Ari's jaw dropped.

"Fris?" She stared. "What are you doing here?"

Fris blinked her blue eyes at Ari with incredulity.

"You're joking." Fris crossed her eyes, and then laughed. "You're not! Well, you've not been here before, so I suppose I can't blame you. This is my flat. You're in my room."

The last thing Ari remembered was collapsing on the rooftop of some building because she'd miscalculated her energy conversion.

"Then what am I doing here?"

"I was going to ask you that." Fris's expression became serious. Ari braced herself for a telling-off. "Mind telling me why when I woke up on a Thursday, ready for school, and phoned my friend, she didn't pick up? And tell me why when I finally found her, she wasn't in her room as I was expecting, but on the top floor of some random roof in Area Eight where she didn't belong? And why was she covered in blood and unconscious?"

"How did you find me?"

"I traced your phone, duh. I told you. If you miss any more classes I'll hunt you down. My phone links to yours. So tell me—" Fris's eyes narrowed. "—what were you doing out last night?"

"I was jumping."

Her friend rolled her eyes.

"Don't play games with me, Ari. I'm not stupid. I can tell when you're lying."

Ari sighed. Sometimes Fris was too sharp for her own good. If it wasn't for Ari's superior ability, it wouldn't be hard for Fris to rank top in Class 5A.

"I'll show you. Just... don't freak out, okay?"

"Your words are telling me you're doing something that's very illegal."

Ari didn't reply.

"Where's my bag?"

"Up in the corner. Next to the computer."

Ari picked up her tattered and blood-spattered bag. Slipping a hand into it, her heart jolted.

Impossible.

She emptied it. Her torch fell out, followed by her phone. They bounced on the hard wooden floor. Her torch rolled away.

The papers were gone.

Ari stared in disbelief. No way. She'd picked them up, and put them away. Didn't she?

Did she?

They were in her hands. She racked her brains, her exhausted cells churning ever so slowly. She'd picked them up and read them. Peacekeepers arrived, making her panic. The creatures were on her tail when she'd landed. She'd fallen over, attracting their attention...

She cursed. She must have dropped them when she fell over, and in her panic, didn't realise it. The papers were still back in the basement of the abandoned impoverished accommodation, and now that the Peacekeepers realised security had been breached, there was no way she could return there. Not the way she did yesterday, anyway.

Fris looked unimpressed.

"Well?"

Ari's heart hammered against her ribs. She wished she hadn't been so hasty in escaping, but there was nothing she could do now.

"It's about Mina," she said in a quiet voice.

"Mina?" Fris said, frowning. "Her disappearance?"

"Yes. I had a hunch there was something going on in Area Nine—"

"You went to Area Nine last night?" Fris's voice was odd.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Did you see anything?" She sounded urgent. Her face was paler than usual, blue eyes fixed intensely on Ari's as she gripped Ari's shoulders with more force than necessary. Ari winced, her wound protesting against the pressure. "Who did you see?"

"Nothing! Let go of me – my arm's injured, remember?"

Fris let go at once, breathing heavily.

"You shouldn't have gone."

"Why? I can look after myself. I'm ranked third, remember?"

"That's not the point." Fris ran a hand through her hair, rumpling the top. "You don't understand, Ari."

"What don't I understand?" Fris's riddle-like talk was confusing.

"Just—just promise me. Promise you won't go back to Area Nine again. Please."

Ari had never seen Fris so frazzled. High-strung as she normally was, it seemed if Ari said anything other than the affirmative, she'd break apart

"I can't, Fris. It's Mina. I can't not do anything."

"The Investigators are on top of this. You could have easily joined them to do it that way."

"Ha!" Ari couldn't resist a snort of laughter. "As if! I don't want the responsibilities. My sister is missing. You can't seriously be telling me to do nothing. I don't care if it's against the law if I go snooping by myself."

"No," said Fris, running another hand through her hair, "you've never cared."

"What's going on, Fris?"

Fris shut her eyes, almost in pain. Ari had never seen her like this. Fris was always confident and outgoing. Whatever was on her mind had her scared.

"Believe me. It's better if you discontinue this madness."

"Madness?" Ari took a step back. "For worrying about my little sister? Mina's a Rank E User, Fris. She's almost got no ability. And she's now missing with all these bombings going on and you want me to do nothing? I can't do that."

"The Investigators are on this," Fris repeated. Ari shook her head.

