"Naia, it's your turn."

  Naia looked at her cards, then looked at Sienna. The moment her friend blinked twice, she knew Sienna was cheating, AGAIN.

  "You stole that card before you dealt it," Naia said.

  Sienna didn't even try to look guilty, instead, her defensive nature kicked in.

  "No, I did not."

  "Yes, you did! You blinked twice."

  Sienna leaned back, acting all innocent as always. "You got some proof you would like to present to the group?"

  Elara snapped at her. "You're kidding. You always blink twice when you cheat. Can't believe you don't know your own tell."

  Renzo almost choked, not the best moment to laugh when your mouth is full with crackers. "I don't think she's kidding. I think she's actually proud."

  Kaelis looked at his friends. This right here was his favorite moment, not the game itself, but what came during it, unavoidable bickering amongst five friends, all so different but similar at the same time.

  "If you really think about it, cheating is just ignoring rules someone else created," Kaelis finally spoke.

  Sienna pointed at him, happy that someone finally came to her defense. "Exactly. Thank you."

  Naia shook her head, but she was smiling.

  Sleeping bags were already spread across her big living room. The coffee table had been pushed aside to make space for cards, drinks, and whatever game pieces Sienna had probably hidden under the rug.

  It was their usual thing. Once a month, every last Sunday, Naia's place. They had been doing it since first grade. Same people, same routine, new story every time.

  Sienna dealt the next hand like she was running a casino. Elara, knowing what to expect from her friend, watched Sienna's hands like a hawk.

  Renzo leaned back, relaxed, like nothing important existed outside this room.

  Kaelis picked up his cards and with just one glance he knew the game was already over for him, especially with Sienna pulling her old tricks.

  Naia reached for a wine bottle to fill her glass when her phone vibrated on the table. She looked at it but chose to ignore it.

  Sienna noticed instantly. "Don't."

  Naia lifted an eyebrow. "Don't what?"

  "Don't answer," Sienna said. "C'mon, it's Sunday. We're in the middle of the game. You know..." Sienna took a brief pause like she always did when she was about to come up with some "great" ideas. "I can help you come up with a good lie for tomorrow."

  Elara rolled her eyes. "Who are you kidding? You couldn't come up with a good lie even if your life depended on it."

  The phone vibrated again. It was Naia's coworker who she knew only called twice when things took a turn for the worse.

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  Naia got tensed. She was still smiling, but it was slowly turning into more of a nervous smile.

  Renzo sat up a little. He wasn't as relaxed as before. "You good?" he asked, realizing that maybe there was something more important going on out there.

  "Yeah," Naia said, already reaching for her phone to answer. "It's probably nothing, but I wanna make sure."

  Sienna made a face. "Famous last words."

  Naia answered the call. The voice on the other end spoke quickly. Her eyes moved to the window, the city outside looked normal, quiet, safe.

  She listened without interrupting, and when she finally spoke, her tone had already changed.

  "I'm on my way," she said.

  Naia ended the call and put the phone down slowly.

  "Do you really have to go?" Elara asked.

  Naia nodded. "Minor emergency. Give me an hour and I'll be back."

  Sienna gave her yet another look. "You always say that."

  Naia grabbed her coat from the chair. "Maybe this time..."

  Sienna pointed at the cards. "We're not finishing this without you."

  "You'll cheat anyway," Elara teased her friend.

  "I will," Sienna agreed and smiled. She was definitely proud of herself.

  Naia opened the door and almost bumped into a pizza delivery guy. He noticed the sleeping bags on the floor behind her and the group of people staring at him like he'd just walked into a crime scene. Naia paid him, took the pizza, and handed it straight to Sienna.

  "Make sure to save me a slice," Naia said.

  Sienna looked down at the box, then back up. She was already drooling over that pepperoni slice. "No promises."

  "I'm serious," said Naia while stepping into the hallway.

  "So am I," Sienna said, and grinned.

  Naia left and closed the door behind her. She didn't want to leave her friends, but there was another crisis, and it needed her more than her friends did this Sunday evening.

  The GSCA (Global Systems Coordination Authority) building was lit when she got there.

  Inside, the crisis room was quiet, full of glass walls and screens everywhere with real-time maps and numbers shifting like the world was breathing through data. Her small team was already there analyzing the dashboards.

  A few people looked up when Naia walked in, one of them moved slightly to let her see the screen.

  "We have a major issue in the southern region. Power demand is rising fast." The junior analyst pointed to the main display.

  "Because of the extreme heat," senior analyst added. "Cooling systems are running everywhere."

  A third voice cut in. "If it keeps rising, parts of the region will start losing power."

  Naia stepped closer to the screen. Her eyes moved fast, but her facial expression didn't change.

  "Show me what we can shut down with the least damage," she said.

  Her team was already on it. Lists appeared, zones got highlighted.

  "Factories," someone said.

  "Non-essential industrial areas," another added.

  Naia nodded. "Do it."

  A man on her right looked at the screen. "Well, the north is about to have a very quiet evening."

  Naia kept her eyes on the main display.

  "Yeah," she said. "But they can take the hit." She took a brief pause. "The south can't."

  She pointed at the screen. "Look, hospitals, elderly care centers, residential areas. People need power more than machines do."

  Everyone was on the same page so the plan rolled out fast. A shift, a sacrifice that kept things from getting worse. Minor blackouts still happened, but only for a short time.

  Collapse avoided.

  The red warnings faded, yellow turned to green and the room finally exhaled as one.

  Someone leaned back. "We did it. Good work everyone!"

  On the main graph, one of the lines rose. Then, just for a second, it jumped forward, as if the system skipped ahead, but it corrected itself right after.

  Everything stayed green after that.

  The system summary flashed: STABLE.

  People started packing up, talking again, even laughing a bit. That Sunday evening at GSCA, everyone shared the same sense of relief. Or perhaps everyone but her.

  Naia stayed where she was, her eyes fixed on the main screen.

  A coworker noticed she wasn't leaving and looked at her. "Naia?"

  "It's fine," she said. "You can all go home."

  The room got quiet when everyone left, but Naia stayed. She wasn't ready to leave just yet. She pulled out her tablet and replayed the graph. She zoomed in to see if the jump was still there, and it was. Something about it was bugging her. It's true that it corrected itself... but it shouldn't have jumped at all.

  Naia brought her index finger closer to her mouth and gently bit it. It was a thing she did when she was looking at something she couldn't explain.

  Outside the glass walls, the world was quiet and it looked stable, for now... But Naia couldn't shake the feeling that something had moved when it wasn't supposed to.

  Something small.

  Something almost invisible.

  Something that would matter later.

  Naia just didn't realize it yet.