Chapter 1

The Glitch

Bobby Tactics sat on a rooftop in Brooklyn, his laptop balanced on his knees. The city stretched out below him—the city that raised him after his abuela brought him here from Colombia all those years ago.

Through his VR goggles, he could see something very wrong with the internet. Digital cracks spread across the virtual sky like a spider's web.

"Abuela always said, 'Mijo, when you see trouble, you don't run—you help,'" he muttered, fingers flying across his keyboard. "But she never said what to do when the INTERNET is breaking."

His phone buzzed. A message from Dr. Benjamin Johannes, his mentor: "THE SIGNAL IS BREAKING. FIND THE OTHERS. YOUR INTUITION WILL GUIDE YOU."

"Great," Bobby sighed, feeling that familiar tingle in his chest—the one that started three months ago. "My intuition says this is going to be weird."

Across Brooklyn, Surge 2K was spray-painting a massive mural on an abandoned building in Bed-Stuy. His parents would kill him if they knew he snuck out, but the art couldn't wait.

The paint can slipped from his hand.

"Co jest—what the—!" The colors weren't just dripping—they were floating, forming geometric patterns in mid-air like living logic puzzles.

This was new. The weird stuff started after that meteor shower, but never like THIS.

His phone buzzed: "CODE RED. ROOFTOP. BRING YOUR BRAIN. -TACTICS"

"My brain?" Surge grinned, touching the floating paint. It swirled around him, showing him patterns, connections, possibilities—like his art was trying to teach him something. "Okay, universe. I'm listening."

In Texas, Lumbie was typing at her laptop when the glass of water beside her started... singing. Not spilling—singing, with her father's voice in it.

"Remember, daughter. Water is life. Water is memory. Water connects all things."

"Baba?" she whispered. But he was back in Zimbabwe, leading their community's water project. How could she hear him?

All her screens flashed red: DIMENSIONAL BREACH DETECTED.

Her phone rang—a New York number.

"Is this Bobby Tactics?" she asked.

"Yeah. You're Lumbie, right? The one who emailed me about SDG partnerships?"

"How did you know to call me?"

"I didn't. My phone just... did it." Bobby paused. "Look, this is going to sound crazy, but—"

"The water is singing and you can see the future in math equations?"

"...Close enough. Get to New York. Now."