Fletcher tore himself from the bushes, ignoring the thorns that ripped at his shirt and pants. Another howl sounded, and he yelped as he sprinted away from his perfect hiding spot towards the clearing where the game had begun.

  Black, leafless trees stood overhead, their branches doing little to obscure the red-streaked sky. According to his teacher, the strange coloring was caused by a Hex Cloud. Supposedly it was dangerous to be outside, but with how often Clouds came around, Fletcher never worried about such things.

  Until now.

  Crashing into the clearing, Fletcher glanced behind him, sure that an Unhuman was going to pop out and kill him at any moment. His father claimed that Unhumans wouldn’t hurt him unprovoked, but the stories he heard at school made him doubt that, especially under a dimming sky where every branch looked like a monster ready to eat him. He pulled his wooden spear from the back of his shirt and held it up in preparation for whatever came next.

  Something hard smacked Fletcher’s bottom, and he spun to face his enemy with a guttural yell.

  “Relax, Fletch. It’s me. What’s got you so scared?” the boy holding a club asked, a stupid grin on his face.

  It was just Jeric, his best friend in the whole world. The brown-skinned boy was a few weeks younger than Fletcher—both of them ten years old—but somehow, to Fletcher’s great annoyance, Jeric was the taller of the two.

  “I’m not scared. Future Breach Explorers never get scared.” Fletcher reminded his friend of the pact their trio shared as heat rushed to his cheeks. He was not scared.

  “Does this mean I win?” A girl interrupted them, one hand tugging at her brown ponytail as she stood at the front of the clearing. Addy completed their trio. The Future Breach Explorers were out at the park—against their parents’ orders—to enjoy an unexpected day off school. “Or did you guys give up playing and not tell me?”

  “Fletch got scared like a little baby,” Jeric said teasingly.

  Before Fletcher could respond, another shrieking howl cut through the air, causing him to turn back around with his weapon raised. “A [Bloodhound]!”

  “It’s just a dog. [Bloodhounds] don’t sound like that,” Jeric informed him.

  Addy crossed her arms. “And how would you know? You’ve never seen an Unhuman either.”

  “I did too. When I was little, my mom took me with her during one of her meetings with an Unhuman ambassador. There was a [Bloodhound] there, and I heard it then.”

  “You’re lying. My dad said that violent Unhumans like that aren’t allowed within the boundaries of the colonies. The Treaty says only peaceable species like [Goblins] and [Elves] can enter the walls.” Fletcher slid his spear between his shirt and his back, proving that he wasn’t scared. The smooth wood was cold against his skin, but he told himself that the excess sweat was from running around and not from fear.

  “The ambassador was one of the peaceable species. She was a [Demanlic] which is why they allowed her to bring a [Bloodhound] for a guard,” Jeric said, a glowing grin on his face.

  “As if a [Demanlic] would ever come to Loketa.” Addy rolled her eyes. “Boys are so stupid. [Demanlics] are the rarest Unhumans to exist. I heard there’s only a hundred left in the world after the Merger. There’s no way you saw one.”

  “I did too.”

  “What did she look like?”

  “A [Demanlic]. She had red eyes and black, spiral horns coming out of her hair and white wings. Her skin even glowed. You’re just jealous you’ve never seen one,” Jeric retorted.

  “I don’t bel—” Addy was interrupted by deep, blaring sirens sounding throughout the entire park.

  “Those are raid sirens.” Jeric hefted his club.

  “No. Those are radiation sirens. The Cloud is going to touch down,” Addy breathlessly corrected him with worried eyes.

  Fletcher’s face paled. If they didn’t get inside before it touched down, they would all get Hexed and then given to the Unhumans, never to be seen again.

  Jeric and Addy had already started running back up the path leading out of the ravine, and Fletcher took off behind them as the streaks of red in the sky grew darker in color, blocking more of the early spring’s sunlight. If it got much darker, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to find his way back to his house.

  Onward he and his friends ran, racing towards the fence of the park as the red in the sky turned a deep shade of maroon. Fletcher’s heart pounded in his chest, and his side burned. He not only caught up to his friends but passed them as they reached the open grassy field.

  The sirens got louder, the tones coming closer together, signaling that the three of them had very little time left. With each warning sound, panic grew closer to taking over Fletcher entirely.

