Chapter Two: The Lowest Rating

Lin watched Bai Qi push a medical cart past the door. The pale-lashed second-year medic had treated the pressure burns on his hand. Her gift, Pain Transfer, could move another person's pain into her own body for ten seconds. Academy rules required five members, but did not say they must share a year. “Why would I join?” Bai Qi asked. Lin showed her a tiny fragment of the black sliver from the subway. Her eyes rested on it for less than a second; her pulse quickened. “Because you recognize this.” The corridor lights went out. Bai Qi pinned him to the wall, an anesthetic needle against his neck. “Who else saw it?” “So you do recognize it.”