"Woman:" "Good evening." "Dobryy vecher." "Good morning." "Jonah:" "Dobroe utro." "Dobroe utro." "Thank you." "Spacibo." "Spacibo." "[Sighs] Lanthanoids." "Lanthanum..." "Cerium, praseodymium." "During viral transc... [Clears throat]" "During the influenza's viral transcription..." "Father:" "Jonah, ready to head out?" "All set!" "During viral..." "[Creaking]" "Dad!" "DA..." "[Knock on door]" "Jonah." "[Doorknob rattling] Jonah?" "[Knock on door]" "Jonah, are you all right in there?" "Jenkins, what are you doing here?" "It's our day off." "Is that a..." "Brain in a jar?" "My research doesn't have a day off." "And it's a brain jar." "What else would one put it in?" " [Footsteps approaching]" " What are you doing here?" "I have access to every art portfolio in history." "Where else would I be?" "Jenkins, do you have any more yellow pens?" "Second drawer, under the thing that looks like a space helmet," " but is not." " Okay." "She's making her own map of the ley lines based on the observation you've made since taking up residence here, blighting my work." "Why are you blighting me today?" "I'm researching magical threats." "I'm getting a little sick of blindly fighting minotaurs and giant trolls." "[Warbling]" "[Speaks indistinctly] [Gun cocks]" "[Siren wailing]" "[Breathing heavily]" "Why is everybody here?" "Isn't this our day off?" " Yeah." " Yeah." "[Laughs] What is this?" "!" "Uh, someone left it on our doorstep." "[Rattling]" "Has it ever done that before?" "No." "Must be a magical threat of truly epic proportions." "There's something absolutely apocalyptic going on at the..." ""The Chicagoland STEM Fair, sponsored by the McCabe learning foundation."" "What the hell is a stem..." "Stem?" "!" "STEM?" "!" "Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics?" "!" "It's a science fair!" "Yes!" "Jenkins, give this baby a spin!" "We're going to chi-town!" "Whoa!" "Whoo!" "[Laughs]" "STEM fairs are the cutting edge of amateur research." "I'm just saying, what kind of magical, world-ending apocalypse could possibly happen at a cheesy high-school science... fair?" "[Indistinct conversations]" "[Beep]" "Robotics." "[Chuckles]" "These kids take science very seriously." "God, yes." "Blood on the floor, best mind wins." "Superintendent:" "Participants and spectators, welcome to the sixth-annual Chicagoland STEM Fair, brought to you by the McCabe Learning Foundation." "Please welcome our title sponsor and foundation president, science-education expert Lucinda McCabe." "[Cheers and applause]" "Whoo-hoo!" "Lucinda:" "Hello, everyone." "Our organization, the McCabe Learning Foundation, is committed to encouraging and rewarding academic excellence." " [Yawns]" " This is why, along with our corporate partners, we support the Chicagoland STEM Fair and other science events like it throughout the country." "We will not only be rewarding the winners today with full college scholarships, but also internships and even research grants." "Like we always say in STEM world [Chuckles] science..." "All:" "Works!" "[Cheers and applause]" "I love that." "Baird:" "Robots, semiconductors, virtual reality..." "Whatever happened to a good, old-fashioned baking-soda volcano?" "Papier-mâché volcano, little baking soda, little vinegar." "[Imitates fizzing]" "Okay, STEM fairs are where the best and brightest come to show off the future." "They are so far beyond baking-soda volcanoes." "I like a baking-soda volcano." "Hello." "I'm Lucinda McCabe." "Are you all parents or family members?" "Uh, hi." "How are you?" "[Chuckles] Good." "We are the librarians." "Oh!" "You're the judges from the county library." "Welcome." "Your welcome packs are right over there with Mrs. Schwager." "So, enjoy." "Someday, that cover story is not gonna fly." "All right." "Split up." "Find something magical." "...climatological change's environmental impact on the shifting migratory patterns of enhydra lutris." " [Yawns]" " As you can see," "I'm combining a multistage, ultraviolet treatment with hybrid silicon nitride materials" " in the water-filtration system." " So cool!" "[Laughs]" "Uh... [sighs]" "In molecular cloning, the DNA of the target molecule is..." "By which she means the subject of the experiment, not the target replication molecule." "Mom!" "That DNA is treated with enzymes and broken down into smaller DNA