  A thud came from behind. He glanced over his shoulder to see Jeric on the ground and Addy slowing to a stop. Without thinking, Fletcher turned back and raced to his friend’s side, reaching him around the same time as Addy.

  The two of them pulled Jeric to his feet, and all three continued in their sprint against death, Jeric going slower due to a slight limp gained from his fall. With each step, the world grew dimmer as faint red light bathed the scenery around them.

  They reached the fence they typically jumped as a shortcut back home, and Fletcher put his hands together as a foothold to get Addy—the shortest of the trio—up first. She smoothly placed one foot in his hands and jumped at the same time he pushed upwards, launching her to the top of the fence.

  She dropped to the other side as Jeric used Fletcher’s boost to grab the top. He jumped over as Fletcher leaped upwards, his fingers just scraping the edge of the wooden slate but not quite reaching them.

  “Fletcher, come on,” Jeric shouted from the other side.

  “You two go. I’ll catch up,” Fletcher said, failing in his jump yet again. He’d never struggled to reach the top of it before, but now that he absolutely had to, he couldn’t.

  “Fletcher—” Addy began in a rushed voice.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Go,” he yelled back. “Just go!”

  There was a momentary pause.

  “Good luck, Fletcher,” Jeric said at last.

  Fletcher stood there, catching his breath as their footsteps dashed away. He kicked the fence, stubbing his toe. He was going to get Hexed, no doubt about it, and all because of a stupid fence. Going around it would take far too long, adding at least fifteen minutes to his run, which would still result in him getting Hexed. It was the end of his life as he knew it, and he never even got the chance to tell his dad sorry for lying about cleaning his room.

  No.

  He refused to give up. He was a Future Breach Explorer, and he could figure a way out of this. Glancing around, Fletcher caught sight of a large rock a few yards away. It wasn’t right next to the fence, but it was close enough for his purposes.

  He went to it and balanced on the top, wondering if he could safely jump off of it without twisting his ankle or breaking his leg.

  “I can do this,” he promised himself.

  The sirens continued their annoying song, reminding him that at any moment, he could be Hexed which would make this entire thing futile anyway. Still, he had to try.

  Taking one last breath, Fletcher launched up and forwards from the rock, his fingers barely able to latch on to the top of the fence. Splinters dug into his skin as he pulled himself upwards, and his legs wildly kicked against the wood for some kind of foothold.

  Once he was over, he leaped down from the fence, hitting the dirt with a roll and wasting no time as he bounced back to his feet to resume his sprint home. His arms ached from the exertion of pulling himself up, but he didn’t pay attention to that as he ran.

  The townhouse community he lived in was just on the other side of the small wooded nature preserve. That day, however, it seemed like it was on the other side of the world.

  The sky’s color reached peak saturation, deep crimson light and lifeless trees creating a picture right out of a Halloween movie. Fletcher ignored the preserve’s winding trails to instead sprint through the undergrowth and deal with the branches and brambles tugging at his clothes and skin as he ran.

  His body was shaking from exhaustion and fear by the time he broke free from the last tangles of plants to step onto the sidewalk. There was no sign of Jeric or Addy, but they both lived down a different street, so he chose to believe they were already close to their homes.

  Home.

  Fletcher continued his mad dash to safety. The sirens drowned out any other noise except his heaving as he pressed forward. Each tone seemed to mock him, laughing at his pitiful attempt to reach his house before the touchdown.

  What if it already happened? What if he was already Hexed? He was going to go away forever and never see his dad again.

  Tears streamed down Fletcher’s face as he ran. Some quiet logical voice inside reminded him that he could seek shelter in any of the houses he passed, but his entire being was focused entirely on reaching home and his father. All he wanted was his dad.

  Houses and trees passed on either side, but his only coherent thoughts were of his father. A new determination to reach it before the touchdown spawned inside. He was a Future Breach Explorer. He could do anything he set his mind to.

  The familiar brown door came into view, and within a moment Fletcher was twisting the handle and pushing his way inside. As he tried to enter the safety of the house, his spear caught on the outer door frame, leaving him outside for another second. In an instant, the shaft was pulled from his shirt and he jumped inside, slamming the door behind him, but immediately he knew something was wrong. He collapsed to the floor with a scream as his dad rushed to him.

