Leo tried to fold the world again, to vanish and race back to Chloe, but the air turned thick as tar. Adrian lifted one hand. Black stone crawled out of the floor like living chains and wrapped around Leo’s ankles, his wrists, his throat. The weight crushed him down to one knee.“Not so fast,” Adrian said, voice calm, almost kind. “We’re not finished.”Iden snarled inside Leo’s head. “Kid, push. Now.”Leo felt the chains bite. They felt cold and heavy. They wanted to turn him to rock the same way the man in the blue car had frozen. He remembered Chloe’s face when she begged him to come back. That memory burned hotter than the chains.He screamed. Light (white, bright, nothing like the purple sickness in Adrian) burst out of his chest. The chains cracked, then shattered into dust. For one heartbeat Adrian looked surprised.That was all the distraction he needed, it only took a second then Leo was gone.He landed hard in Chloe’s living room. The front door hung off its hinges. The couch

The drive back from Victoria’s cottage had been quiet, almost holy. They stepped through the repaired door of Chloe’s house and the silence followed them inside. Neither could find words. The air felt too thick, too full of everything they were supposed to be. They showered separately, long, hot, as if water could wash away centuries. Chloe came out first, hair dripping, wearing only an old oversized T-shirt that stopped mid-thigh. Leo was at the sink in just sweatpants, staring at his own hands like they belonged to a stranger. She made pasta because her hands needed something to do. They ate at the little table, elbows almost touching, eyes on plates. Forks scraped. Nobody spoke. When the plates were clean, Chloe walked out the back door without a word. Leo followed two heartbeats later. The garden was silver under the moon. Night jasmine had opened, thick and sweet. The grass was cool and damp. Chloe stood in the middle, arms wrapped around herself, staring at the stars like t

The world exploded. One minute there was a crowd. The next, pure panic. People were screaming, running everywhere. The air smelled like fire and fear.Through all the chaos, one person walked calmly toward the stage. It was Adrian. But his eyes had a weird purple glow. He had a nasty smile on his face.Leo moved to jump down and face him. Chloe grabbed his arm. "Leo, don't! The police are coming!" She pointed at the sirens getting closer."The police can't fix this," Leo said, his voice low and serious. "You know they can't. Get to safety. Please."He pulled his arm away and jumped off the stage. He landed right in front of Adrian."Were you looking for me?" Adrian said, his voice full of hate."This stops right now," Leo said.They started to fight. It was just fists and feet at first. Punches landed hard. But then things got strange. A purple light started crackling around Adrian's hands. When he hit Leo, it didn't just hurt. It felt like ice spreading through his bones.Let me help

The morning sun felt wrong. It was too cheerful. Chloe moved through her quiet house like a ghost. Leo had left a note on the kitchen counter. Just two words: "Back soon." No explanation. A cold worry had settled in her stomach and wouldn't leave.She jumped when the doorbell rang. Her heart leaped. Leo was back.She pulled the door open, a relieved smile already forming.It wasn't Leo.Adrian stood on her porch.He looked... small. Deflated. There was no purple glow, no stone skin. Just a guy with messy hair, shadows under his eyes, and a hoodie that swallowed him. He held two paper coffee cups, his hands shaking just a little."Hi," he said, his voice scratchy. "Can I... can we talk? Just for five minutes. I promise."Every muscle in Chloe's body tensed. She wanted to slam the door so hard the glass would break. She wanted to scream for help.But the person on her porch didn't look like a monster. He looked like a lost, tired boy."I know you hate me," he said, his eyes fixed on the

Vivian Briggs sat in her expensive cream living room, legs crossed, wine glass almost empty. The television showed the same clip for the tenth time: Chloe’s house turned into a black stone egg, then crumbling back to normal like nothing happened. Reporters shouted words like “miracle” and “terrorist attack.” Vivian didn’t care about miracles. She cared about money.She threw the remote at the screen. It bounced off and cracked on the marble floor.“That boy will get her killed before I finish!” she shouted to the empty room. “All the shares, the company, everything I worked for, gone would be gone because of that prison trash!”She stood and started pacing, high heels clicking hard. Her nails dug into her palms. She had been plotting and scheming on how to get her hands on it all and it had been proving difficult. Now this Leo appeared, and Chloe looked at him like he hung the moon. Marriage papers were probably already being dreamed about. If Chloe married him, Vivian would be left w