They emerged in a room carved from ice and stone.Marcus recognized it immediately. Valhalla's Gate. The Norse sanctuary beneath Chicago. But something was different. The hall was empty. No warriors. No guards. Just Bjorn and his three companions."Where is everyone?" Elena asked, lowering David Park onto a bench."Gone," Bjorn said grimly. "Odin recalled all forces to Asgard an hour ago. Something is happening. Something big.""What kind of something?" Marcus asked."The kind that makes the Allfather abandon Earth completely." Bjorn checked the unconscious witness. "We have maybe six hours before this sanctuary collapses without Odin's power sustaining it. After that, we are exposed."Elena was already working on David Park, checking his vitals, examining the drugs in his system. "He has been sedated with a cocktail of mortal and divine compounds. Whoever did this wanted him quiet for a long time.""Can you wake him?" Marcus asked."Not safely. Not quickly." Elena pulled medical supp

Marcus opened his eyes to nothing.Not darkness. Not emptiness. Nothing. A void so complete it hurt to perceive. No ground beneath his feet, yet he stood. No air in his lungs, yet he breathed. Reality itself had become optional."Where are we?" Elena's voice came from somewhere to his left. He could not see her, but he felt her presence."Between," Bjorn answered. "Between Earth and the primordial chaos. The space that existed before the gods created order."Light flickered in the void. Apollo's power, dim and struggling. It revealed their group standing on what looked like solid nothing. All around them, the void rippled and moved like a living thing."I cannot maintain this for long," Apollo said, strain evident in his voice. "My power does not work properly here. The rules are different.""That is the point," the Vesper's voice echoed. She materialized before them, but her form was wrong. Larger. More real than anything else in this space. "Here, I am not bound by mortal reality. H

Elena drove to a safe house in the suburbs.The house was small and ordinary, with faded paint and overgrown hedges. Nobody would look twice at it. She parked in the garage and turned off the engine."My mother's place," Elena said. "She left it to me. I use it when I need to disappear."Inside, the furniture was covered with white sheets. Rachel collapsed on the couch immediately, her small body finally giving up. She was asleep in seconds.Marcus stood by the window, staring at the quiet street. His body felt wrong. Stronger, yes. But also different. Like the world pressed against him in ways it never had before."How do you feel?" Elena brought him a glass of water."Strange." Marcus took the water but did not drink. "I can feel them. The gods. All over the city. Like lights I could not see before, but now they are everywhere.""You are one of them now," Elena said quietly. "There is no going back to being normal.""I know." Marcus set the glass down. "What about you? Your father i

Nyx descended like a falling star made of darkness.She was impossible to look at directly. Not because of brightness, but because eyes were not meant to perceive something so ancient. Where she moved, reality bent and twisted. The Cloud Gate sculpture behind Marcus began to melt and reform, caught in her presence.Mortals in the park collapsed. Some fainted. Others ran screaming. A few simply stared, their minds breaking from what they witnessed."Get them out of here!" Marcus shouted to Elena.Elena grabbed Rachel and started herding people away. Police arrived, adding to the chaos. Nobody understood what was happening, but everyone knew they needed to leave.The gods remained frozen. Even Zeus looked small compared to what