"That's not god enough." Ari picked up her bag, wincing as her muscles and wounds complained.

"Please don't do this, Ari."

Ari clutched the battery necklace Mina had given her for her birthday. Mina's shy little smile and gentle eyes gazed back at her in her mind's eye. The sickening thought of scientists experimenting on her little sister made her stomach churn and skin crawl.

"I can't," she said, and then walked out without a second glance.

In the lift ride down to the ground floor, Ari couldn't help but feel very uneasy. Last night's event had been unsettling, to say the least, and coupled with Fris's repeated warnings and hesitancy – something wasn't right. She was keener than ever to uncover these dark secrets within March City.

Just when she was about to get into a pod car, she realised she was still in the flimsy night dress Fris had put her in. Muttering under her breath, she darted to the nearest clothes shop and swiped her hand for credit. Her face came up and her credit count fell. A green light flicked over her. In fitting trousers and a light t-shirt, she got into a pod car and swiped her hand across it. Her name and identity flagged up on the screen again.

"Block Forty-Nine, Area Eight."

****

"Just... wow."

Rale sat back on his cushion, leaning on the wall. Ari had spent the better part of the past fifteen minutes relaying what had happened the night before.

"This is crazy," he finally said. "Monsters roaming in the basement? The Peacekeepers must be aware of this – maybe that's why they sealed that area off."

"And they must have scoured the place already. It was almost spotless."

"A good thing that those things chased you then." Rale gave a chuckle. Ari looked unimpressed.

"If it had been anyone else, they wouldn't have survived. Those things were vicious. What were they?"

Rale tapped his chin thoughtfully. Ari sighed, leaning forward with her elbows on the small table in Rale's 'office'.

"I suspect it's either the remnants of one of the scientists' experiments or the failures. If The Transformer had difficulty getting away, I suspect the Investigators also had trouble clearing them."

"And those research papers..."

"Yes, it definitely sounds like you were in the right place. I guess my source wasn't lying."

Ari stared. "You mean you didn't even know if the information was correct?"

Rale shrugged.

"Not everyone can be trusted. He was my best source."

Ari scowled. Rale chuckled again.

"Don't look so angry, Transformer. Information is a fickle thing. One fact can change when it hops from mouth to mouth. But this fact didn't change – which works in our favour."

Rale got up and dusted his trousers down. He rolled up the sleeves of a tattered hooded top and tapped his fingers on his keyboard. Several squares appeared on the large screen. After several beeps and commands, a search box appeared.

"What did you say his name was, again?"

"Noan, Class 5A. Hang on." Ari's eyes narrowed. "How did you get access to the student database?"

Rale winked.

"I have my ways."

He typed in the details. Two seconds later, the computer beeped again. Error.

"It seems this Noan isn't on here. You're sure that's his name?"

"Positive. But I've never seen him before – we're supposed to be in the same class."

"Perhaps he skips the same number of classes as you," said Rale in a sly tone.

Ari shot him a look.

"I keep up with my studies in my own way. That's all that matters."

Rale held up both hands in that infuriatingly peaceful manner again.

"I only mean attendance isn't a hundred percent for those whose academics make up for it."

"It can't be. He's a very low achiever and re-sat tons of exams. He must have attended lessons."

"Hmm..."

At least this confirmed Ari hadn't forgotten the name of a classmate, if Rale couldn't find him in the database.

"Maybe he's a past student and has graduated..."

Rale's fingers flew over the keyboard. More commands danced across the screen, green letters on black backgrounds. The student face shots flickered, faster than the eye could follow. Ari spun the pendant on her neck, now fully charged again.

"What rank do you reckon he was?"

"Judging from the resits and penalties, I'd say at most a Rank D. Or Rank E."

"You sure put down those who aren't as high-achieving as you, Transformer."

"I'm not—" Ari began heatedly, then realise Rale was teasing her. He laughed.

"You're surprisingly different from all the arrogant high-ranked Users in this city, Ari. Nobody ranked above ten would talk to lowly Area Eight residents. You're not like that."

Ari couldn't decide if that was a compliment or not.

The computer beeped again. Another error, but this time it seemed Rale was expecting it.

"Last chance... maybe..." He was muttering to himself again.

At last, a new file threw up.

"That's him!"

There was no mistake. The gaunt face and the empty eyes – and it was the same photo as the printout from the papers.

"So he's a graduate? That's why he's not on the system?"

"No." Rale's voice was grim. "It's because he's dead."

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