Chapter 5
The world settles with a final roll, the damp odor of mildew fading, a rush of fresh—if recycled—air returning. I have enough presence of mind to tuck away my phone. For a long moment, that’s all I can do. The containment field glimmers, a series of fissures covering its surface. A particularly energetic sprite zips toward the center. The second it makes contact, the entire field shatters.
The entity’s voice comes roaring back in, a jumble of words that come so fast that I can barely understand what it’s saying.
... really need to get moving. There’s only so much I can do, and the mall is about to ...
Really, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it panicked before.
“What?”
There you are. Finally.
“What happened?”
Interference, if you will. When you’re on the threshold of your ow
