The boys stepped past the threshold into the room, and Remy closed the door behind him.

It was a small room with a long table at the far end of the wall. Rebecca was seated there with her hands folded on her lap. A spike of fear shot through Will, and he stopped still at the door.

"Why don't you have a seat," came a gruff voice.

Will tore his eyes away from Rebecca and looked past her. Across from the table sat a military man with salt and pepper hair. He had a full beard and mustache and thick eyebrows to match. Will gulped at the amount of stars on his epaulets and glanced at the other two occupants beside him.

They wore plain clothes. The older man wore a leather duster and had a pockmarked face, while the younger one wore formals with a suit and tie.

Will and Remy exchanged glances and took the free seats next to Rebecca. The Colonel talked to the other two in a hushed tone too low for Will to pick up on. Sweat trickled down his back, and he tried to control his fidgeting. He didn't know where to place his arms. He considered putting them on the table, but the clutter of pens, erasers, and stacks of honest-to-God paper made him think better of it.

One of the plastic sheets stuck out of a folder at the edge of the table, and Will ran his thumb along its end to center himself. Feigning nonchalance, he looked around the room. At the far end of the wall was a screen playing the news on mute.

Captured footage of the attack was playing on the screen on a loop. At the bottom scrolled the estimated death toll, which was in the thousands. Will's heart grew cold. This was bad.

The trio across the table stopped talking, and the Colonel looked directly at Will. He resisted the urge to flinch and kept his face neutral. A soft click came from behind him, which was followed by the clack of heels. A woman in her forties strode in.

She had white overalls with the universal symbol for the medical field, a staff with a serpent twisted around it. She smiled at Will and saluted the Colonel.

"As you were, Major," said the Colonel. "These are the two that require your attention."

The doctor turned to Will. "Hold out your arm, please."

Will presented his arm, and she held some kind of medical device against his wrist. It scanned him for a few seconds before it gave a beep. She nodded and motioned to Remy to do the same. A few seconds later, the device gave another beep.

She looked at the readings grimly before turning to the Colonel. "It's the same, Colonel."

Will broke into cold sweats and resisted the urge to gulp. The Colonel tapped a finger against the table before glancing at the slate in front of him. "William Dunn from Stanton High."

"Yes, sir."

"You have a stellar record," said the Colonel. "It says here you are under a scholarship. Rockmore Accelerated Learning?"

"Yes, sir."

"You seem a capable young man," the Colonel said. "I have many good soldiers in your situation. What Tower floor are you from?"

"I'm not from any floor, sir," said Will. "I'm an Undercity native."

The older gentleman beside the Colonel stirred and leaned forward. The Colonel looked at the two with mild distaste before introducing them. "This is Detective Morrison and Officer Von-Bron. They have a few questions for you."

Will looked at the older detective with the pockmarked face. There was something oddly snake-like about the man. He had his eyes locked onto Will the moment he had entered the room, accessing and recording his every move.

He pulled out a stim cig from his leather duster and placed it in his mouth. "Mr. Dunn."

"Um, yes?" said Will.

"What brand of shoes do you wear?"

The question threw Will off his loop. He glanced down at his shoes. "These are just an old pair of Reelers."

"Good brand," the detective nodded. "Tough, lasts long, outdoorsy type, are you?"

The fake upper tower accent was grating at Will. The Undercity twang was hidden but still there. The man was clearly from the lower end of the tower but had climbed his way up to the rank of detective.

"I get around," said Will.

"Yes, you do." The older detective clicked his tongue. "You have been baptized before. You are already awakened?"

"Yes, I was already awakened," confirmed Will.

"In fact, all three of y'all are awakened." The detective looked around at the group. "So, why go to the ceremony?"

"It's a cultural event. It's the first time we get to see what life outside the tower is like."

"And yet you didn't bother to stay for the entire ceremony, did you, Mr. Dunn?"

"Pardon?"

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"Were you present at the ceremony?"

"Yes."

"Oh, so you did take part in the Revitalization ritual."

"What?" Remy burst out. "There is no revitalization ritual in awakening. What are you talking about?"

The detective turned towards Remy. "Remy Soto, you seem familiar with temple rituals."

"I suppose," Remy said gruffly.

The detective consulted his slate. "Remy Soto, orphan, raised by the temple till you were thirteen. Would it be accurate to say you are familiar with the temple grounds?"

"I wouldn't say that."

"You wouldn't?"

"No, it's been years since I have set foot on temple grounds."

"And now you are attending one of the best institutions in the tower," said the detective. "Near the top of your class. I would say that your memory is just fine."

"Whatever, copper," Remy snorted.

The detective's eyes hardened. "You were found outside the temple grounds when the alert had gone off. Care to tell me what exactly were you doing there?"

There was silence as the question went unanswered.

"I repeat, what were you doing out of the temple grounds?"

"Nothing," Remy shrugged.

The detective slammed his hand against the table, causing the papers to jump. "What do you know about the attack on the airships?"

The three kids flinched. As the table rattled, a small round stamp fell into Will's hand. He clutched at it but didn't dare to put it back on the table.

The detective continued his question. "Did you see the airships crash?"

"No," answered Will, sensing a trap. The cop would pick on a detail about the crash that they would have no answer to.

"One of the planes blew right above the golden temple. Did you witness that?"

