Chapter Two: The Play You Fear

At six the next morning, Kai entered the film room without his helmet. He had dreamed of dozens of voices inside his head. On waking, he could not tell whether *Don't let them see my shoulder* belonged to Marcus or himself. He wrote three rules across the whiteboard: Only wear the helmet on the field. Never use a teammate's secret to hurt him. Hearing is not understanding. Then he watched yesterday's defense six times. If the gift vanished, film would remain. If he could connect every hidden intention to a visible tell, supernatural luck could become real quarterback skill. At 7:05, analytics assistant Mara Reyes arrived carrying two tablets.