The first change was a line that no longer met its chalk mark.
Juno had placed the mark at a visible joint beside the raised street while the teams paused for the next route check. A nearby Aegis hunter used a brief System ability to secure a slipping piece of equipment. The act was small, over before anyone called it a test. At the wall, the joint shifted a little to one side.
Juno raised her hand.
“Hold abilities.”
The hunter looked at his equipment. “It’s secured.”
“I’m not asking you to undo it. I’m asking everyone to stop until we check what moved.”
Kellan brought the carriers away from the wall before Juno knelt to inspect the mark. The shift was visible, but its cause was not. A gate pressure change could have coincided with the activation. The wall might have been moving already. The particular talent might have mattered more than the fact that it was a System use.
She took a passive reading and asked the Aegis technical observer for his independent one. Both recorded a change near the interval. Neither could make the single event establish a universal rule about every ability.
