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If anyone was ever going to believe me—I nodded quickly. “Yeah.”

He reached out and I felt a fingertip lightly trace the line from my mid-back to my hip. I shivered, then I shoved my shirt back down and turned to find him very much closer.

“Those are trippy.”

“It happened that night. And ever since—” I reached out at the walls. “When I close my eyes, I can see things. Like, fireflies darting back and forth from phones. And power cables inside walls. I can feel them too.”

“So why the grease fire?”

“Burton pissed me off.”

Darius nodded like that was rational—no matter that I could have burned the whole place down with everyone inside.

“I can’t control it yet.”

“Have you tried?”

“Where can I?” I looked around in frustration. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Here.” He crawled backwards and reached for some remotes, turning one of the game systems and his TV on. Then he handed a controller to me.

I dropped it like it was on fire. “I can’t—I might break it.”

He picked it up and handed it back. “It’s last gen, don’t care—do your thing.”

I took it from him hesitantly. I could feel its charge, see the stream of fireflies shooting in and out of it—and I could feel the game system revving up.

“Okay.” I held onto it with both hands, and let my fingers find the controls.

A game booted up.Alien Atrocity!the load screen informed me. It had a lot of guns, and was us versus aliens, I was some sort of warrior and—I died. Once, twice, again?—

“Are you even trying?”

I inhaled and exhaled without saying anything. “I have never played this before?—”

“You’re not letting yourself go.”

“Because letting myself go is dangerous.”

“So is ruining my reputation online,” Darius said. “If we were playing the team version of this, my teammates would be howling for your blood. As it is, you’re embarrassing me.”

I sighed and closed my eyes. The controller I held rumbled—I knew by now that meant I was being shot. Or eaten. The game was pretty violent.

But I could be violent, too—I let the other-world close in.

I stopped trying to pretend things had to make sense, that there was anything blocking me from my…my power. Walls melted away and I could see the powerlines running behind them like shining ribbons and the TV in front of me became iridescent like a beetle’s wing and the fireflies streaming back and forth from the controller to the system stopped—and started flowing back and forth from me.

I died without dying in the manner of games and rebooted and—instead of trying to play the character, Iwasthe character.A creature of light and power and the things that fought me I could feel-see coming from miles away, fragments of code, instructions, complicated yes, but trapped like cable cars to preordained paths whereas I—I?—

I ruled here.

I raced around at the speed of light. Nothing could touch me, nothing could stand in my way. Code ran after me and it was like being chased by kittens—what I didn’t disintegrate, I kicked out of my way. I didn’t participate in the game by its parameters because I was beyond them. It couldn’t contain me with its silly rules and story-logic. I didn’t need anyone else telling me what to do. Never again.

For the first time in my life I felt powerful. I was power. I?—

“Jessica?”

Darius shook me and I dropped the controller, breaking the connection. I was still sitting in the same place, facing the TV screen. It was blurry, covered in spatters of green alien blood. I was panting like I’d run a race and my head was roaring.