Rain hammered the city like it wanted answers.
Maxruell and Juvy ran through alleys that smelled like rust and fear. Neon signs flickered above them, reflecting off puddles like broken mirrors. Sirens screamed behind them. Somewhere, a helicopter roared.
Juvy stumbled. Maxruell caught her arm.
"Don't stop," he said. "They already know how you look."
"I can't shut it off," she gasped. "Everything's… loud."
A shop window exploded beside them.
A truck burst out from the street ahead, skidding sideways and blocking the alley. Men jumped out tattoos glowing faintly blue, guns modified with strange metal.
One of them laughed. "Yo, jackpot. The twins."
Maxruell felt the crimson crystal throb.
Not fear.
Hunger.
Juvy whispered, "Max… these ones feel different."
The gang leader cracked his neck. "Boss wants the boy breathing. Girl's optional."
The men raised their weapons.
Maxruell stepped forward.
The shadows peeled off the walls.
Two men fired. The bullets curved sideways like the air didn't respect them anymore. Darkness wrapped around one shooter's arm and twisted. Bone snapped like dry wood.
Another charged with a glowing machete.
Maxruell met him halfway.
The man's shadow rose up and bit his throat.
Blood sprayed across the wall like bad graffiti.
Juvy screamed. "Max, behind you!"
Three more rushed him.
She lifted her hands without meaning to.
The street cracked.
Stone burst upward into jagged crystal spikes. Wind howled. Water from the drains shot up and froze mid-air, impaling one man through the chest.
Another was slammed against the truck by invisible force until the metal folded around him like a coffin.
The last one dropped his gun and ran.
He made it three steps.
A red glow slid under his feet.
The ground turned black.
He sank into it screaming, clawing at nothing.
Silence came fast.
Juvy dropped to her knees, shaking. "I didn't want to"
Maxruell stared at the man disappearing into darkness.
Another memory slipped.
He couldn't remember his favorite food.
That scared him more than the blood.
From the rooftops, slow clapping echoed.
A tall man in a long coat stepped into the rain. His eyes glowed faint silver.
"Well," he said, smiling. "That was art."
Maxruell raised his hand. "Back up."
The man laughed. "Relax. I ain't here to fight. Name's Varkos. I run this part of the city."
Juvy whispered, "He feels… wrong."
Varkos tilted his head. "You're the Prism, yeah? And you…" He looked at Maxruell. "You smell like the Underworld."
Maxruell's shadow twitched.
Varkos raised both hands. "Easy, killer. I just wanna talk."
"Talk about what?"
"About how every gang in the city is coming for you."
He grinned. "And how I can make them disappear."
Juvy shook her head. "You just want to use us."
"Of course," Varkos said. "Everybody does. Difference is I'll keep you alive."
Footsteps echoed nearby. More sirens. More engines.
Varkos glanced behind them. "You got about thirty seconds before another pack shows up."
Maxruell looked at Juvy.
She swallowed. "I don't trust him."
"I don't either," Maxruell said.
Varkos shrugged. "Trust ain't required. Survival is."
The rain mixed with blood in the gutter.
Maxruell stepped closer to Juvy, shadows curling tighter around him.
"Give me one reason not to kill you right now."
Varkos smiled wider.
"Because if you do," he said, "you won't survive tonight."
Lights flashed at the end of the street.
Engines roared closer.
And for the first time since their parents died, Maxruell realized something worse than monsters existed.
Politics.