"Something strange just happened."

Roger was the only one able to sense the change that had occurred the moment the connection between Rhea Lee, Dawn and Philip had been severed. Because he had only served as a conduit and was not involved in direct telepathizing, he was more sensitive to their reality.

He open his eyes and scanned the room, his gaze landing on Dawn and her sister. He blinked away the afterimages clouding his vision and ran his hand through his hair. "Are you both alright?"

Dawn and Rhea Lee opened their eyes simultaneously and sat up. They had been lying down on the bed while they had delved into Philip's mind. Even though they had been fully conscious of their travel through space, their bodies had no longer been under their control.

To prevent themselves from being dragged back into their bodies and getting interrupted while they spoke to Philip, they had gotten into position while letting Roger link them to Philip.

"What?" Rhea Lee asked and yawned. "I'm just sleepier than normal. Otherwise, that was the easiest long distance conversation I have ever held with anyone."

"It would have been easier if the fog hadn't interfered with our technology and reduced connection speed on the Chain to the point where instant communication is impossible." Dawn said, an apology weaved into her words as she stared at Roger's pale face.

"That soldier-" Roger's brows furrowed and he cut himself off. "Something altered our connection."

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked carefully. Mind travel wasn't easy to accomplish, it was easy for things to go wrong. That was why despite telepathic Enhancements being one of the dominant abilities citizens in North developed, the Chain was still the prime form of communication. "Is he okay? Are we okay?"

"Look at the time." Roger pointed at the holoscreen. "It took at least ten minutes for my mind to travel to Lacau, another five to actually find Philip and another ten to connect his mind to yours. But here not even a second passed."

"Maybe time works differently. . ." Rhea Lee began, her gaze fixed on the blinking timestamp. They had decides to time their travel for research purposes but the clock remained at 00:00:00.

"No," she shook her head and frowned, "telepathy works in real time. But if time hasn't moved doesn't that mean we didn't go anywhere? We couldn't have just imagined everything, could we?"

"That can't be possible. You uploaded Philip's memories into the Chain. I can see them," Dawn argued and blinked back the information that had appeared in front of her eyes.

She had activated the Chain subconsciously. If she hadn't been strong enough to read them in her mind back then, she certainly wasn't now.

"Half an hour from now, you recorded them in Lacau. My logs say so," she explained.

"Holoscreens don't get the time wrong." Rhea Lee said. "If we imagined it all I wouldn't be surprised. It isn't the strangest thing to happen to us."

"Philip talked to us before we talked to him." Roger said suddenly. "That's the only explanation."

"The only explanation?" Rhea Lee laughed. "Roger, are you feeling space-lagged? That made no sense."

"No, he's right." Dawn got off the bed and walked to the holoscreen. "We haven't talked to Philip yet."

"So you finally agree with me?" Rhea Lee smirked.

"I don't." Dawn pulled up Philip's memories. "According to the travel logs in this district, none of our consciousnesses have left this room yet so we haven't talked to Philip. But we have memories of doing so and evidence of the experience, so we didn't just imagine it."

"Time travel." Rhea Lee finally understood what Dawn had implied, even though not fully. "You're saying that we talked to Philip then travelled back in time to when we hadn't. But that's impossible."

"None of us have Enhancements related to time." Roger added.

"But maybe he does." Dawn said. She stared at the image of a golden eyes beast in from of her and drummed her fingers on the table. "Maybe he sent us back in time."

"Why would he do that?" Rhea Lee asked then closed her eyes. She entered the Chain and did a quick scan of Philip's records. "He doesn't have an Enhancement."

"This couldn't have happened without a time Enhancement." Roger said and sank to the floor cross-legged. "The number of people know to be able to control time can be counted on one hand. I don't think any of them were interested in giving us an extra thirty minutes of life."

"If there are no records of Philip's Enhancements then there is a chance he doesn't know about it himself." Dawn zoomed in on the golden eyes of a python then watched it explode into red slush. "There could be spatial anomalies throughout his memories that he wouldn't notice. He could be in control of time at any moment and that would be a normal occurrence to him."

