Sami looked up with a light smile, pleased that he wasn’t being dismissed. Without hesitation, he took a drink from his water and jogged to catch up with her. She scanned a door with a key card and stepped through, not checking if Sami was following.

  They passed a few empty rooms, but Sami stopped when he saw one room was occupied. There was a couch and a young woman oozing off of it, like she had been lying in it all day. Her eyes focused on the brightly colored cartoon characters on the television at the other end of the room, the sounds of their playful voices mixing with the crunching of popcorn in her mouth. Piles of movies and shows were stacked around the flat screen and snacks littered the floor around her. With a touch of Power Sense, he saw she had a shining golden cloud above her head. It was so bright; it was like it was tearing a hole through space. Yawning and scratching her head, she looked bored, and Sami was interested in the display.

  “Who’s that?” Sami asked, catching up with Naomi who didn’t wait for him.

  “Annie,” Naomi said, sounding annoyed.

  “Is that like a rec room? The one with the TV? Is it for all of HUE?”

  “Yes, but it’s become Annie’s room. I just wish she would… Nevermind, I shouldn’t tell you much about her unless you’re in HUE.”

  “Why? Is she super secretive or something?”

  “No. She’s the most powerful Awakened person by far. More powerful than Lightcrown, as far as we can tell.”

  “What? Really? Then how come I’ve never seen her before?” Sami asked, eager.

  “Because she chooses not to be the most powerful. She just sits there…” Naomi caught herself and stopped talking as she opened another room.

  It looked like a room for a job interview, with two desk chairs and a long wooden table in the middle. A few feet of area on either side, it almost felt claustrophobic to be stuck in the room. Naomi took her seat on one side and Sami sat on the other, rolling it forward eagerly. Naomi narrowed her eyes at him.

  “You seem excited.”

  “Yeah, I thought I would be dismissed after my power… wasn’t strong,” Sami admitted.

  Naomi raised an eyebrow.

  “You call them powers?” Naomi asked, placing her phone between them. Sami eyed the microphone on screen and realized she was recording the conversation.

  “Yeah, what else would I call them?”

  Naomi frowned and took a sip from her almost-empty drink. With an uncomfortable smile to lighten the mood, Sami took a swig of his water.

  “What are you drinking?” Sami asked. “Like pre-workout?”

  He had learned it was effective to ask interviewers about themselves to give them better impressions of their candidates. People liked talking about themselves. But Naomi didn’t take the question.

  “Do you have any other Anomalies, or is it just the Shadow Hand?” Naomi asked.

  “I have three. Shadow Hand, one I call Power Sense and one more I don’t know.”

  “How can you have an Anomaly but not know? Is it some special trait that you can’t pinpoint?”

  “Is ‘Anomalies’ what you call powers? Seems like a deliberate term. What’s the difference?”

  Steve stumbled his way in, placing another drink in front of the proctor.

  She raised the cup to him in thanks as he took the empty one. “Steve, you can stay.”

  Steve started almost tripping mid-step as he looked at her sharply.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. We’ve just gotten started here and I don’t want to be the only one to see people’s faces. I may be a bit biased.”

  “What about the other…”

  “Apex is watching them,” Naomi answered.

  Steve hesitated, then nodded. He moved to the corner, leaving a gap between himself and Naomi. Kneeling down, a small clay stool formed as he sat. Sami liked the utility of his power, smiling at him. Steve smiled back nervously.

  “Where was I? Oh, yes, how can you have a third Anomaly but not know of it?” Naomi asked.

  “Actually, I asked why you call them ‘anomalies’ and not ‘powers,’” Sami said.

  Steve glanced at Naomi, dabbing at the back of his neck as he grimaced.

  “You don’t get to determine the questions that will be answered,” Naomi said plainly.

  “I know, I’m not ignoring you. Wanna make sure my understanding of Anomalies is good before I answer. Sounds like you have a different definition. I can skip past this hangup if you want, I just thought it was interesting that you have an altered view on powers and that might be important for the interview.”