chains." "Both ergodic theory and statistical physics will be revolutionized by my approach to extremal combinatorics." "It's a baking-soda volcano." "Finally!" "Hello, and welcome to the world of magma." "My project today is a..." "[Chuckles] I can't do this." "What's wrong?" "I'll tell you what's wrong." "He brought a papier-mâché volcano to a..." "I'm not even supposed to be here." "I'm way out of my league." "Unh-unh." "No way." "You know what you are, Leonard?" "You... are an underdog." " I am?" " Yes!" "And all the greats were underdogs." "Come on." "Show us what you got." "[ Tink!" "]" "Ezekiel:" "You were one of these kids." "I don't mean to brag, but I was a monster!" "I had this whole, like, wall full of trophies." "And I bet you still own every single one of them." "Nope." "No." "Um, you know, things change." "And some things never change." " Why are we even here?" " Nice glasses." " That's not nice." " [Laughs]" "Goths and geeks should be friends." "High school's like prison." "You find a crew to run with and keep all the other crews down." "Which crew were you in?" " Girl:" "Stop it!" " Guy:" "Hey!" "Come on." "Hey, is that supposed to do that?" "No, I mean were you a goth, a geek, or a cool kid?" "[Electricity crackles]" "[Rumbling]" "[Screaming]" "[Fire alarm ringing]" "Well... that magical enough for you?" "Looks like one of our contestants got a little too enthusiastic with his display and... and mixed his chemicals a little too strongly." "It's like we always say..." "It's not science until something's on fire." " [Laughter]" " Even now, that contestant is getting a firm talking-to by some librarians..." "Who... who are judges..." "And also librarians." "Tell us what happened, Leonard." "Leonard:" "What happened?" "My volcano freaking exploded." "I mean, did you see that?" "It was insane!" "[Sighs] I need to sit down." "You are sitting down." "Leonard, you know what I think?" "I think you created an amateur-looking project so no one would suspect you're actually competing, and then used, let us say, unnatural means to create an amazing effect to win." "But we're not mad." "You're not?" "No, Leonard, we're not." "We're here to help you." "I'm here to help." "You are?" "Yes, Leonard." "I'm here to work with you to fix this." "I just need you to take a deep breath and tell me the absolute truth." "[Sighs]" "When you say my name, it's like a thousand angels singing." "[Chuckles quietly]" "About the volcano, Leonard, I-I meant." " Oh." " The volcano." "Her eyes are like opals." "I know, buddy." "Now, what did you mean when you said you weren't supposed to be here?" "I was like the fifth alternate." "I hate these fairs, but my dad made me enter." "What happened to the five students ahead of you?" "I don't know." "When I got here this morning," "I heard a bunch of freaky stuff happened to them." "Jonah Gordon..." "He's like Einstein." "He got paralyzed by a virus." "And this other kid," "I heard that she got an allergy so rare, only like 1 in 10 million people ever get it." "He's telling the truth." "Are you sure?" "Yeah." "Okay." "Colonel Baird says that whoever's doing this is still out here." "Leonard isn't the source of the magic." "100 contestants, twice as many spectators." "Really narrows things down." "Okay, we need to move methodically through all of the displays and find one that doesn't belong." "Or..." "We can follow my hunch." "Hunch?" "No, no, no, no, no." "A hunch is not a scientific method." "It's my method." "I'm a librarian, too." "Even had some trophies myself back in the day." " What did you win?" " Win?" "No, stole them..." "Whole wall of them." "She shouldn't be saying things like that." "[Speaks indistinctly]" "It's not right." "Okay, smile." "That?" "It's a Newton's cradle." "It's an exercise in conservation of momentum." "Magic." "Jenkins:" "Oh, I rather doubt that." " Huh." " You're out of the annex." "I was just going to stand around all day, waiting for you to call, and then I remembered I have free will." "Besides, a science fair?" "As an under-appreciated, albeit innovative, scientist myself," "I admire these clever, young people." "Splendid." "All right." "Check it." "This last ball here, right before the volcano," "I-it was all floaty-like." "Looks normal now." "[Boys groan]" "Huh." "Magic is rewriting local reality." "The laws of physics