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T
hen he said, “Yes, of course.
I was just
signaling
Ms. Razzione
to retrieve you
.
But to answer your question, Mr. Barnes, I am not finished with you.
I will expect both
you and Cole
back in the city at some point in the near future. I have given you free
premier
access to
any
KM center
in the world
. And if there is anything else I can do for you, do not hesitate to contact me.”

The three said good-bye and
Tucker jumped out
, eager to get back
.
But
Cole hesitated, and Nera waited for him.

“Mr. Noh?” Cole asked. “I was just wondering
, if all these connections
with Kaah Mukul
really
mean something, then what do you think that means for me
not being connected
?”

Noh paused. “
You are not connected yet,
”
he corrected. “You are the truly random variable in the events leading up to today, which means that I cannot foresee your role. I hope that you and the city will be able to help each other, but, as we saw with Mr. Lynwood, a relationship with Kaah Mukul does not always end well. We will see.” Noh’s words drifted off in meditation.

Cole nodded, mumbled “Thank
s,” and jumped back into reality,
where Tucker and Abby were waiting for them.

“What was that about?” Tucker asked. Mr. Noh sat silently in his chair,
deaf
to
their conversation
.

“Cole’s existence makes it impossible for Mr.
Noh
to foresee the future,
”
Nera answered dryly.

“Whatever,” Tucker said as he looked out the window. Then he swore. “The game’s already started.” He
was down the stairs in a flash, Nera right behind him. Cole and Abby followed at a more leisurely pace.

“What did you think?” Abby asked
as they descended.

“Cool.
Uncomfortable
. Confusing,” Cole listed.

“That sounds like him. Have you ever been in one of those virtual set-ups before? Be careful with those masks. Bryan told me that
they can cause epilepsy in some people after a lot of use
.”

They entered the skybox again. Cole found Nera waving him over to a seat. Tucker was pulling his dad away from a lively conversation with Rick about sustainable wheat farming
.
Ever
yone else was watching the game
. Cole sat beside Nera with a heavy sigh. Nera waited a moment, then leaned over to whisper in his ear.

“
So when are
you going to tell me why you had to leave so many times in the first half?” she asked calmly.

Cole hesitated. He would rather have forgotten about all of that, but he knew that Nera deserved to know what had happened. H
e leaned over
and began to quietly tell her everything about Marshall Bell and the sighting of Ichabod
.

They were interrupted by a yell from Rick. “Hey, foc
us on winning this thing, Cole!
I’ve got triple or nothing on your team with Abby
. Don’t let me down!”

Cole waved
sarcastically
at Rick, and turned back to Nera, but when he saw the look
on her face, he realized it would be better
to wait until she talked to him.

[
Championship Game
: Second Half]

Tucker
didn’t know what to think
.

The full brunt of the ChangZhang reality enhancement system was turned on two minutes into the second half. The screen displays went from captivating to overwhelming: every player
’s
movement
s were
highlighted by fiery auras of transitory color; the ball itself seemed wreathed in many colors of flame.
The sound
system amplified every ball bounce, every rim hit, every grunt,
every whistle
.
The depth and dazzle of the system quickly overwhelmed the four visitors
,
who weren’t used to such an invasion of their visceral sensibilities.

So this is what an acid trip is like
, Tucker thought. He kind of liked it.

Henry nudged Tucker irritably. “Can we go back to our seats now?”

Tucker held him off. “In a minute. I think Noh is watching, and Dr. Casing doesn’t want to offend him. A little longer.”

“In one more minute all the veins in my head are going to pop,” said Henry, shifting uncomfortably in his seat and looking away.

Tucker noticed that Cole was also
uncomfortable. He
had walked up to the window on the far end of the room where he could see the game uni
mpeded and was bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.

“Hey Cole, are you OK?” Rick called. “It does take some time to get used to.”

“Yeah, I’m good, but I think I like the normal view bet—”

A splattering of something red rocketed up from the seats immediately below the skybox and collided with the glass directly in front of Cole’s face. It splashed a sticky mess and oozed down in streams. For a moment, the conversation in the room ceased as everyone turned to see what was going on. The next second, their view was plastered with colors of every kind as food and soda were thrown in an instant attack. The enhancement system
amplified
some screams and what sounded like a chant.

Tucker
ran to where Cole was standing and looked out
through
the filth coating the window
. They could see
a small group of people yelling angrily
down below
, fists
pumping
toward
their skybox
. Then
BAM! S
omething heavy slammed into the glass. They were throwing shoes.

