[POV: Sofia Lanka]

"Mom, can you hear me through the static? It’s not like talking; it’s like thinking in colors. I found the basement of the world, Mom. I found the place where the King keeps the quiet. There’s a switch here. It’s heavy, and it smells like burnt sugar, but I can feel it. I found the off-switch for the sky."

Sofia froze in the middle of the high-security corridor, her hand pressed hard against the obsidian wall. The voice hadn't come from her earpiece or the speakers embedded in the ceiling. It had vibrated behind her eyes, a shimmering silver thread of sound that tasted of home and...