  Naomi tapped a finger on the desk between them in thought. Sami smiled pleasantly, trying to assure her his intentions weren’t malicious.

  “Fine,” Naomi said, reaching forward and tapping pause on the recorder. “Remind me to turn that back on later,” she said to Steve without looking at him. He nodded quickly.

  Sami waited expectantly, switching on his Power Sense in the silence. He saw both the blue and black clouds above her shining. Was she using two powers on him at once? He wondered if he was being manipulated. Or mind controlled?

  “Have you heard of any negative… ‘powers?’” Naomi asked.

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  “What do you mean? Like picture negatives? Or maybe electric charge?” Sami asked.

  “This is why the term ‘power’ is confusing,” Naomi said, rolling her eyes. “I mean, have you heard of someone with a supernatural attribute that was detrimental to their life?”

  Sami looked down, thinking about it. It sounded out of place from how he understood the Awakening. Slowly, he shook his head.

  “Well, they’re out there. Anomalies that make people feel pain, or weaken their bone structure, or affect people they don’t intend to,” Naomi said. She sounded strangely invested in the topic. Sami glanced above her.

  “Is that one of your two powers? One of them hurts you?” Sami asked.

  Naomi blinked, and Steve shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

  “How did you know I have two Anomalies?” she asked, both interested and disturbed.

  “Power Sense. I can sense the number of powers. I don’t know what they do, though. You have two. Steve has one. I have three.” Sami pointed to each person he named.

  Steve looked at him with wide eyes, surprised to be included in the conversation.

  “I see,” Naomi said.

  “You should have recorded that,” Steve said, clearing his throat.

  “We’ll have him repeat it.” Naomi waved dismissively. “But yes, one of my Anomalies causes me to be unable to gain weight.”

  “That must be great. You can eat whatever you want,” Sami said, nodding to her.

  “That is what I believed at first, but then I noticed that the number goes down, but never up. As in, without a constant stream of food to maintain my weight, I would soon be emaciated. Or perhaps skip straight to death, even when eating perfectly healthy amounts of food.”

  Sami’s eyes went to the drink at the desk. She nodded solemnly, and Sami understood immediately. She was pumping herself full of calories with the drink just to maintain her already-thin figure.

  “Oh. That doesn’t sound like a power. More like a curse,” Sami noted.

  “An Anomaly,” Naomi agreed. “Back to you. So you can see you have three, but only know the effects of two.”

  “Record,” Steve coughed lightly.

  Sami waited patiently for Naomi to flip the phone back on to recording. “Yeah, three powers. Only two I know how to control.”

  “I see. Scanning through your emotions, I can see much excitement and nervousness, which is to be expected on a day like today, but…”

  “Is that your other power? I mean… Anomaly?” Sami asked intently.

  “Yes, I can scan feelings and sincerity,” Naomi replied quickly, moving back to her question. “While you currently have feelings of excitement, I see deep grief in you. Why is that?”

  Sami’s face went flat, his smile disappearing in a quick motion. Eyes descending, he looked at the recording device nervously. Naomi raised an eyebrow, not showing any sign she would turn it off for his sake.

  “Do you have to know?” Sami asked.

  “We cannot have the mentally unfit be a part of HUE. Assuming it will be detrimental to the organization, that is. If it’s private, it’ll remain between us. But if you’re unwilling, you’re free to leave the interview, no questions asked.”

  “But I wouldn’t be made part of HUE?” Sami asked.

  Naomi didn’t reply, but the look on Steve’s face made it clear he wouldn’t be invited back. Sami sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling and cradling his water bottle on his lap.

  “I was there at the Silent Scream. Right in the explosion zone. If that’s what we wanna call it. I lost my parents and my older brother and sister.”

  Steve almost fell out of his seat, and Naomi’s eyes widened.

  “You were there?” Steve asked loudly. “At ground zero? Did you see Lightcrown? What happened?”

