Story description
Six months ago, the first cases were dismissed as hoaxes. Then a man in Manila stopped a falling bus with his bare hands, and the world had to admit something had changed. Now, roughly one person in ten thousand "Awakens" - manifesting an ability nobody can fully explain, in categories the world has scrambled to name, catalog, and control. Governments built registries. Corporations built response teams. A black market grew around suppressing, enhancing, or simply hiding what people can do. Today, it happened to you. But whatever just changed in you does not fit any category anyone has ever logged - and within hours, that fact alone has people you have never met suddenly very interested in where you are.
Characters
Ashgate Bureau field agent and usually the first responder to Awakening events. Not unkind, but bound tightly by procedure and protocol.
A charming Meridian Dynamics recruiter who offers resources, training, and protection - all of it quietly conditional on loyalty.
An independent researcher who studies Unclassified Awakenings quietly, outside institutional control. A possible ally, for her own undisclosed reasons.