Rale was late.

Ari paced back and forth on the balcony outside his door, wringing her hands. Damn that boy, where the hell was he? Did his jobs overrun? Did something happen to him?

It was an hour until sundown. Ari bit her lip. She had hoped to scout Area Six before meeting the mysterious caller in Area Nine. She'd also hoped to let Rale know what she was doing. People obeying strangers and arriving alone never end well, and she wasn't stupid. But at the rate Rale was making her wait, she was heading right down that path.

She waited a few more minutes and decided to leave. Sending him a message – I'm going in. She called me. – she leapt from Area Eight towards Area Two. The sky train rails straightened after leaving the medium-earning student residencies. A sky bridge for pod cars and pedestrians linked Area Eight and Area Four, the schools, running alongside the rails beside Area Ten, administration. Beneath the bridge was a stretch of water, clear blue as the skies and off-limits. Ari sailed from pole to pole, transforming her energy with every jump. The sky started to turn orange. Time was running out.

She leapt alongside the high walls that prevented unauthorised access into the administrative area, keeping a casual eye out for Peacekeepers. Shon was in no position to haul her out of trouble at the moment, if her interrogation yesterday was anything to go by. She was on her own. Ari clutched her necklace, gritting her teeth. The energy level in her core rose and fell in tandem with her jumps.

Area Two, the new research Area, passed on her left. A ninety-storey building made almost entirely of one-way glass stood with magnificence against a backdrop of sapphire water. White-coated scientists and their harried-looking assistants moved in and out of the many entrances on the ground floor. Teleporters lined the foyer. Ari couldn't see it from this low on the ground, but when she jumped from a higher level, the rooftop garden could be seen, a grander version of her school's, with a large fountain in the middle, sculpted trees lining the paths, and magnificent lecture halls along one side, with their windows opening to the waters beyond.

No doubt this would be a stark contrast to the old research labs, if Area Nine's residencies were anything to go by.

The stretch of water met an abrupt marble wall, which separated the schools from Area Two. Ari landed on the ground, discharging the excess into the ground, and then straightened up. Students gave her quick glances and whispered amongst themselves, recognising The Transformer. Ari ignored them, calculating the rest of her journey. She'd never been to the outskirts of Area Four before – her school had always been conveniently close – let alone the forbidden outskirts of March City. She had perhaps forty-five minutes of daylight left before she was to meet the caller.

She took the lift to her school's rooftop and jumped from there. The layered gardens sailed by beneath her, the small rivulets trickling from floor to floor. Most of the other schools were built similarly. Despite the city running on a credit system, academics were not streamed as only core classes were taught. Extra tuition was available for a fee, taught by upper years, but most high-achieving students self-study – or in Ari's case, she didn't study at all.

Seeing the school made her think of Fris again. The last time she was on that rooftop was their last argument, when Fris warned her to stay away from Area Nine. Was she aware of the monsters? Did she know the Peacekeepers were after her?

Was she planning to kill Mina?

Ari's stomach churned again. She put the thought at the back of her mind. Scouting out Area Six was her priority. She needed to stop dwelling on Fris and Mina. She would deal with Fris later. Her phone buzzed just then. Ari glanced at the screen, keeping half an eye out for her landing spot. Fris. Just when she was thinking about her. Bile rose in the back of her throat, and she rejected the call.

Ari landed on the outskirts of Area Four, skidding on the last rooftop to release her pent-up energy. A breath caught in her throat.

Cameras lined the metal fences that ran along the entire length of the roof, facing outwards. She glanced behind her. The door that led up to this place was barred and had a heavy padlock on it. It was the same case for all the rooftops lining the edge of Area Four.