  “Fletcher!” his father cried “Where were you?”

  Instead of responding, Fletcher only cried, clutching his face. “My eyes! They burn,” he said between sobs. All of his skin tingled—a sensation which he only now noticed—but his eyes were the hub of a searing pain that seemed to come out of nowhere.

  “Oh, no. No, Fletcher. Not you too,” his father whispered as he pulled him close.

  Fletcher shut his eyes as hard as he could, wishing the pain would end, but even with his eyes closed, something appeared within his vision. It was a set of white words against the blackness he was trying to create, and despite the agony, he recognized that it was as good as a death sentence.

  [Species Type Acquired: Demanlic]

  [Conversion Percentage: 1%]

  [New Skill Acquired: Dark Vision, Level 1]

  ***

  “But why do we have to move?” Fletcher asked as he placed the final toy in the cardboard box. It was the last of the packing he had to complete, and then that evening they would be leaving on the train to Alcett, a much larger colony in the middle of the continent that used to be North America.

  “To keep you safe,” his father said in a soft tone. “We don’t want to deal with Clouds and touchdowns anymore. A lot of other people are moving too because of it.”

  “I don’t want to leave my friends. What about Addy and Jeric? They were out too when the Cloud touched down,” Fletcher pointed out. “They aren’t moving.”

  His dad pursued his lips, his sandy blond hair falling into his eyes. “Fletch, your friend Jeric didn’t make it inside in time. He was Hexed, and he’s being taken to the Unhuman Embassy tomorrow.”

  “He got Hexed too? Is he also a [Demanlic]?” Fletcher asked.

  “Fletcher,” his father hissed. “Don’t say things like that.”

  “B-but—”

  “We talked about this,” his dad said soothingly. “You can’t tell anyone about what happened or what you saw. If you do—”

  “They’ll take me away, like Mom,” Fletcher finished the rest of the sentence. “Is… is that what happened to Jeric? Did he tell someone by accident?”

  “No. They discovered it during his exam.”

  After a Cloud touchdown, everyone in the colony had to get examined by a doctor to ensure they hadn’t been Hexed. Fletcher’s was two days ago, and even though he was exactly what they were looking for, the doctor gave him a clean bill of health.

  “But I passed mine,” he said. Jeric was a better liar than him even. How could his friend have been caught?

  “His teeth changed. There was no way to hide it. It’s not like your condition,” his father explained. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to be careful. Listen to me closely, Fletcher. You can’t tell anyone about your Hexing, and you have to be sure you’re never in the dark where people can see you. Can you do that?”

  Fletcher shrugged as tears filled his eyes. He was so scared. Even if his eyes didn’t hurt anymore, he hated that they were different. It’d been less than a week since the Cloud, and sometimes he thought he could still feel the tingling from being Hexed.

  His dad grabbed his face to force him to face him. “Fletcher Anders, you are strong. You can do this. I need you to do this. I can’t lose you too, buddy. Do this for me, okay?”

  “Okay,” Fletcher agreed as he accepted the hug from his dad.

  His father kissed his head before letting go. “I’m going to take this box downstairs with the others. Go double check you got everything from the bathroom.”

  Fletcher watched his father leave with the last box from his bedroom and then did as he was told. He made sure to turn the lights on before he stepped into the room, and he thoroughly checked through all the drawers and cupboards. As he turned to leave, he stopped to look at himself in the mirror.

  It was his usual appearance staring back, nothing that signaled he’d been Hexed. Fair skin, blond hair like his father, and green eyes that supposedly came from his mother. Against his better judgment, Fletcher reached over to the wall and flicked the light switch off, plunging the small, tiled room into darkness. Or what should have been darkness.

  That same type of white text appeared in the corner of his vision amongst the dim scene of the sink and mirror, just like last week when the Cloud touched down.

  [Dark Vision: Active]

  Fletcher looked back at his reflection, a grayed out version of what he’d seen just before.

  Only this time, his eyes seemed to glow, the pupils a dark maroon he recognized from [Demanlic] pictures from his textbooks. Whatever Fletcher was now, he knew he wasn’t Human.

  Not anymore.