Ariett felt her grip on the phone loosening, one hand dropping from her ear to her side while the other lifted to rest upon her forehead.          

She should have been helping—stopping the combatants, saving the girl, [i]anything[/i]—but instead she stood in shock, trying to make sense of the chaos about her. Technology beyond her understanding and supernatural abilities beyond her capacity to believe were being bandied about as if no more unusual than the aesthetic relic that was this town. What little grasp she had on reality began to slip from her fingers…

And then the world shifted, and the phone [i]clack[/i]ed against the ground.

She glanced behind her and saw the car explode in a multitude of metallic spears. Pulling her heavy backpack up so that it would cover the back of her torso and head both, Ariett dived forward. She hit the ground hard, taking the blunt of the force on her elbows and forearm as she skid forward a few feet.