"Another explosion was reported in Area Five today at ten thirty a.m.., with one death and five injured. The Peacekeepers have sectioned the area off after the Medics took the casualties off-site. The cause is yet to be confirmed but there is strong suspicion it is linked to the series of unexplained explosions that have been happening in the recent months. Further investigation is under way."

"There's still no new findings?" Ari slurped on her cereal, crossing her legs and dangling her ankle in front of her pod chair. "Seems like everything is blowing up nowadays. You reckon they'll catch them soon, Mina? Mina!"

She swivelled round to see her sister still poring over her notes.

"Mina!"

"Huh?" Mina looked up with startled brown eyes that were slightly crossed. "What?"

"In other news, the first grade grand exams are taking place today in Area Three..."

With a sigh, Ari shook her head and waved at the projection of the young news reporter. It switched off with a blink.

"Sorry, I was re-reading my stuff..."

"Never mind." It's only natural Mina would be stressed over her exams; she only had two hours left to study, after all. "I shouldn't be distracting you. What part are you on?"

"It's okay." The girl hurriedly covered the notes she was poring over as Ari leant on her pod chair and it zoomed her across the glossy polished floor to the other side of the kitchen. Ari tilted her head, one light brown eyebrow raised. "I don't want you helping me with every little thing. I need to pass this exam on my own."

"It's fine if you don't do that great, you know. We've got enough credit to last until my next test. Or maybe the one after that."

"That's not it. I want to do well."

"It's just credits. You don't need to get so stressed over it. It's not like either of us will need to work for extra."

"You don't understand, Ari." Mina's voice was tight. She ran both hands through her hair, rumpling it even more. "You always do so well without studying. I really want this."

Ari rolled her eyes and shrugged. She would never understand, Mina was right.

"Maybe if the exam centre explodes, you'll get an extra few days to study," she said, idly flicking through Mina's painstakingly tidy notes. Mina swatted her away. With a grin, Ari spun on her pod, tilting her head back and letting the breeze roll through her hair. "Why do you even use written notes any more anyway? The school uploads all the lesson presentations and you can just annotate them. This is a waste of time."

"Don't say horrible things."

At that moment, Ari's phone bleeped from the hall. Mina settled into her work again, muttering to herself and scrutinising the complex diagrams. Ari scooted out of the room, reached over, and tapped the screen of her phone, bringing up a three-dimensional hologram of a sixteen-year-old girl with flaming red hair and a disgruntled face: Fris. Ari sat up straight.

"There you are!" The annoyance in Fris's voice was perfectly conveyed, as though she was right next to Ari. "Did you forget your phone again?"

"It was—"

"Never mind." The explanation was waived by an impatient hand with pearly nails. "Remember we have extra teaching today? I know you're Miss Straight-As but attendance is mandatory."

"Oh." It had, in fact, completely slipped Ari's mind. When did she get the notice again? Tuesday? Wednesday? "Right. I'm on my way."

"You'd better be, 'cos I can't delay that video any longer without seriously annoying Hine! He's breathing down my neck as we speak..."

The thought of the class monitor's agitated face made Ari giggle.

"I'm coming, Fris. I'm coming."

Fris sighed and disappeared with a bleep. Ari checked the history: five missed calls. She needed to start being more organised or Fris would have a breakdown – but then, that was what she promised herself last week. And the week before. Spinning out of her pod chair and leaving the bowl of cereal on the side table where the phone used to be, Ari leapt over to the closet by the door and jabbed at several buttons without really taking in the images. Upon pressing the confirmation button, a green light swept over her body, replacing the pyjamas with her choice of trainers, leggings, and a long top. Her dark blonde bird's nest was tied up in a ponytail neater than she could have ever managed by hand.

Attaching the phone to her waist and slinging her small bag by her side, she peeped in on Mina. Still engrossed in her work. Ari shook her head – she would never see why her sister minded achievements so much when Ari earned all the credits they would ever need to survive – and skipped to the teleporter near the door. She should really take the 'porter down to ground level and then use the Porting System down the street to school. It was quicker and she could afford it. And she wouldn't freak out the Peacekeepers, but it'd been a while since she'd miscalculated and fell out of the sky anyway.

Plus, this way was more fun.

Pressing her palm against the reader, the teleporter chute opened. The smooth, metallic interior surface reflected her outline. She pressed the top button. Two seconds later, it opened up to the rooftop. Ari breathed in the fresh air. Ah, freedom.

Ari loved Area Seven. It was the richest residential area of March City and it showed. From the rooftop, the middle of which was a small stretch of grass encircled by delicate skylights, she could see the busiest part of the city from seventy storeys up as she looked down from her position atop the barrier. A light breeze teased her ponytail. People moved like ants down below: some were riding their electric bikes and others were walking at a leisurely pace. On the road, round motor pods zoomed by, operated by those who had the credits to rent them. As far as the eye could see, tall buildings of elegant designs swirled their way to the skies and glass domes reflected the artificial sunlight. None of the towers were as tall as this residency, which was why Ari wanted to live there in the first place: for the opportunities to practise.