in this auditorium [singsong voice] Are starting to bend." "So this thing's magic?" "No." "I-it's sort of an early-warning device." "It makes no sense." "I mean, there's already enough power in play than could be summoned by a single amateur." "You're looking for a coven..." "A-a-a-a group of magic users working together." " How do we find a coven?" " Three." "Look for the pattern of three." "[Slurps]" "Fructose and water poured over frozen water!" "Go." "Run!" "Miraculous!" "[Slurps]" "[Cellphone beeps]" "Good spot?" "Perfect." " Did she say where they went?" " Who, STEM head?" "Yeah, she said they passed the dynamic-something project and then turned behind the..." "Blabbity-blah-blah math theory thingy." "Two lefts then a right." "[Whispering indistinctly]" " Excuse me?" " Excuse me." " Oh, my goodness." "Move." " Hi, yes." "Um, that girl who was here..." "where is she?" "Um, hi." "Oh, my." "You're the judges, aren't you?" " Yep." " This is Amy Meyer's booth." "Don't worry." "I can take you through the project." "Please don't dock her any points." " Um..." " [Electricity crackling]" " Okay, so..." " Man:" "Ow!" "...in molecular cloning..." "[Girl vocalizing]" "[Violin playing]" "Hey!" "Stop what you're doing!" "Stop what you're doing!" "What are you doing?" "I'm asking Amy to... [Clears throat]" " [Continues vocalizing] - ..." "Put the past behind us and move into the future with me, holding only each other's hands and hearts for all eternity." "[Chuckles]" "Dashell, you know I can't date right now." "School is too important." "Winning this STEM fair comes first." "Just prom, please?" "I mean, we had something great." "Nothing is more important than getting into a good college, and I..." "[Rumbling]" "[Electricity crackling]" "Excuse me?" "Amy Meyer." "Do you know her?" "Are you kidding?" "You're not kidding." "Of... of course." "[Coughs]" "[Clears throat] Yeah, I..." "[Coughs] [Insect buzzes]" "[Clearing throat]" "I guess I swallowed a..." "Holy shit." "Lucinda:" "So, what we have established is that the insects were in a nest below the auditorium floor, and they were attracted to the chemicals in the student's experiments." "Probably." "So the student is now resting comfortably." "He's at the hospital." "Man:" "Shouldn't we cancel the fair?" "I-if we do that, we will have to forfeit all of these projects." "And, unfortunately, we will disqualify your students from the scholarship competition." "In the true spirit of science, we will soldier on." "[Crowd murmuring]" "Oh, the librarians." "Have you turned in your judging slips yet?" "Oh." "S-so much to see." "Been some distractions." "Can you believe this year's luck?" "First, the entire top rung of competitors drops out sick." "Then there's that chemical explosion." "And now Tim is swarmed by bugs?" "I swear, it's almost like there's a curse on the STEM fair this year." "[Laughs awkwardly] Magic." "That's funny." "That's it." "Nobody's trying to win." "They're trying to get everyone else to lose." "Jenkins:" "That would be an extraordinarily bad idea." "So, the rule of three amplifies the spell, for good or bad." "Any direct harm you do unto others with malicious intent will be visited back upon you threefold." "We think there are multiple victims." "Well, then, somebody has a wallop of a backlash coming..." "Fatal." "All right, here." "This will help you find the focus." "There's no way that amateurs, I don't care how many, are wielding that kind of power without a focus," " either artifact or spell." " Baird:" "Are we even sure somebody would go to these lengths to win a science fair?" " Yes. [Chuckles]" " Yes!" "These kids live for this competition." "I mean, it can define your whole future." "Whoever's using this magic doesn't know about the rule of three." "They're just trying to break out from the pack, make their parents proud." "Where'd a bunch of science kids get a magic focus?" "Well, it's like tracking a WMD." "Figure out who's using it, trace it back to the source." "We need Intel on all the kids who might be involved, but from a source who isn't part of the suspect pool." "I got this." "Hey." "How'd you know I was in here?" "Well, this is her place, right?" "I mean, this is..." "This is her world." "It's where it all started." "Did you guys have a lab together?" "[Chuckles]" "Probably dissected a