Seventeen years passed quietly.
Not quietly in the sense that life had been peaceful or easy. Y City was not a place where life slowed down long enough for peace to settle comfortably. Sirens still wailed through the night. Arguments still echoed through apartment hallways. Bills still arrived on the same unforgiving schedule.
But within the small Hayes family, something unusual had grown.
Evan.
From the moment his abilities had first appeared as a child, Daniel and Emily understood one thing immediately.
The world could never know.
At first, it had been small things.
Toys moving.
Objects floating.
Doors opening when Evan reached for them.
But as he grew older, those small things became larger, stronger, more difficult to hide.
By the time he was eight years old, Evan could lift furniture without touching it.
By ten, he could hear sounds from streets away if he focused.
