outside our timeline.”

  I stared at him.

  “That sentence should not exist.”

  Mr. Moyo nodded slightly.

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  “Yet it does.”

  The probe continued descending, its surface humming with faint energy.

  People across the city had begun shouting and pointing.

  Car alarms blared again.

  Someone screamed in the distance.

  The world had finally noticed something was terribly wrong.

  “Okay,” I said, trying to stay calm. “Let’s say the Architects sent that thing.”

  “They did,” Elias said.

  “What does it do?”

  “It scans.”

  “For what?”

  Elias looked at me.

  “You.”

  My chest tightened.

  “That’s becoming a very uncomfortable answer.”

  Mr. Moyo stepped closer to me.

  “Tawanda, I need you to focus.”

  “On what?”

  “Your instincts.”

  “My instincts say we should run.”

  “That may not help.”

  “Wonderful.”

  The probe above us pulsed with a faint blue light.

  Suddenly a beam of energy spread across the sky.

  It moved slowly across the city like a massive searchlight.

  Scanning.

  The beam passed over buildings.

  Roads.

  Cars.

  People.

  Every time it touched something, faint symbols flickered across the probe’s surface.

  “Data collection,” Elias said.

  “What kind of data?”

  “Temporal resonance.”

  I frowned.

  “What does that mean?”

  Mr. Moyo answered.

  “It means the probe is searching for someone who is connected to the fracture.”

  Both men looked at me.

  I sighed.

  “Let me guess.”

  “Yes,” Elias said.

  “Me again.”

  The beam of light swept across the street.

  Closer.

  Closer.

  My chest tightened again.

  “Please tell me it won’t find me.”

  Neither man replied.

  The beam reached the edge of the street.

  Then moved directly toward us.

  For a brief moment the entire world seemed to hold its breath.

  The blue light washed over my body.

  And everything changed.

  A strange vibration spread through my chest.

  Not pain.

  Not exactly.

  More like a deep hum resonating through my bones.

  The same sound I had heard in the laboratory.

  The same tone the Resonance Core produced when the experiment activated.

  Elias’s eyes widened.

  “No way.”

  “What?” I asked.

  The vibration grew stronger.

  The air around me shimmered.

  The rain falling near my body slowed.

  Not stopped.

  Slowed.

  Like time itself had thickened.

  Mr. Moyo stared at me carefully.

  “It’s happening earlier than expected.”

  “What is?” I asked.

  “You’re responding to the fracture.”

  “I don’t know how to respond to a fracture!”

  “You already are.”

  The humming sound inside my chest grew louder.

  The beam from the probe flickered violently.

  Its scanning pattern became unstable.

  The massive machine above the city suddenly paused.

  As if confused.

  Elias looked up.

  “It found him.”

  “That’s bad, right?”

  “Very.”

  The probe’s surface lit up with dozens of glowing symbols.

  Its energy beam narrowed.

  Focusing directly on me.

  A deep mechanical voice echoed through the sky.

  Not loud.

  But powerful enough that everyone in the city seemed to hear it.

  “TARGET IDENTIFIED.”

  My stomach dropped.

  “Oh no.”

  Elias grabbed my arm.

  “We have to move now.”

  “Move where?!”

  “Anywhere!”

  The probe shifted position.

  The fracture above it widened again.

  Something else was coming through.

  Something much larger.

  Mr. Moyo’s voice became urgent.

  “The probe has confirmed the signal.”

  “What signal?” I asked.

  “The Resonance Signal.”

  “The what?”

  He looked directly at me.

  “The connection between you and the Resonance Core.”

  The humming in my chest grew stronger.

  The beam tightened.

  The machine above us began charging energy.

  Elias looked at me with a mixture of fear and disbelief.

  “In the future,” he said quietly,

  “this is the moment everything begins.”

  I swallowed hard.

  “Begins?”

  “Yes.”

  “What happens next?”

  Elias looked at the enormous machine above us.

  Then back at me.

  “You learn how to break time.”

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