Maya's Seeker blinked yellow at 9 PM. “The fragment is small. It's not hurting anyone. It's just... playing.”
“Playing how?” Julian asked.
“A boy in Omaha. He can split his shadow into multiple copies. They run around. He chases them. He's been doing it for three days.”
Dr. Ellis checked her records. “That's the Shade Splitter. I created it for entertainment. Stage shows. Shadow puppets. The fragment lets the host control shadows like they're real.”
“Why is the Seeker yellow?”
“Because the boy isn't scared. He's having fun. The fragment is stable.”
Julian grabbed his cane. “Stable fragments don't stay stable. We go to Omaha.”
---
The Backyard
They found the boy in his backyard. Ten years old. Brown hair. His shadow split into three copies. Each copy ran in a different direction.