"No," answered Will. His heart rate was steadily climbing. The tingling in his knee was back, and he resisted the urge to scream. He was about to have another attack.

"You were present for the ceremony, and yet somehow you missed the airships right above your heads? There is a contradiction here, Mr. Dunn."

Will gripped the round disk in his hand and pressed it against his throbbing leg, willing it to subside. He dug into his skin, using the pain to focus.

"Your signature readings indicate some kind of stress. You were exposed to high levels of radiation. Where were you, Mr. Dunn?"

"I think that's enough," said the Colonel. "This interrogation isn't productive."

The detective gave a thin-lipped smile. "Colonel, are you suggesting... the most egregious terrorist attack in the last two decades merits no scrutiny?"

"Not if you are targeting errant children," said the Colonel, giving Will the side eye.

Will blinked. The Colonel was trying to help him. The military and the police had always been at odds, and since the evacuation was conducted by the military, any lapses would probably fall on the military's head. Thank God for politics. He had to just play dumb, deny everything, lie and deny.

"Awakening day has passed, Colonel," said the detective. "They are of age."

Will gritted his teeth as he tried to keep still. The shakes were getting worse. He was barely holding on. Muscles tense, he fought for control. Whatever happened, he couldn't have a breakdown right now.

The detective turned towards Will. "What were you doing outside the temple grounds, Mr. Dunn? You still haven't given a straight answer to where you were during the ceremony."

Will looked between the Colonel and the two cops. The doctor sat off to the side, but she too seemed interested. He realized that he had to give them something, a believable lie that they could latch onto.

Will reached into his pocket, and his fist closed around something round and smooth. He brought it out slowly and presented it to the group.

The adults stared at the apple resting on his palm with bewilderment. For a second, they said nothing, and then the doctor began to laugh. The colonel gave a small chuckle, which he disguised as a cough.

The detective grimaced. He let out a breath and leaned back against his chair. "Miss. Wagner, you have been oddly silent on the matter."

Will felt a stab of fear. If Rebecca talked, then the song and dance they just had would be meaningless. Will looked at Rebecca, but she didn't meet his eyes. She had a blank look on her face as she stared at the detective.

"I have nothing more to add," she simply stated.

"I see." The detective's lip curled. He wasn't ready to give up yet. He turned back to Will. "Stealing from temple property is a serious crime. That fruit is on the endangered list."

"I don't have time to look at children playing hooky to see some green," the Colonel snorted.

"The temple is beyond the Tower's jurisdiction," the doctor finally chimed in. "Does TI-7 intend to overextend its boundaries?"

The detective softened his tone. "No, of course not, doctor. Who could imagine such a thing?"

"Well, I think we have wasted enough of our day." The Colonel stood up and addressed the three. "See that you are properly de-hosed by the doctor."

He smartly strode out of the room. The doctor beckoned them, and Remy stepped forward. She escorted him to a side chamber and there was a distinct whirring of some kind of machine.

Will got up and tried to center himself, but a clack of steel-toed boots brought him out of his reverie. He found the gruff detective facing him.

Detective Morrison held out his hand, and Will shook it.

"You know, Reelers really make great shoes," he said. "Odd thing, though..."

"Sorry?" said Will, unable to see where this was going.

"The snow on your shoes," continued the detective. "I would have thought they would have melted by now."

Will looked down and saw the white dust coating his shoes. It wasn't snow. Lysom, the radiation absorbent, stuck to his shoes in patches, and Will's eyes went wide.

The old detective clutched Will's hand hard, and both of them stared at each other. Will's heart hammered in his chest as he kept his face impassive.

"I'll be seeing you, William," the detective said as he walked away. Will stood rooted as the two cops made their way out of the room. The door behind him slammed shut.

"You are up next, William," the doctor called out. Will looked up and saw Remy stepping out of the chamber, looking disgruntled. He was covered in some kind of foam, which was quickly evaporating.

"Watch it," Remy muttered as Will passed by. "It's weird and cold."

Will stepped into the chamber, shaking a little. He was drained of energy and barely holding on. The doctor started the dehosing, and he was sprayed with foam from head to toe. It felt icy cold but not the same cold as psion radiation.

Something lifted off of him, and the heaviness he had been experiencing all evening was gone. The change was so sudden that he nearly crashed right there.

"You are free to go," said the doctor.

Will left the side chamber with deliberate care. Rebecca climbed in after him and gave him a glare. She was none too pleased about the events but still had backed him up.

The doctor addressed the two boys. "Give the lady some privacy. Both of you step out."

Will and Remy stepped out of the room while the whirring of the de-hoser continued behind them. As soon as the door closed, Will stumbled, unable to hold on any longer. Remy cursed and dragged Will to the bathroom.

Will's world went white, and the shakes came in full. Remy caught him before his head hit the tiles, and he lay on the floor as the seizure took him.

He shook and shook, unable to do anything. His flesh not his own, he twitched on the floor like something possessed. Remy watched him with a mixture of sadness and pity.

The shakes continued for half a minute, and Will lay on the floor completely spent, unable to move.

The bathroom door slammed open, and Remy cursed. Rebecca strode in and stood over them with her arms crossed.

"Becca," said Remy weakly. "You could have knocked."

She ignored the inane comment and stared at both of them. "We need to talk."