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Prologue

I watched Calamity rise

I was six years old then, as I stood in the night on the balcony of our apartment I can still remember how the old air conditioner rattled in thenext toThe overworkedwater like perspiration from the forehead of a suicidal jumper Thecold My mother had frequently turned it off

After her passing, my father left it on; he said that he felt cooler with it running

I lowered ht, which rose like a new star above the horizon Only no star had ever been that bright or that red Crimson It looked like a bullet wound in the dome of heaven itself

On that night, Calalow I stood there—popsicle ers—as I watched the entire ascent

Then the screa had started

PART ONE

1

“DAVID?” The voice came from my earpiece

I shook out of ain, but nearly thirteen years had passed since Calaer; I wasn’t even an orphan working the munitions factory in the understreets

I was a Reckoner

“Here,” I answered, shouldering ht, and I swore I could see a red cast to everything froht as it had that first evening

Docago spread out beforewas steel here Like a cyborg from the future with the skin ripped off Only, you know, not murderous Or, well, alive at all

Man, I thought I really do suck at metaphors

Steelheart was dead now, and we had reclai many amenities the elite had once reserved for themselves I could take a shower every day in my own bathroom I almost didn’t knohat to do with such luxury Other than, you know, not stink

Newcago, at long last, was free

It was my job to make sure it stayed that way

“I don’t see anything,” I whispered, kneeling beside the edge of the rooftop I wore an earpiece that connected wirelessly to my mobile A small ca, and the earpiece was sensitive enough to pick up what I said, even when I spoke very softly

“Keep watching,” Tia said over the line “Cody reports that Prof and the mark went your direction”

“It’s quiet here,” I whispered “Are you sure—”

The rooftop exploded just besideshook, the blast spraying bits of broken metal across me Calamity! Those shots packed a punch

“Sparks!” Cody yelled over the line “She got aroundup on your north side—”

His voice was drowned out as another glowing energy pulse shot up froround below and ripped the side off the rooftop near where I hid

“Run!” Tia yelled

Like I needed to be told I got ht Dressed in a black jumpsuit and sneakers, Sourcefield wore a fullblack cape So more than others Honestly, she looked ridiculous—even if she did glow faintly blue and crackle with energy spreading across her body

If she touched soh it It wasn’t true teleportation, but close enough—and the more conductive the substance, the farther she could travel, so a city made of steel was kind of like paradise for her It was surprising it had taken her so long to get here

As if teleportation weren’t enough, her electrical abilities also ave off were famous; I’d never seen her in pe

rson before, but I’d alanted to see her work

Just not from so close up

“Scramble the plan!” Tia ordered “Prof? Jon! Report in! Abraham?”

I listened with only half an ear as a globe of crackling electricity whizzed by lobe passed right through where I’d been standing That one hit the rooftop, causing another explosion andme stumble Shards of metal pelted

Then I leaped off

I didn’t fall far before hitting the balcony of a penthouse apart, I darted inside A plastic cooler waited on the other side by the door I threw open the lid and fished around, trying to remain calm

Sourcefield had co immediately—random people, no perceivable purpose behind it Just like Steelheart had done in his early days Then she’d started calling out for the citizens to turn in the Reckoners, so she could bring us to justice

A twisted brand of Epic justice They killed whoreat they could barely conceive it Well, she’d see soon enough So far, our plan to bring her doasn’t going terribly well, but ere the Reckoners We prepared for the unexpected

From the cooler, I pulled out a water balloon

This, I thought, had better work

Tia and I had debated for days on Sourcefield’s weakness Every Epic had at least one, and often they were randos they avoided, to try to figure out what substance or situation ate their powers

This balloon contained our best guess as to Sourcefield’s weakness I turned, hefting the balloon in one hand, rifle in the other, watching the doorway and waiting for her to come after me

“David?” Tia asked over the earpiece

“Yeah?” I whispered, anxious, balloon ready to throw

“Why are you watching the balcony?”

Why was I …

Oh, right Sourcefield could travel through walls

Feeling like an idiot, I juh the ceiling, electricity buzzing all around her She hit the floor on one knee, hand out, a ball of electricity growing there, casting frantic shadows across the room

Feeling nothing but a spike of adrenaline, I hurled the balloon It hit Sourcefield right in the chest, and her energy blast fizzled into nothing Red liquid from the balloon splashed on the walls and floor around her Too thin to be blood, it was an old powdered fruit drink you ar I remembered it from childhood

And it was her weakness

Heart thu torso as if in shock, though the blackher expression Lines of electricity still worked across her body like tiny gloorms

I leveled the rifle and pulled the trigger The crack of gunfire indoors all but deafened me, but I delivered a bullet directly toward Sourcefield’s face

That bullet exploded as it passed through her energy field Even soaked with the Kool-Aid, her protections worked