"Are you saying that he awakened his Enhancement naturally?" Rhea Lee thought out loud. "Without the awakening ceremony it's near impossible and he didn't have one."

"Do you think it had something to do with the fog?" Roger asked.

"It could have been there all along," she answered and pointed a manicured finger at the memories playing. "We only discovered this by accident, more tests would be needed to know whether his awakening was catalyzed by the fog."

"Is the reason you're so adamant on him joining the Cipher Squad?" The question was now directed at Dawn. "He's quite a fascinating subject."

Dawn turned in her chair and shot her sister a glare. "I am not giving him to you."

"I wasn't asking."

"Good."

"Why did you tell him about the capital?" Roger asked. "We're not even sure about what is happening there."

"Isn't it obvious?" Rhea Lee crossed her legs and clasped her hands above her knees. "Sister dearest was testing him, and his loyalties."

"You think he is connected to the attack?"

"I don't know what to think anymore." Dawn shut off the holoscreen. "Corey falling ill, Nicia getting wiped out and Auro being attacked out of the blue. These all have to be connected, don't they?"

Rhea Lee's expression dimmed at the thought of what had happened to Auro. "The capital couldn't be evacuated to the underground city in time. There were casualties. . . too many."

"You could have helped," Dawn said. "But you were here sipping champaign while cuddling with your sweetheart."

The doctor shot her sister a look filled with venom. "Don't talk about things you don't understand. There was nothing I could do."

"Literally anything could have helped more, Lee."

"Dawn, don't let me-"

"Soldiers are reinforcing the city as we speak," Roger piped up and forcefully raised his voice, trying to lighten the mood and change the subject. "We'll win."

"How can we win when we don't even know what is attacking?" Rhea Lee snapped.

"Being negative about it doesn't help."

"Neither does being blindly optimistic. North is braeking blasted and you know it."

"Both of you stop." Dawn shouted. "Arguing definitely won't help anything."

"Sorry boss," Roger said while Rhea Lee rolled her eyes.

"Hypocrite," she said and turned her attention back to her nails.

"We need to get to Mount Roya before Corey overtasks himself and gets worse." Dawn said and got up. "We can discuss the capital later. North is earth's strongest nation, we won't fall so easily. Even if our enemies are invisible."

"How about Elton?" Rhea Lee asked, knowing that that he was the source of Dawn's renewed confidence. "Do you really think Philip find him? I may not know about the history between you two, but I know he left for a reason. Maybe he doesn't want to be found, and what then? We're blasted."

"Rhea Lee." Roger hissed her name, his gaze resting on Dawn. "Stop talking."

Dawn looked down at her hands then balled them into fists before answering her sister. "We can still survive without him. Our problem will just need a little more sacrifices to get solved."

Roger got up and walked to her. "The shuttles to North from here are down. If we have to get there fast, we'll need to use the trains."

Dawn flashed him a smile, glad that he hadn't tried to console her. "We'll set out as soon as possible."

"We need to bring Sebastian along." Rhea Lee blurted out and jumped to her feet.

"He's an ambassador from East," she said, in an effort to persuade them. "We can't just leave him here."

"Next to Auro and Mount Roya, the New Order residence is the most fortified section of North." Dawn said and walked to the door of the bedroom with Greeley in tow. "He'll be safer here."

"If he can't go, then I won't either," Rhea Lee stated with the petulance of someone in their fourth quarter.

Dawn's hand stayed on the door handle as she considered it. She and Greeley couldn't journey to North without appropriate protected. Rhea Lee had the most power, without her the strength of their group would be reduced significantly.

"Fine," the professor relented, albeit reluctantly.

"Where's the pretty boy?" She pulled open the door and was faced with the stunned expression of Sebastian.

"Hi," he greeted awkwardly and let the hand that was about to knock against Dawn's face drop.

You've got to be kidding me. Dawn made her way past him. With a scowl on her lips, she turned to her sister. "Get packed, we'll leave in five minutes."