Chapter 17
Chapter 17: The Signal and the Cost
Jasper takes command as the group faces the failed wire and Maya's exposed mark. He reveals the lean-to's symbol is a summoning array designed to pull the shadows through the door in a controlled flood. With the cabin no longer safe, they must move to the bleeding tree to attempt a counter-seal. As they prepare to leave, a figure emerges from the woods carrying a lantern—a light that shouldn't exist in this darkness.
The silence in the cabin was absolute. Even the fire seemed to hold its breath. Maya's words hung in the air like smoke—"We're out of time"—and I felt the weight of every hour I'd spent watching Greythorne's cycles press down on my shoulders.
I'd seen this moment before. Not in this town, not with these people, but the shape of it was the same. The calm before the break. The moment when the door between worlds goes thin and everyone looks to someone else for an answer.
They were looking at me now.
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