Chapter 1

In early October, Alex waits near the Taurus Cafe, close to Tara’s old neighborhood, recalling the comfort of her new dorm life with roommates Mercy and Lauren before a text from Eitan pulled her into a job. A police cruiser scatters the street crowd, and Alex targets a nearby duplex marked by a new truck and the plate ODMNOUT.

Armed with a pocket mirror glamour she captured from TV, Alex appears as a celebrity to gain entry. Chris "Oddman" Owens—large, wary, and indebted—lets her in. When Alex demands the $12,000 he owes, the glamour wavers and he advances, ready to throw her out.

Alex reaches for a nearby Gray—a young man in a beanie—and draws his frantic, unfinished strength. She blasts Oddman across the room, shattering his TV, and coolly reiterates the debt: one week, or she returns to make an example of him. Oddman protests with personal hardships, but Alex insists, acknowledging the coercion driving her.

The borrowed Gray unexpectedly surfaces through Alex, speaking in the voice of “Derrik,” startling Oddman, who recognizes his dead friend. Realizing she is losing control, Alex forcibly dismisses the Gray with her practiced death words. Shaken, Oddman listens as Alex repeats the ultimatum, and she leaves him with the stark choice to pay or face violent consequences.