Limelight

 “Why,” I shouted, “would Prof give us a two-day deadline?”

> > They all regarded me in silence.

> > “To…make us panic?” Mizzy asked. “Force us to give in? That’s why you usually give deadlines, right?”

> > “No, look at it like a Reckoner,” I said, frustrated. “Assume that Prof is plotting, like we are. Assume he’s formed his own team, his own plan to attack. We’re thinking of him like some faceless despot, but he’s not. He’s one of us. That deadline is way too suspicious.”

> > “Sparks,” Megan said, standing up. “Sparks! In this case, you’d only give a two-day deadline…”

> > “…because you’re planning to attack in one day,” Abraham finished. “If not sooner.”

> > “We need to pull out,” I said. “Out of this location, out of the city. Move!”

> Chapter 39, Calamity, page 339