She’s receiving commands, Phillips said sharply. He’s activating his network. She’s still connected enough to—
Four heirs… studied the resonance… must break them… Raven’s body arched.
Lucas held her down, gentle but firm.
Aurora’s face had gone pale. She understood what I did. This wasn’t Raven remembering. This was happening now.
Premature synchronization… before they’re ready… burn out their resources…
Then Raven screamed.
The sound cut through me, raw and agonized. It wasn’t physical pain but something worse, like her consciousness was being torn in two directions at once.
Aurora was there immediately, both hands gripping Raven’s, her voice steady despite the fear in her eyes. Raven. You’re here. You’re with us. Lucas and Aurora. You’re safe. You’re here.
Aurora? Raven’s eyes focused, tears streaming down her face. Aurora, he’s…he’s doing it. He’s activating them all. Trying to…trying to force you to…
I know, Aurora said. I know. You told us. You did so good.
Raven’s convulsions eased. The corruption threads dimmed back to their baseline wrongness. But she was sobbing now, curling into herself like she’d been broken open.
Lucas gathered her close, murmuring reassurances. Aurora kept holding her hand.
I recorded everything in my mind—every fragment, every word.
The master wasn’t waiting. He was moving now, forcing our hand before we were ready.
And we had minutes, not hours, to respond.
I left them there—Aurora and Lucas providing the comfort I couldn’t—and ran.
KEANE STOOD AT THE COMMON room window overlooking campus, tablet in hand and Wisp barely visible beside him. His deep blue eyes tracked something I couldn’t see—dimensional geometry, probably, portal routes, the architecture he lived in.
Cyrus. He turned and saw my expression. What happened?
The master just activated his network. I crossed to him fast. All of it. Now. Not in four days. Now.
Keane went still, that particular stillness that meant his mind was already racing through implications faster than anyone else could follow.
Raven, I continued. She’s still partially connected to him. When he activated his corrupted witches, she felt it. Vocalized the commands.
Tell me exactly what she said.
I repeated every fragment. Keane’s hands moved across his tablet, pulling up data and comparing patterns.
Red alerts bloomed across his displays like blood spreading through water.
He’s forcing synchronization, Keane said flatly. Triggering premature activation across all corrupted wellsprings simultaneously, globally.
Before we’re ready. I said. The master hadn’t needed to steer the system day to day. But he could still force it forward when it served him.
Yes. Keane pulled up the dimensional maps. Red alerts everywhere. Vienna. Chicago. Tokyo. Cairo. Sydney. São Paulo. Mumbai. Dozens more.
All activating at once.
Every corrupted wellspring on the planet was moving toward synchronization with mechanical precision.
He studied heir resonance, I said. The tactical part of my brain was already working through it—enemy adaptation, strategic countermove. Elio’s parents. Their research. He knows our combined magic is the only real threat to his system.