It would have been a lovely, quiet moment, but as usual the midday atmosphere was filled with constant news reports played from speakers littered around the city. The nearest one to Ari was probably amongst one of the skylights. Floating between the fluffy white clouds was a hologram of the news reporter, who was repeating the details about the explosions from earlier on that morning. The reporter reminded Ari of Mina: she had the same air of seriousness and focus, and she seemed to be the same age.

Ari looked down again and shivered as a lurching sensation rose from her abdomen up to her throat. Deep in her chest, she could feel the energy from this height. A grin spread across her face. Keeping her body straight and her arms outstretched, she leant forward. Her side fringe lifted off her face. The time slowed down.

And then she was falling.

She could see her own elated reflection in the darkened one-way glass windows that lined the entire cylindrical residency. Her eyes watered as air rushed past and her teeth dried out in her grin. Everything was rushing by in a blur. Falling, flying – it was all the same. The freedom lifted her soul from her gravity-bound body. Her brain was blissfully blank.

The ground of the second-floor shared garden rushed up to meet her. Smooth, polished white floor glittered in the light. Ari's shadow was growing larger and larger. She was spinning slowly; her feet extended towards the surface.

Ari hit the ground at terminal velocity, sixty-eight floors below where she started. The kinetic energy shot up her body, building up like a charging battery in her core. At just below her starting point, the stored energy released itself. Strength exploded from her legs and, within half a second of her landing, she was in the air again.

The weightless sensation of flight was worth every bit of trouble if she were caught. Destructive or dangerous use of abilities was punishable by law in the city, she knew; if she made a mishap in the transfer of energy so that she'd put a foot straight through the window she was bouncing against in her ascension or miscalculated her landing and crashed into a crowded place after all the gravitational energy she'd gathered at seventy storeys high, the damage would be devastating.

But, she thought as she transferred kinetic energy again when she bounced off the next roof, managing a somersault in mid-air after she did so, as long as I'm not caught, there won't be any consequences.

She soared over the rooftops of the other residencies, admiring the colourful lights that danced up and down the sides of buildings and the distinctive shapes of each structure. Landing atop one that twinned with the one next door, she vaulted again, watching the city spread out before her eyes. March City was beautiful. Admittedly as the richest, the city's other parts were less aesthetically pleasing. She loved the details of the designs, so majestic from afar, and so intricate up close.

A few minutes later, she passed the outskirts of Area Three, where Mina was due to take her exams in just under two hours' time. She gave the squat, white domes a brief glance. As the majority of the structures were underground, there was little to see aside from what looked like round buttons dotted around an endless stretch of polished white floor. Bouncing off the roof of another building that was probably about sixty storeys high, Ari moved into Area Four.

Against the giant spiralling towers of Area Ten, although no less sleek, the structures of the schools looked squat and but no less intricate. Clear, artificial water ran in a carefully designed stream over the edges of the third floor balcony, trickling in a delicate fashion onto the stream on the ground that descended in steps.

Hopping off several nearby buildings in graded descent, Ari scaled the loss of energy, skidding a little longer with every landing. The wind was still streaming through her hair along with the thrill of being so high in the air. The white ground rushed up to meet her again, but at a much more controlled speed than before.

She slammed into the ground, palms pressed flat to the smooth surface. The excess energy crackled as they changed to electrical energy and dissipated into the ground. Around, the ground lights flickered with the disturbance before resuming activity. Her fingers and toes tingled.

She sucked in a breath of artificial air, straightening up as the last of the kinetic energy left her system. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and her heart thumped against her ribcage, filling her with life. Panting, she flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulders, a grin on her face. Nothing like a quick workout to get her through the chore of school.

****

"When is this assignment in for, again?" said Ari, flicking through the screen on her silver tablet.

Fris rolled her eyes and ran her hand through her red hair in exasperation. Ari laughed and linked arms with her. The digital clock on the side of one of the glass buildings showed it was half past four in the afternoon. Mina's exam would finish within half an hour.

"What am I going to do with you, Ari?" she grumbled, half-hearted in her complaint.

"You've threatened me with all the equipment you have in that bakery already."

"I have! And yet you still don't learn..." With a sigh, Fris took the tablet from Ari and keyed in the assignment deadlines. "I hope you don't miss the next teaching. Hine was almost tearing his hair from his head. If I'd stalled the video any longer he'd have eaten my head."

"He takes things way too seriously."

"And you not enough!" Fris elbowed her with affection. "You drive me insane sometimes, Ari. I don't care if you're constantly A-grade. You need to take life more seriously!"

"Where's the fun in that? I—"

"We interrupt the regular broadcast to bring you breaking news. Another explosion has taken place in Area Three." Ari's eyes flew to the nearest broadcast screen. She stopped abruptly. The girl who had presented the news that morning was back on again, with her serious expression and intense gaze. "Students undertaking the first grade grand exams have been evacuated."

"Area Three?" Fris stared at the newscaster, the schedule forgotten. "That's where Mina's taking her exam, isn't it?"

"Yes," said Ari, her voice hoarse. Other students passed them, some oblivious to the news being relayed, others stopping in their paths like Ari and Fris to listen.

"There has been one confirmed death," continued the girl, "Tiro from Class 1A, and three missing students, Myo and Plea from Class 1C and Mina from Class 1B."

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