The rain had been falling since dusk — slow, unending, whispering secrets against the windows of a city that never listened. Seventeen-year-old Aiden Blake trudged through the empty streets of Southbridge with a soaked backpack and a mind louder than the thunder above him. He wasn’t supposed to be out this late, but something — an ache he couldn’t name — had pulled him into the night.He had failed his exams again. His father’s disappointment had turned from words into silence, and silence, Aiden decided, was worse than shouting.That’s when he saw it.A faint glow at the end of the