frog, hmm?" "She's reaching for the scalpel." "You..." "It was a dumb idea." "She's an Alpha kid." "I'm going through the most clichéd and Un-ironic of all teenage phases." "I don't belong with her, the alphas, or the sports or the 420s or the bees." ""She walks in beauty, like the night..."" ""...of cloudless climes and starry skies..." ""And all that's best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes."" "That's lord Byron, technically a romantic, but he pretty much gave Gothic tradition a boost in the early 1800s." "So, what you kids think "Gothic" is is with the..." "Painted fingernails and the pale..." "You know what I'm talking about." "But..." "But he was a badass." "You see, so the... the jocks and the, uh, geeks and the goths..." "Those are all roles we play." "Those are costumes we wear." "I bet nobody ever beat you upforsayingpoetry." "No, they didn't, not for that, not for reciting poetry." "You know why?" "'Cause I wore my costume." "I wore it like second skin." "And I wore it for too long." "Do you like the girl?" "Don't let your costume, yours or Amy's, stop you." " You think?" " Yeah." "Tell me about Amy." "Tell me about Amy and her friends." "All right, so, Tim, the bug boy, who also dated Amy, by the way, who Zahir hates because she won last year..." "That forced Elysse to break up their partnership so she could go for the gold solo against the Ortiz twins, who allegedly..." "Now, I said "allegedly"..." "May or may not have stolen research from Kneisha, which forced her to switch projects so she could go in direct competition with, again, Tim, Silas, and a girl known only as "the robot chick."" "Okay, I take it back." "It's easier to find WMD's." "There is one common link." "Everybody except Dashell..." "Hates Amy." "Because she's the front-runner..." "Most likely the target, just hasn't been hit yet." "Huh." " Excuse me." " Hi." "We're here for some follow-up questions." "Oh, ask Amy anything." "We're ready." "Everyone says she's the front-runner." "Oh, we've been winning these since first grade." "M.I.T. and Dartmouth have been after us since middle school." "Well, balance is also important." "You need to make sure you have hobbies and a social life." "Distractions, ma'am, distractions!" "My Amy is laser-focused, and we will not stop until we get what we want." "What I..." "What is that thing?" "T-t-this is the, um..." "The Jones-o-meter." "It calculates based on, uh, STEM fair criteria using algorithms and, uh, vertical compliance." "Hmm." "It predicts the winner." "Uh, 99% accuracy." "Oh!" "Well, please, Jones us as much as you want." "Oh. [Laughs]" "Some people use the term "tiger mom."" "I'm the Wolverine of mothers." "[Growls, laughs]" "Oh, wow, that's..." "That's, uh... admirable?" " Mm!" " Uh, what about you, Amy?" "Totally ready to kick butt and take names." "Okay." "Well, I think we've seen enough." "Thank you." "Oh, you saw enough the second you laid eyes on our booth, huh?" "Yeah. [Chuckles]" "[Inhales deeply] They loved us." "Stone:" "All right." "Show me the magic." "What do you got?" "You got a wand, a jewel, a monkey's paw?" "Are we sure?" "I mean, Jenkins said we'd need a powerful focus." "That thing is barely registering." "And who's the third?" "Rule of three?" "Amy, her mom..." "They want the same thing." " Not so sure about that." " Who's the third member of the coven?" "[Rattling]" "What'd you do?" "I just hit this page here, this app." "A.L.B. It's a magic spell." "Someone turned a magic spell into an app." "Jenkins:" "So, are you familiar with the quote," ""any sufficiently advanced technology" " is indistinguishable from magic?"" " Mm-hmm." "It turns out, any sufficiently disguised magic is indistinguishable from technology." "That is a wish-fulfillment spell." "It's disguised as one of those brain-trainer things." "The "advanced learning buddy."" "You know, list how many words that rhyme with "mash"" "in under a minute, and your I.Q. goes up 20 points." "Mash, lash, dash, rash, crash, slash..." "Right." "It distracts you with the test." "But each level, as you advance, it tells you to focus on a goal before kicking you up to the next level." "And the player has unknowingly performed basic rituals embedded in the code..." "Once that is completed successfully, is prompted to wish." "I mean, structurally, it's... witchcraft," "I