Sun sank toward New Jersey skyline, painting Hudson River orange and gold as shadows lengthened across Riverside Park with November evening approaching. Dusk, that transitional hour when joggers headed home, when park emptied, when Hazel Sinclair preferred running.
Fewer people, quieter, peaceful.
Columbia hoodie tied around waist despite November chill as body warmed from twenty minutes jogging, feet pounding familiar pathway along river with earbuds playing steady rhythm, breath controlled, routine exercise clearing mind from day's academic stress.
Midterm season finally over, thank god, now just regular drowning in assignments instead of apocalyptic drowning.
Park nearly empty this hour as sunset runners mostly gone, dog walkers heading home before dark, pathways isolated with just Hazel, autumn trees, fading sunlight, solitude.
Perfect.
Normal evening jog, normal routine, nothing unusual.
Twenty-year-old physics student maintaining fitness before returning to Butler Library's endless problem sets.
CRACK.
Loud, sudden, above.
Hazel's head jerked up as tree branch broke, massive oak limb fracturing above pathway, dead wood surrendering to gravity and decay.
Falling.
Directly toward her.
No time, no dodge, branch massive and would crush, would kill, six feet of solid oak plummeting from twenty feet up.
Instinct screaming.
Hands shot up, PROTECT YOURSELF, arms raised defensively with palms out as body moved before thought, primal survival response to incoming death.
Eyes squeezed shut.
Bracing for impact.
Waiting for crushing weight.
Waiting for pain.
Waiting for—
Nothing.
No impact.
No weight.
No pain.
Silence except wind rustling and distant traffic and her own hammering heart.
What...?
Still braced with eyes still closed, branch should have hit, should be dead or broken or screaming.
Slowly, cautiously, eyes opened.
And witnessed impossibility.
Branch hovering.
Mid-air.
Four feet above upraised hands.
Massive oak limb, hundred pounds easy, six feet long with dead wood and withered leaves, suspended, floating as gravity was denied.
And wind.
Swirling wind circled branch with visible distortion as air currents wrapped around wood like invisible hands, holding weight, preventing fall.
Wind she could see.
Shimmering air with light bending, leaves caught in miniature cyclone as controlled tornado sustained impossible suspension.
Coming from her hands.
Hazel froze with hands still raised, palms up, fingers spread as wind flowed from her skin, her body, her, manifesting physically, holding branch mid-air.
"What... the... fuck...?"
Whisper barely audible over wind sound, her wind, her power, something impossible flowing from college student's ordinary hands.
Physics didn't allow this.
Thermodynamics violated, conservation of energy broken, forces from nowhere as wind generated spontaneously, matter controlled by thought—
Magic.
Actual fucking magic.
Her magic.
Branch still hovering with wind still swirling as sunset light caught on impossible phenomenon.
Reality shattered.
Hazel's rational mind screamed IMPOSSIBLE IMPOSSIBLE but HAPPENING, right there, undeniable as branch floated via wind she created.
Slowly lowering hands as wind dissipated immediately, branch dropping heavily to pathway with solid thud while normal physics resumed and gravity reclaimed.
Gone.
Wind vanished, branch fallen, normal restored.
But it happened.
Definitely happened.
Looking around frantically—
Pathway empty.
Sunset hour with park deserted, no witnesses, alone when impossibility manifested, alone with world-breaking discovery.
Nobody saw.
Thank god nobody saw.
Staring at own hands, trembling with fingers shaking, palms normal as unremarkable college student hands that just wielded cosmic power.
"I just... I moved that. With wind. I created... wind... from nothing..."
Branch lay innocently on asphalt with wind normal now, November breeze, nothing supernatural, nothing controlled.
But for five seconds...
Hazel Sinclair violated every law of physics.
Created matter from nothing.
Controlled reality with thought.
Legs shaking as she walked unsteadily to bench and sat heavily while awe and terror and confusion overwhelmed training, overwhelmed rationality, overwhelmed everything.
"What's happening to me...?"
Sunset painted sky crimson.
No answer.
Only impossible memory.
***
Fourteen thousand feet above sea level, Mauna Kea Observatory monitoring station hummed with atmospheric sensors recording ionospheric data as electromagnetic signatures tracked across upper atmosphere.
Dr. Evelyn Sato reviewed afternoon readings with routine analysis, calm professional focus, decade of experience reading atmospheric patterns.
Then alert.
Signal detected.
Unknown energy signature.
Computer screen flashed as atmospheric anomaly appeared, electromagnetic spike with unfamiliar wavelength manifesting suddenly then dissipating, brief duration, same impossible characteristics as previous readings.
Third time.
Third occurrence in six weeks.
Evelyn leaned forward, calm despite racing thoughts, methodical despite significance, scientist first, evidence-based.
Recording timestamp: Late November 2024 - Third Signal Detected.
Checking equipment immediately as calibration confirmed, sensors functioning normally, not malfunction, not error.