The enhancement
system
was shut down
and the room became
relatively silent
. The sound
s of the commotion outside filtered through only faintly, and
there was so much on the windows that it was hard to tell what was going on.
Inside, t
he body guards for the
South
Korean diplomats grabbed their protectees and began to escort them to the door. But before it was opened even a crack, they slammed it shut and began looking for ways to brace
it
. There was yelling in the hallway, closer than the crowd in the arena. Something banged on the door, then they heard the grating sound of punches hitting bone, the screams of pain from the effects of pepper spray and tazers, calls for help, and calls for justice.

The occupants of the
skybox
ran to
the back corner
away from
the windows and doors while
bodyguards yelled into their
phones. The word came that arena security was already on it
s way
.

Tucker
pushed
his way
back
over to the window and tried to see individual people
, just in case there was anyone that he knew.

“Is there something we can do?” asked Henry, who looked like he was actually itching for a fight.

“No, Dad, let the security guys do their jobs.”

From what
Tucker
could tell, the situation was being brought under control.
Down i
n the stands
, the
security guards
, along with ordinary civilians
furious
that
these people were
interfering with the game, were fighting with the core of protestors and tackling them to the floor. The game
itself
had stopped. In the hallway,
guards were removing the combative demonstrators
one by one until
all was quiet once more
.
W
hen they thought it was safe
, t
he bodyguards opened the door
and began to survey the situation.

Tucker found Nera
looking worried
and Cole
with
his head down, his fingers dug deep into his hair.

“You OK, Cole?”

“This thing is spreading,” Cole mumbled
without raising his head
. “First it was Ichabod, then it was Perry and Neeson. And now, people in the stands are going crazy. This is like a zombie movie.”

Tucker raised his eyebrows at Nera.

“No one’s losing
their minds, Cole,” Nera consoled
. “Not
because of the game, anyway. These were just opportunists looking for a big stage.”

Tucker tried to lighten the mood. “
If
people are turning into zombies,
we’ll have to fight them from here.
I’ll get the vegetable tray to use as a shield. You grab the ch
eese knife.” Cole didn’t laugh.
“Look, it’s OK. Believe it or not, but this isn’t the first time that I’ve s
een something like this
. It
happen
ed
at our city hall
last year
. It’s not crazy. It’s stupid, but it’s not crazy.
”

The door burst open. A small legion of security guards, headed off by the big red-headed chief, walked in and surveyed the room. They were all sweating.

“Is everyone OK?” he asked the group. “My sincerest apologies to all of you. It seems that this was a flash mob organized by a few angry
individuals. I know that it seemed out of control
, but it’s unlikely that you were in any real danger…”

He paused as he noticed some familiar faces in Cole and Tucker. “Wait,
you two
are here?” he exclaimed. “Of course, of course you’re here.” The man would have said more, but the foreign minister approached angrily and began to berate him. In the commotion, Casing approached the four visitors and ushered them
over to
Rick and Abby.

“T
hey’ll be clearing out this box,” Casing said, leaning close to talk over the escalating voices by the door. “The dignitaries will leave soon, but Mr. Noh will remain in his control
room
to ensure
that
the interface windows
are still operating properly.
Do you feel comfortable returning to your seats?”

Tucker and Henry nodded. Cole looked pale and shook his head s
lightly
, but Ne
ra put her arm around his waist. “Yeah, we’ll go back,” she said.

“Good. I’ll be joining some colleagues in another box, and Rick and Abby plan to…”

“We plan to try and get courtside,” Rick said cheerfully.

“OK. L
et’s stay in touch. And let’s hope that nothing else eventful happens off the court.”

He turned toward the door, flanked by Rick and Abby, and Tucker called out after them, “Go Huskers!”

“Triple or nothing, Tucker!” Abby called back. “Don’t choke on me!”

Tucker and Cole exchanged a look. “You good?” Tucker
asked.

Cole looked at Nera. “I’m good. But Ichabod is still out there.”

“
Look man, the way I see it
, these protestors
did
us
a favor. If security was tight before, they’re going to be twice as alert now. Nobody will be able to make a m
ove without drawing attention.”

“Maybe,” said Cole. “But I keep thinking about what Noh said
, how
I was the reason that he couldn’t predict what would happen to u
s, that I was making everything
random.”

Tucker looked at him
blankly. “What does that even mean?”

“I don’t really know. But all this seems pretty random, doesn’t it? And we’re not even halfway through the game. Do you think…” Cole’s voice trailed off. “Never mind.
I’m just being dumb
. Let’s go get this over with.”

Cole
moved
toward
the door
, and the four walked down the hallway, now littered with scattered remnants of the skirmish. As they went out into the concourse, they passed by a small group of people kneeling on the floor with their hands on their heads, some red-faced and bruised, surrounded by guards and policemen.
Some wore t-shirts with multicolored hand prints all over.