mean, without all of the eye of Newt nonsense." "How did a teenager create something like this?" "No way Amy built this." "I mean, I-if you look into the code..." "[Beep] ..." "Even looking past all the glowy bits, it's way more complex than anything I've ever hacked, and I've hacked the NSA." "Allegedly." "Even brutal." "An expertise in the craft that I have not seen in a very long time." "And this is what's hurting these kids." "Certainly." "I mean, you wish that you defeat your opponent, even subconsciously, the spell is so powerful, it amplifies that wish and makes it so." "Cassandra was right." "Amy's using this to get ahead, but she has no idea the blowback that's coming." "No, she's not." "Oh, the harm will return to her, Mr. Jones." "No." "What I mean is, look at the usage data." "I mean, this is a powerful magic spell transformed into an app, but Amy has never, ever used it." "So the one person I can prove is using magic is not using magic." "Great." "So, who is?" "Excuse me." "Dashell?" "No, but wait." "Please don't go." "You're not librarians, are you?" "You saw Leonard's volcano..." "What happened to Tim, everybody else..." "All of the weird sicknesses and accidents." "This is gonna sound crazy, but you have an app on your phone..." "I knew it." "My mom gave it to me, but I didn't use it." "Your mom made it?" "No, no." "She got it off this website for "proactive parents."" "That's what they call themselves..." "Get together and talk about being awesome parents." "I opened it once, but it felt wrong, like, greasy in my head." "Everyone else was using it, and the more they used it, the more they focused, and the more they focused, the more their wishes came true." "But you still didn't use it." "'Cause my wishes weren't about being smarter." "They were about being normal." "I mean, I didn't want to not be smart." "I just didn't..." "Want it to be the only thing that you were." "You wanted another adjective." "You were one of us." "I had a whole wall full of trophies." "[Chuckles]" "So, were your parents the same?" "No dates..." "No movies. ..." "No social life, no hobbies that don't look good on a college application," " just..." " Working towards the perfect future that they had in their minds." "Huh." "Yeah, pretty much." "Did it get better?" "No." "It just ended." "I think the dream that they had in their head was too big for me to carry." "I think they loved it more." "She gave me the website for the app." " How much did you hear?" " Hmm?" "Didn't hear a thing." "Whatever happened to your wall full of trophies?" "[Sighs]" "When this went from super-math to hallucinations," "I dropped out of school." "I came home one day." "My parents had just tossed all of my trophies." "They thought they'd be a painful reminder that I wasn't who I used to be." "We should be finishing the judging." "Which room did we put the trophies in?" "No, I'm dodging one of the crazy mothers." "[Cellphone beeps]" "Oh [Sighs] my." "[Chuckles]" "I'm in through the main website." "There are thousands of downloads, but at this location right now, there are..." "[Beep] ...27 active users." "Three times three times three." "That's the rule of three thrice over." "[Cellphone rings] So..." "[Cellphone beeps]" " So any backlash..." " Increases exponentially." "[Cellphone rings, beeps]" "Jenkins, we found something." "There is some sort of accidental super-coven..." "What?" "Right now?" "Okay, okay." "Jenkins is freaking out about something." "Look, if all of those kids are using that spell against each other, then a giant feedback loop is building inside that STEM fair." "Okay, I'll handle Jenkins." "You make sure these kids don't turn the school into a smoking crater." "Whoa." "Yes." "Hi, there." "Oh, hi!" "This is amazing." "Is she meant to be here, as in the library recruited her?" "Assuredly not." "Um, I'm assuming we have one of those memory-wiping doohickeys." " Might want to get that." " Colonel Baird..." "Ms. McCabe, I'm sure you must be very confused right now." "Lucinda:" "No, actually." "You fell." "You bumped your..." "No, actually?" "No, actually." "Everything just got much, much clearer." "Colonel Baird..." "I would like you to meet Morgan le Fay." "[Chuckles]" "Lucinda McCabe is..." "Morgan le Fay." "I know that name." " And you're a librarian?" " Sort of know that