  “There weren’t any survivors at ground zero itself. He had to have been in a neighboring building,” Naomi said, answering Steve, but her eyes remained on Sami. Even without feeling the sensation, Sami could sense her scanning him with her power. One eye twitched slightly. “There were no survivors, right?” she prodded.

  Sami’s eyes flashed through the scenes. An explosion. Unbearable heat. One anguished, agonizing scream, followed by unendurable silence. Then, he was the only one to emerge. Climbing out from under the family that collectively covered him to protect him. Breathing sharply, Sami took a deep drink of his water. This time to hide the tears behind his bottle. He blinked them away before lowering his jug.

  “Yeah, I was there. Ground zero. As far as I know, everyone else died. My family saved me by piling themselves around me. I… I don’t know if they actually meant to save my life. We were just… Embracing. Accepting that we weren’t going to make it. At least, that’s what I thought. Kinda hard to remember, I was just five years old.”

  Naomi nodded, folding her hands in front of her and turning off the recording. Steve remained agitated.

  “But what about Lightcrown? Did you see him?”

  “Steve,” Naomi said, shaking her head at him.

  “No one saw a body! We don’t even know what he did! Did he detonate himself? Did you see a body? They said his blood stained the scene, but the eyewitness accounts were never really confirmed! What did you see, Sami?”

  “Just my family,” Sami answered sincerely.

  Steve breathed out hard, looking at Sami’s eyes and then swallowing and looking down with guilt. He pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed his neck.

  “Sorry, that was… Not right of me to ask,” Steve muttered.

  “I get it,” Sami said in a small voice, leaning forward once more.

  Naomi waited for a minute in understanding silence, then gestured to her phone before switching the recording on again. Sami realized she must have turned it off to allow him to cry off the record. The silent kindness made him smile slightly.

  “Sami, why would you like to join HUE?” Naomi asked.

  “I never want the Silent Scream to happen again. To anyone,” Sami answered immediately. “But if I can’t do that, then I wanna do my family proud. In their last moments, they protected someone powerless. And they were powerless, too! There weren’t any Awakened people, just Lightcrown. Now, I have power, and I want to make a difference.”

  Steve nodded at the sentiment, but Naomi continued to scan Sami’s face.

  “That’s a good answer, but it’s the prepared answer. Not that it lacks sincerity, but there’s another reason in there,” Naomi pointed out.

  Sami shifted uncomfortably in his seat and eyed the recording device. He was embarrassed, but he knew it wasn’t a shameful thing to admit.

  “Well, when my family… After The Silent Scream, the system didn’t exactly do me justice,” Sami explained. “I was passed from foster home to foster home and never really settled into any place for very long. Even now that I’m old enough to have full control of my parent’s inheritance, I just got a place to myself. I never really…”

  “Community,” Naomi said, understanding in her voice.

  “Yeah, I never had one. Nothing consistent anyway.”

  “Very well,” Naomi said, tapping the recording app off. “You should work out your Shadow Hand.”

  “What do you mean ‘work out?’” Sami asked.

  “Put it under strain. Train it to failure. Whatever you call it,” Naomi said.

  “I… Can I do that? Do Shadow Hands experience muscle hypertrophy?” Sami asked, summoning his shadow hand and flexing its forearm to examine.

  “Using an Anomaly often gives you better management of it. You can work it out and become stronger,” Naomi replied.

  “Oh,” Sami was shocked he hadn’t tried that before. “Yeah. It would be super cool to have better control of this.”

  “Come back Monday with some progress made. And figure out that third power if you can,” Naomi said, waving at Steve. “Steve, can you bring in Gutshot?”

  Steve nodded and ran out quickly as Sami stood slowly.

  “Come back Monday?” he asked, a side grin on his face. “Am I in HUE? Was that the whole tryout? That wasn’t so bad.”

  “I know,” Naomi said, sounding somewhat frustrated in herself. “We’re still very new at this and need a better way to vet members. We can’t put all Anomalies in a box like ‘how good are you at hitting piles of clay?’ and ask questions to supplement. I’m hoping to make this much more rigorous in the near future. But for now, yes. Sami, welcome to HUE.”