"I didn't touch it," she says, rolling her eyes at his typically hypocritical burst of poorly conceived concern. "It touched me."

She pulls her arm back, no longer reaching, and waits, willing the theory to prove itself. And in a moment, as if the anomaly is hesitating, it does: another gentle, tentative swipe through her arm.

"Hah!" she says triumphantly, even though she knows Rush didn't see or feel it happen. "It's aware!"

This is incredible. Is it a new rifty, one that is not like them at all? Is someone reaching to them from beyond the Rift? So many possibilities. She feels energized like she hasn't in days - weeks.