A tremor ran through the light.

Evelyn felt it before she saw it — a vibration deep within the lattice of the grid, subtle at first, then blooming outward like a ripple through water. It wasn’t chaotic. It was intentional. Two distinct pulses, moving in tandem, breaching the edges of her awareness.

Hale and Gray.

For a fleeting instant, their signals brushed against her perception — faint sparks of life pressing into the luminous field she’d woven around the city. Her awareness ...