As I sit in my hospital room thinking about how much my life sucks, my mind senses something… _off_.

I sit up, cocking my head in confusion. That… that can’t be right. Something must be wrong. I throw the blankets off and leap out of the bed, my head swimming for a second as I race for the door. 

There’s no way. How could he have found me? I have to get Kali out of this place before he gets here. 

I sprint through the hall, shoving people out of my way. 

“Get out of here!” I shout as I run past doors, trying to find the stairs. “You all need to leave!” I shove a door open, finally seeing the stairs. I start running down the stairwell, jumping down four stairs at a time. I stop at every level, shouting at the staff to evacuate the building.

After reaching the ground floor, I burst out, my heart racing and my head pounding. 

“Kali! Kali, where are you?” I make a beeline for the cafeteria. Knowing Kali, she would go to get food after that. With a stroke of luck, I end up in the cafeteria. 

“Kali?” I look around the room and spot her sitting by herself at a table, staring at a bowl of soup. “Kali!” 

She looks up at me and looks straight back at her soup. I run up to her.

“Kali, we have to leave,” I say, shaking her shoulder.

She sighs. “Penny, I don’t want to see you right now.”

“No, you don’t get it, you’re in danger-”

I hear a crash. Shit. 

People start screaming and I hear another crash. 

“Alright Kali, let’s get out of this place,” I say, grabbing her arm and tugging her with me. 

“But what about everyone else!” she exclaims.

I look around, seeing people running all over the place. 

“I can’t do anything without my powers,” I say, shaking my head. “I can’t do anything to help.”

Kali shakes me off and runs towards a family. She starts guiding them towards an exit, shooting a glare at me over her shoulder. Fine.

I join her, leading people out of the building until we all end up in the street in front of the hospital. I look around wildly, trying to track him down. Luckily, I don’t have to see him to know where he is. I have to get him to stop.

I take off down the street, ignoring Kali’s shouts. I’ll find him. 

The crashes and explosions have stopped. Where is he?

I stop and tilt my head, reaching out and trying to figure out where he is. There. I take off down an alleyway, following the feeling in my mind.

It doesn’t take long to find him after that. I turn down a corner and see him standing in an alley amid stacks of crates. 

“Well, hello there, Penny,” he says with a smile in his voice, still facing away from me. 

“How did you find me?” I ask, controlling the waver in my voice. 

“Wasn’t hard,” he says, “but I think you already know how I found you.” He turns around, a grin on his face. He’s one of the few in the city who don’t even wear a mask, so I can see his whole face. Seeing him after all this time is a bit of a shock, but I keep my face blank. 

“Atlikim,” I say, taking a deep breath. “You need to stop this.”

“Oh, you’re sticking with that name, are you?” he says, grinning. He keeps his emotions hidden, but I can see that that one got to him. He opens his mouth to continue when someone comes around the corner. “Oh, who are you?”

“Get away from her, freak!” Shit. 

He smiles. “Well, Penny, it seems like it’s time for my departure. I’ll see you soon.” With a wink, he flickers out of the alley. 

Kali comes up next to me, panting. “Who was that?” she demands. “What’s going on? Why did he know your name? Why-”

“Penny, let’s go home. We’ll talk there. I promise. I’ll tell you everything.”

“Fine.” Kali takes my hand and we walk out of the alley, heading home, away from the hospital where fire trucks and ambulances are just now showing up. “You’d better tell me everything. No more secrets, okay?”

“Okay,” I say with a nod. “I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I didn’t mean any of that.”

“It’s alright,” she says, smiling. “I know.”

As we walk through the streets, I try to collect my thoughts. What was he doing at the hospital? Why was he looking for me? And I have to tell Kali about all of it, whether I’m ready or I’m not.