The city never looked the same again. Rain slicked streets glimmered under flickering streetlights, but something felt… off. Cora clutched the silver-threaded book to her chest as she walked home. Every shadow seemed too long, every reflection slightly wrong.
She rounded the corner, and the world shimmered—just for a second—like a distorted mirror. A woman crossing the street paused mid-step. Her face… split in two, as if she existed in two moments at once. Then she vanished.
Cora gasped. She was seeing a fracture.
"You shouldn't be here," a firm voice said behind her.
She spun around. A man in a trench coat, soaked from the rain but radiating authority, stepped forward. His badge glinted under the streetlamp: Detective Adrian Pike, NYPD.
"I'm… Cora Vale," she stammered, raising the book like a shield. "I don't know what this is—"
"Don't lie," Adrian interrupted, eyes narrowing. "You're connected to the… incidents. The Fractures. People are seeing things. Disappearing things. I've seen the same thing tonight."
Cora's heart thudded. How could he know?
Before she could answer, the book in her hands pulsed, glowing brighter than ever. Silver threads lifted like tendrils, wrapping around her fingers. The world twisted again.
"Cora," Kael's voice echoed in her mind, calm but urgent. "Do not resist. Observe. Learn."
The rain froze mid-air. A taxi stopped mid-motion. And then… time snapped back.
Adrian stared at her, wide-eyed. "What… did you just do?"
"I… I don't know," Cora whispered, trembling. "It's the book. It's alive."
Kael's words returned in her mind: Time itself depends on your choice.
A siren wailed in the distance. Something was coming. Something… not from this world.
Cora realized, with sudden clarity, that nothing would ever be ordinary again.