name." "Oh, Guardian." "Sorry." "I'll talk slower." " Hey!" " [Chuckles]" "Sister of King Arthur, responsible for the downfall of Camelot." "Oh, come now." "We both know that's not true, Galeas." "The most powerful witch on the planet raised an army and killed Arthur." "No." "I prefer "sorceress."" ""Witch" has too much gender baggage." "Oh!" "You've found one." "It's lovely, isn't it?" "A word to the wise..." "I'd stay here for the next few minutes if I were you." "It's all about to begin..." "The feedback loop, all this magic flying around, the rule of three coming to punish all those naughty, little boys and girls." "[Chuckles]" " Now, if you'll excuse me..." " Colonel, shoot her." " Don't tell me who to shoot, Jenkins." " Thank you, guardian." "Oh, I will shoot you, but not because he says so." "What happens to those kids when the backlash begins?" " She is one of the most evil creatures..." " Hold your tongue." "[Choking]" "[Chuckles] Please." "If shooting me was an option, how do you think I would have survived the 19th century?" "When Tennyson became popular, it was a nightmare." "[Grunts, sighs]" "No." "She has left a trail of blood a thousand years long." "Go, get her, whatever the cost!" "[Grunts]" "[Cellphones beeping, ringing]" "Morgan le Fay..." "She's the one who built the app." "Actually, Ukrainian programmers built the app." "I just built the wish spell." "You hurt kids?" "That's awful." "I never hurt anyone, darling." "That's the scam." "Put magic in the hands of mortals, and they will inevitably destroy each other." "I just sit back and wait for the rule of three to kick out its backlash." "So you're doing it for a cheap thrill, then." "Please." "All that magic floating around, all that destruction," "I just skim off the top, recharge my powers, stay young." "[Whooshing]" "Whoa." "Well, she could be anywhere in history." "No." "She's still here, 'cause she's not done yet." "I'll go north." "You go south." "All right." "Pull the fire alarm." "Evacuate everyone." "No." "Those 27 kids..." "They're linked by magic." "The rule of three can find them anywhere." "So we got to protect them from here." "A Faraday cage." "It's, like, a container that energy can't get into or out of." "Right." "It protects everything inside from an electrical charge." "We don't have time to construct something like that." "Somebody already did." "Hey, hey!" "What are you doing?" "!" "Are you crazy?" "!" "Okay." "You were assigned this booth, this table, weren't you?" "Amy:" "Yeah." "We're all assigned our booths by the McCabe foundation." "Why?" "Oh..." "Stone, look at this." "Five legs on a round table." "It's a pentagram." "Stone:" "Le fay wanted to keep Amy in the fair." "The longer you're in, the more hostility would be thrown at you." " More backlash, better harvest." " Okay, so, we need to take the legs off the table, spread them out, and then get everyone inside the pentagram." "And you think that'll work?" "It will if we supercharge it." "The app, it..." "It's a focusing spell." "So if we plant the stakes and then use it to focus all of our energy on creating the Faraday cage, protecting the kids..." "Do you think you can map out the pentagram?" "I was a surveyor for 10 years." "I can estimate distance like a tachymeter." " Yes." "Do it." " I'll find Jones, get some more phones." "Five legs, but..." "There's only four of us." "No, five." "You have me." "No, they most certainly do not have you!" "You never used the app for bad." "Look, I don't know what's going on here, but you are trying to make us lose this comp..." "Mom, stop!" "Stop." "It's me, not us." "It's my life." "Magic's real." "Magic's real." "Awesome." "Okay, let's break this table." "[Chuckles]" "Hi, there." "I'm a very important judge." "Impress me." "Oh." "Oh, okay." "The sea otter is generally considered adorable, but it is, in fact, history's greatest monster." "And if we don't take action immediately, it will take over the planet and destroy us all." "Sorry." "What?" "This stops right now." "Le Fay:" "I've always wondered whether guardians were envious of or annoyed by the librarians." "Ooh, what are you gonna do?" "We've already established you can't shoot me." "[Gasps] H-how did you touch me?" "There's no magic in the world strong enough..." "Except your magic." "Your advanced learning buddy helped me visualize something