Beyond the metal fence, it was as though the steely blue tint of March City was washed over by blood. Crimson fog rose from the ground. The air was stifling, washing over her. Her armpits felt sticky just by being in proximity. The ventilation was obviously almost non-existent in this part of the city. To the left, the sky train rails were rusted. In fact, its path leading up to the abandoned train station had fractured, leaving steel pointing in odd directions and rubble at its base, joining the rest of the remnants on the ground. Pylons and wires dotted the ground, a reminder of what the poor had to live with and use.

The buildings were not the skyscrapers Ari was used to, but stocky blackened buildings of about forty storeys tall. Most of the windows were broken and dirty; empty window frames gave a view into the dilapidated and empty rooms. Air conditioners hung partly out of their frames, threatening to pitch down to ground level. Aside from the hissing of what sounded like gas cylinders leaking, the whole area was eerily silent, a sharp contrast with the hustle and bustle of students leaving school behind her.

Ari swallowed. She was treading into unknown territory. When night fell, this area would be dark. Only a few street lights survived and even they were dimmer than if Ari used her phone as a torch.

"Some sort of lab," Mina had said. But this entire area was dedicated to research a few years ago. The entire area comprised labs.

Ari jumped up onto the fence and touched the CCTV. With a light buzz, it was short-circuited, its red light flickering. She did the same onto the nearby cameras before vaulting over, using the few seconds she bought to disappear into the red mist.

It was humid. Without the ventilation and air-filtering in the other areas of March City, the dead air and waste gases from the remaining functional machines choked the air. Ari took a look around, feeling the sweat beneath her t-shirt. The streets were dead, empty. Broken glass and rubble littered the floor; she left a light tinkling crunch with every step. Doors clung to the frames by rusted hinges. Screens stared like dead eyes onto the streets behind panes of cracked glass.

It was almost impossible to believe this was still the same city she lived in. A bomb might as well have exploded here. Not a peep of sound, not a breath of life. She couldn't see to the end of the street for the fog was so thick. Ari contemplated using her torch and decided against it. Wherever the terrorists were hiding, she had no intention of being found.

Footsteps reached her ears. She froze.

Her ears tuned in to the steps again. Her eyes darted behind her. Through the mists, she could see a few figures marching her way. Discharging a little from her necklace – she now made a mental point of conserving as much as she could – she jumped to the nearest lookout spot. A corner entering an alleyway that disappeared into darkness seemed a good place to stalk the ones approaching. She landed on the overhanging concrete on the first floor and pressed against the wall, her blue eyes trained on the shapes taking form through the red fog.

There were two of them. Two girls. Both of them wore school uniforms. Probably just arrived after school finished. Both were skinny, with lank hair and heavy bags. One wore her hair short; the other had hers in plaits. They couldn't be much older than Mina. They walked with hurried steps, giving furtive glances behind their shoulders every so often. Ari ensured she kept her presence hidden, watching the anxiety on their faces.

"I hate getting in and out of this place," whispered the first one. "It's so creepy here."

"Shhh!"

Ari trailed them from a floor up, hopping from balcony to balcony. The two girls moved with very little sound and seemed to know where they were going. They looked far too young to be terrorists, yet it was impossible for them to be here for any other reason. Trespassing could lead to a heavy fine, and these two definitely looked like they didn't have much money to spare, let alone for punishment. And at the same time, Ari found it disturbing that such young girls were involved in these atrocious activities. Could the innocent façade be what shielded these bombings from Investigators?

They passed several crumbled buildings before turning a corner. Ari hopped against the nearest lamppost and propelled herself off, turning the corner, too, and just caught them disappearing into one of the holes in the walls.

The sun had gone down. Instinct told her she shouldn't follow them into more unknown territory. Her phone buzzed again. Fris. She switched it off, not without irritation. Checking behind her, she scaled her landing, stopping outside the hole. It had a cragged outline like someone had punched it with shattering force. Against the backdrop of collapsed buildings and abandoned centres, it didn't look in the slightest out of place. Several tens of storeys stood threateningly above, the broken glass eyes glaring down at her. Nobody else passed by.

Ari picked her way in.

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