He stepped into the opening, the darkness beyond beginning to lighten. He hesitantly moved inwards, reaching out to touch the sides of the rock to steady himself. He swallowed a bit of revulsion when the walls felt clammy, not unlike a sweaty palm.

The opening continued to brighten, revealing walls the color of liquid metal, littered with scores of lights embedded deep in broken lines. It was when he turned back, hoping that the glimpse of daylight from the familiar world would give him strength, that he realized his mistake.

Only blackness, now shining with thousands of tiny lights, was behind him. He imagined Lily running through the lights, somehow free, desperate to escape, emerging to the clean night air outside.

She hadn’t understood how she’d escaped, and it was suddenly clear why. She hadn’t found a way out. Without her understanding, without her realization, she’d been sent.

To see if she could find him. To bring him in.

“What the hell is happening?”

Kate looked up from the blank screen that had been, just moments ago, displaying the image from the drone above her nephew. General Wolve was practically screaming now.

“Get that drone back up! Or send another that way!”

“Sir,” a soldier said, turning around another laptop screen on the table. “They’re all down. All the drones we sent in. They just crashed.”

“Jesus! Did you try that phone again?”

“It’s dead sir. It’s like something wiped it all out.”

“Dammit!” The general strode away. Kate quickly followed behind.

“General—”

“We’ve been had, Senator, just in case you’re slow on the draw,” the general said. “And your nephew has left me no choice.”

“My nephew isn’t doing this—”

“How the hell do you know?” He momentarily whirled around. “How do we know he isn’t being controlled? That all this is what they intended?”

“Let’s cut to the chase. You know how the president feels. You drop bombs on that mesa, you are wiping out the country’s only chance at stopping—”

“General Wolve!”

Two men emerged from the tent, running towards them, representing the general’s split command, the soldier dressed in camouflage, the agent in a black suit. The SSA agent held out a laptop.

“Sir, you need to see this.”

The agent pointed to the screen, which displayed white pinpoints over a satellite view of the United States. “This is from our weather radar that picked up the light transmissions a year ago. Since the four appeared, there’s been nothing since. In the last five minutes, there have been ninety-two. Just as storms literally formed all over the world. At the same time.”

“Ninety-two?” The general took the laptop to examine it closer. “My God, the entire middle of the US is covered. Do we have a visual yet?”