Real atmospheric event.
Impossible but real.
Again.
Pulled up file labeled "Anomaly_Tracking_Fall2024" as spreadsheet documented impossible events.
Signal One: Early October 2024, brief duration with unfamiliar electromagnetic wavelength, origin triangulated to New York City, Manhattan area, first recorded instance with no natural explanation identified.
Signal Two: November 4, 2024, brief duration with different wavelength from Signal One, origin triangulated to northern hemisphere high latitude, atmospheric scatter made precise location uncertain, possibly Northern Ice Field region based on propagation patterns, second instance as pattern possibly emerged.
Signal Three, current: Late November 2024, today, afternoon Hawaii time, brief duration with different wavelength from Signals One and Two, origin triangulating as processing atmospheric data calculated propagation paths.
Result: New York City, Manhattan area, matching Signal One location.
Three signals.
Six weeks total.
All different wavelengths.
Two from same location: NYC.
Evelyn stared at data as pattern was undeniable now.
"Three signals. Six weeks. Accelerating? October... then November 4th... now late November. Frequency increasing potentially."
Speaking aloud as solitary research habit aided analysis through vocalization.
"All different wavelengths. Not repetition, variation. Each event unique signature. Different sources? Different phenomena? Different... what?"
Reviewing wavelength data showed no matches in ten years atmospheric physics database as nothing natural produced these signatures and nothing conventional explained electromagnetic patterns.
"And two from New York City. Signal One: October, Manhattan. Signal Three: today, Manhattan. Same approximate location. That's not random distribution. That's geographic concentration."
Calculating probability showed billions of people worldwide with thousands of cities, yet sixty-seven percent of signals from single metropolitan area?
"Statistical anomaly. Unless... unless source located in New York. Unless events originating from specific geographic point."
Hypothesis forming.
Evidence suggesting concentrated phenomenon as something happening in Manhattan specifically.
Repeatedly.
Pulled up spectral analysis with three wavelengths compared visually.
Signal One: Specific electromagnetic frequency from October, NYC.
Signal Two: Different frequency from November 4, high latitude.
Signal Three: Different again frequency from late November, NYC.
No repetition.
Each unique.
"Why different every time? Natural phenomena repeat signatures. Lightning: consistent electromagnetic profile. Aurora: predictable wavelength ranges. Solar flares: characteristic patterns."
Gesturing at screen showing three completely different spectral signatures.
"These? Nothing matches. Each event entirely unique. Like... like different events producing similar effects but from different mechanisms."
Frustrating.
Fascinating.
Impossible.
"What produces electromagnetic signature without consistent wavelength? What atmospheric event shows no pattern repetition?"
No answer.
Just three impossible data points.
And growing frequency.
Evelyn stood as decision crystallized, decade of careful observation and passive documentation insufficient now.
Three signals meant pattern.
Two from NYC meant geographic correlation.
Increasing frequency meant escalation.
Passive observation inadequate.
Active investigation required.
"I need to go to New York."
Speaking to empty room as decision made, professional detachment shifting to active pursuit.
Walking to world map on wall with New York City marked as Manhattan island was tiny point on eastern seaboard.
Five thousand miles from Hawaii.
Different timezone.
Different environment.
But source location for sixty-seven percent of impossible atmospheric events.
"Signal One originated Manhattan. Signal Three originated Manhattan. If pattern continues... next signal likely Manhattan. If I'm there... ground-level detection possible. Atmospheric readings from origin point rather than ionospheric propagation."
Better data.
Direct observation.
Understanding instead of speculation.
Returning to computer as she pulled up calendar, checked observatory schedule, requested time off, booked flights mentally.
"Dr. Chen can cover monitoring. Week in New York. Bring portable atmospheric sensors. Set up ground-level detection grid across Manhattan. Wait for next signal."
If next signal occurred.
If pattern continued.
If—
"No. When. Three signals, six weeks, accelerating frequency. When next signal occurs. And I'll be there. Recording from ground zero. Understanding what's happening."
Grim determination settled across Japanese-American features.
Ten years atmospheric physics experience.
Never seen anything like these signals.
Something fundamentally wrong with Earth's atmosphere.
And New York City was epicenter.
Time to investigate directly.
Evelyn created new file: "NYC_Investigation_Plan"
Objectives: Ground-level atmospheric monitoring, Manhattan sensor grid deployment, origin point triangulation, real-time signal detection, pattern analysis continuation.
Timeline: Depart Hawaii within forty-eight hours.
Duration: One week minimum, extend if necessary.
Expected outcome: Direct observation of next atmospheric anomaly from ground zero.
Saving file.
Looking toward window as sunset over Pacific showed volcanic mountain silhouette against orange sky.
Somewhere five thousand miles east, something impossible happening repeatedly.
Time to find out what.
"New York City. Here I come."
Investigation begins.
💖 Enjoying the story?
👉 Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/sa2quasar