I wished for..." "An even playing field." "Aah!" "[Chuckling] Ow!" "[Laughing] [Electricity crackling]" "You've got about five seconds to stop what's going on out there." "Tick, tock." " Stop the tricks!" " I'm not doing it." "This is blowback for all their evil deeds coming for them multiplied by three by three by three." "[Laughs]" "I couldn't stop it if I wanted to." "Looks like you have a choice, guardian." "Either you kill me, or you save the kids." "No time for both." "I do believe you have a chance." "It's the first time I've hurt in centuries." "[Chuckles]" "[Electricity crackling]" "But you still have to make a choice..." "Kill me or save them." "This isn't over." "Promises, promises." "All right, it's marked." "The final "X" is on the stage." "They're not all inside the pentagram." "If they're not in the middle, it won't work." "Attention, everyone!" "I'm Amy Meyer, and the electrical disturbances you're seeing are just a side effect of my last-minute project, a five-sided Tesla coil field." "100,000 volts will soon pulse through this room." "Now, there is a downside to my awesome experiment." "If you're not all in the center of the room, you may be electrocuted." "Sorry." "No way!" "That's impossible." "I'm Amy Meyer." "I've won every ribbon, every medal, every trophy that you've wanted since we were 5 years old." "Do you really think I'm bluffing?" " So, center of the room." " Right." "All right, center of the room." "In the middle." "Hey." "Good job, kid." "Cassandra:" "Go to your spot." "Go." "[Electricity crackling]" "[Breathing heavily]" "[Laughs] Wow!" "More power than..." "Forever. [Laughs]" " Where is everyone?" " Don't worry." "You did it!" "You saved them all." "They're out there somewhere, in the world." " And where are we?" " Between the seconds, between the tick and the tock." "[Chuckles]" "So, let's finish this, then." "Guardian, on your best day, you might be able to muss up my hair, and you already had your best day." "[Electricity crackles]" "[Laughs] So, now what?" "You bring magic back to the world, rule it?" "Bring magic back?" "Oh, my. [Laughs]" "No." "Thanks to you, I finally have enough power..." "To hide." "You did all this so you could hide?" "Maybe even open a door to the Fae, or the mirrorlands, anywhere but this doomed, little world when it happens." " When what happens?" " You'll understand." "You've already been woven into the loom of fate." "Noli timere malum, sed time heroa." "Tell that to..." "What did he call himself?" "Jenkins?" "[Chuckles]" "He'll understand." "[Snaps fingers]" "[Indistinct conversations]" "[Electricity crackling]" "With the disqualification of Amy Meyer's project for its flagrant disregard of the safety of her fellow students and bystanders, and Lucinda McCabe, according to this note, taken away to the hospital for her injuries, we will award the winner of the fair" "based on the decision of our remaining judges, the county librarians." "The winner of the sixth-annual Chicagoland STEM Fair is Leonard Cole." "Yes!" "[Laughs]" "[Scattered applause]" "Where's that trophy?" "Yes!" " Ezekiel:" "Oi." " Hey." "Good job with the pentagram." "It was easy..." "Maybe too easy." "Well, that was science project of the day, and..." "You saved everybody's lives, so I think that deserves..." "[Laughs]" "Wow." "First place in..." "In the category of mathemagics." ""Mathemagics."" "I like it." "You stole this, didn't you?" "Yeah." "I s-stole it, but..." "You won it, without a doubt." "So focus on that." "That was a mistake." "We saved a hundred lives." "And doomed her next thousand victims." "You... had her." "For the first time in centuries, she was caught off-guard." "I am a guardian." "I am not a hired gun." "I am not here just to kill." "[Sighs]" "And if she's so terrible, why are the two of you so cozy?" "We've both lived a long time." "Paths crossed." "My experience... you don't hate strangers quite that much." "She said the end of the world is coming." "Well, Morgan has many vices, but she never, ever lies." "She also had a little love-note for you." "Noli timere malum, sed time heroa." "What does that mean?" ""Do not fear the villain..."" ""fear the hero."" "The end... an end, is coming Colonel... and trust me if you do not learn how to fight the war... instead of just winning the battles..." "None of us will survive."