Chapter Three: Eighteen Catches and an Invoice from the Future

A brand is offering seven figures today. The Storm wants to extend you. Your life has changed! Lin looked up. Beyond the glass, the stadium screen still replayed his catch at the horn. Eighty thousand spectators had gone home. In the empty stands, he transformed from an ordinary man into a hero again and again. “Yes,” he whispered. “It has.” He turned off the phone and faced Mara. “If I told you something could take talent from my future self, would you believe me?” Mara did not laugh. She locked the examination-room door and lowered the blinds. “Start,” she said, “by telling me what it plans to take next.” Lin looked at the row of gray terms.