Chapter Two: The Theater That Did Not Exist

His hand paused for less than half a second. "No." "What about SY-07?" He looked up. Grief, not confusion, crossed his face. "Did you sleep last night?" he asked gently. "Has your old condition returned?" Shen Yao had never told him the rules. Yet he covered the black ring on her wrist as if he had always known it would appear. "Whatever you see next, don't follow her." "Follow whom?" The ward television switched on. Static resolved into the empty theater. The Shen Yao in the red raincoat stood onstage, holding up a placard marked SY-07. Her silent lips formed two words. He lies.