Rachel's House

The sun has been up a while by the time I get back from my run. I've got a bad habit (according to Leona) of going through doors like I've got a SWAT team behind me when my mind is elsewhere--

--and so I already have the front door open before the intruder can even react. He starts to spin around, but I teleport behind him, wrap him into a headlock, and drive him into the couch.

We land on a pillow and blanket. They're still warm.

"Oomph," the guy says, face buried in his pillow.

I flip him over and plant a forearm under his chin. I've never seen him before: mid-20s, dark hair. Just then, a voice comes through the still-open front door.

"Hey, Rachel? You got a minute--"

It's Tim, my computer-geek next-door neighbor. I look up in time to see his face fall. Whatever he was about to say, the sight of me pinning some guy to the couch has taken the wind out of his sails. "Sorry," he says and hurries away.

"Hey--" my prisoner says. He gags. "--I can't breathe."

I let him go. "Name."

"Marc," he says. "Leona and I are--"

"Please, no details."

"No! It's not like that. She saved me from Building 26. I have a power--"

"And those would be the details. Listen, next time you see Leona, would you remind here that I'm still a little jumpy from the whole Building 26 thing myself?"

I head for the shower, adrenalin still pumping.

• "I'm really sorry," Marc calls after me...