INTERLUDE V: A GLIMPSE

Taylor sat on the motel bed, back against the headboard, legs crossed. The dim glow from the bedside lamp cast long shadows across the room. On the nightstand, a small stack of bills lay neatly arranged—the week’s haul. Not much, but enough to get by.

Her fingers rubbed together absently as she stared at the quarter in front of her. It sat in the center of the bed, perfectly still.

She exhaled slowly.

The past few nights had been frustrating. She had tested her power in small ways—stepping forward, reaching, trying to recapture that pull. Sometimes she felt it, a faint tug in her chest, but it was inconsistent. Unreliable. And she couldn’t afford unreliable.

Tonight, she was going to figure it out.

She stretched her fingers, rolling her shoulders. Okay. What do I know?

Her power had always been two things: heightened vision—detailed, impossible to shut off—and what she had thought of as a force field. But it wasn’t a field at all. It was space itself, bending and shaping around her.

So what had she done differently?

She thought back to the alley. The fight. The knife.

Her opponent had moved toward her, but not by choice. She had pulled him in, just for an instant.

Not telekinesis. Not exactly.

But a force. 

Her gaze sharpened on the quarter. She concentrated, reaching for that feeling again.

There had been a moment—a shift, almost like adjusting her perspective. Like leaning forward without moving.

She exhaled again, pushing all other thoughts aside. No overthinking. Just instinct.

Taylor reached.

Not with her hand. With something else.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then—just as doubt started to creep in—

The air shimmered.

Faint, barely noticeable, but she caught it instantly. A ripple in space itself, tinged with the softest hue of blue.

The quarter slid an inch closer.

Her breath hitched.

Her fingers twitched, and the shimmer vanished. The quarter stilled.

She didn’t move, heart pounding, eyes fixed on the tiny shift in distance.

Then, slowly, she reached out again—more intentional this time. The air around her felt… responsive. Like a muscle she hadn’t known she had, waiting to be flexed.

A slow breath left her lips, curling into the ghost of a smile.

Now she just had to figure out how far she could take it.