© Myranda Rae 2023. All Rights Reserved.

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Aside from a single crack in the walkway outside, everything looks normal. The buildings appear sturdy. A tiny glimmer of hope blooms in my chest. I was expecting catastrophic damage, rubble, and ruin. This looks manageable. This looks like everything might be alright.

From the corner of my eye, I notice a flash of movement. Olexa is sprinting at full speed across the courtyard toward the control tower. The glimmer of hope quickly fades away.

Turning to look at Ronan, he makes eye contact and gives me an encouraging nod but it does nothing to ease the knot forming in my stomach. This is bad. Something is very wrong. His expression is closed-up, completely poker-faced. He's trying to hide from me. Whether he realizes it or not, that is just as telling as if he let me see what he is really feeling.

"I will take you to your rooms," he suddenly turns, guiding me in the opposite direction.

"No, no way!" I press my heels into the ground. "I'm staying with you."

His chest moves rapidly with each breath, he doesn't have time to argue right now. He knows it. I know it. Narrowing my eyes, I wait for him to decide if it is worth wasting the time.

A gruff, angry sigh escapes from his lips before he turns, continuing toward our original destination.

"We're staying together." My voice is softer now than it was just a moment ago.

The scowl on his face soften, not completely, but some.

When we reach the control tower, the cracks in the side of the building make my heart stop.

"Stay by my side," he grips my arm tightly as we make our way up. It's obvious that the building is damaged. We haven't seen anything yet, but there are times the ground feels uneven. The floor is slanting beneath our feet.

Inside the control room, I expect panic. I brace myself as we step inside. What we're met with is more frightening. No one is panicking. Pale-faced and silent, everyone is absorbed in the screens in front of them. There is no disorder, no frantic hysteria. This is too serious for that. There is no time for it. Everyone has buckled down, swallowed down their fear, and is working, as quickly as possible, to fix it.

Santi and Clarisse immediately join the others in looking at the screens. I'm overwhelmed by the sheer amount of moving parts. The screens are flashing, changing every second to reflex a new development or different set of data. I don't know where to look.

Caelum is using a strange laser tool, like a sander, to fix a deep crack in the glass that keeps the Ulaar contained.

"There are two layers," Ronan dips down slightly to speak quietly to me. "The Ulaar is behind a polymer shield that contains the radiation. The glass is a secondary layer of protection that is meant to hold in the event that the polymer is damaged."

"What happens if a person were to come into contact with Ulaar, like, what if it touches your skin?"

"Notice that Caelum is not wearing his skin armor. To date, Ulaar is the only substance that can penetrate it. If it touched you, death would be instantaneous."

"The polymer sustained no damage," Caelum looks over his shoulder. "The door is broken, the glass is cracked, and the steel track is bent. The door cannot open more than a sliver."

The glass wall surrounding the tank of swirling pinkish electricity is cracked in several places. I can see where the track for the sliding door is slightly turned inward.

"How long will it take you to have the door fixed? We need access." Ronan's voice is not soft when he addresses Caelum. The concern he had a moment ago has vanished, replaced by seething animosity.

"After this crack is sealed, I can bend the steel back without breaking it completely."

"I will go in," Ronan volunteers.

"Go in?" I turn to face him.

"Inside is a panel, a switch that suppresses the Ulaar into a cylinder below ground. We need to repair and stabilize the building without the Ulaar."

"Oh," I'm not sure why a sinking, nervous feeling tugs at my stomach. Clutching his arm, I follow his gaze to the screens. Numbers, rows, and rows of numbers scroll across the page faster than anyone would ever be able to read them. Another screen of landscape scans brings up pictures, placing them in rows, searching for damage. One row is undamaged land and structures, the other row is displaying changes in the scan. My heart sinks every time an image moves into the row indicating changes. This earthquake did damage, by the looks of it, a fair amount.

"Nicole," Ronan steps in front of the screens, blocking my view of anything but him. His fingertips my chin upward. His other hand is tightly wrapped around my upper arm. He doesn't speak but he doesn't have to. I feel it. He is giving me strength.

The fear I felt a moment ago is still there but it's like a muffled voice in the background.

"How can I help?" I look around at the screens. "Is that the Ulaar output? I can do a quick check of the numbers."

Caelum stops working to give me a quick once-over.

"Yes," Ronan moves so that I can step closer to the wall.

"Here," Olexa hands me a handheld screen to input the data into.

For a moment, everything is fine. I wish I could have known how truly fleeting it would be.

"Whoa," I turn to find Ronan as I come across a number that is higher than any I'd ever seen in weeks of data entry. "This is-"

A deep cracking sound and the feeling of the world crumbling beneath my feet cut me off.

"Aftershocks," Santi yells but it's too late.

The glass cracks, a huge fissure runs through the entire length of the panel. Olexa and Caelum push against the door, forcing it open enough for her to slip inside. Without her weight supporting the door, it slams closed, pushing Caelum away.

Olexa runs to the panel to shut off the Ulaar but before she can reach it, the polymer cracks.

The sharp clink echoes in my head. The sound makes the whole room freeze. Ronan grabs me, pulling me down to the ground hard enough to rattle my bones.

A beam of pink light, like the sun breaking through the clouds pierces through the broken tank. The vertical crack grows, moving the shaft of light across the room. The quiet tinkling sound of the fracture spreading is the only sound in the room. I barely notice that the shaking has stopped.

It happens so fast that I can hardly see it but so slowly that it will be imprinted in my brain forever. Ronan jumps forward but Santi is closer. He lunges toward the door just as the glass shatters completely. As Ronan reaches the place where the door was, he drags Olexa out by the arm. He pulls his sister out of the way of the moving beam, falling backward.

For a moment it doesn't register, a scream echoes through the room, shrill and full of terror. It isn't until the sound stops that I realize it was coming from me.

When Ronan was grabbing his sister, Santi was slipping behind them into the room.

"Santi!" Ronan scrambles behind him.

The beam of light pierces through his neck as he smacks his hand down on the override. The damage is immediate. The Ulaar turns dark, the fluorescent glowing light dims like a light switch being flipped.

He crumples, falling to the ground as if he doesn't have bones. I don't even have to get close to know that he's gone. In the blink of an eye, everything that he was, everything he accomplished and lived for faded away.

The punched-out wail that comes from Clarisse stops my heart in my chest. I'm stuck, I can't move. My eyes won't leave his body. I can feel myself being lifted and carried away but it doesn't feel real. I'm not sure if my eyes are open or closed or if I'm even conscious. Through the darkness and the pain, the only thing I know is real is Ronan. So, I lean into that.

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