Tommy Owen sat in his cousin's living room. Small house. Three bedrooms. Quiet neighborhood. The kind of place where everyone knew everyone and strangers stuck out like neon signs.Perfect for hiding. Terrible for living.Two weeks. He'd been here two weeks. Working remote IT support for his cousin's small business. Fixing computers over video calls. Troubleshooting software bugs. Pretending everything was normal.It wasn't normal. Nothing about this was normal.The house smelled like cinnamon. His cousin's wife baked constantly. Stress baking apparently. She knew something was wrong. Knew Tommy was hiding from something dangerous. But she didn't ask. Just baked.Cookies. Brownies. Three different kinds of pie. The whole house smelled like a bakery.Tommy's laptop sat open on the coffee table. Remote desktop session. Some client's computer running slow. Probably malware. Always malware.His phone buzzed. The encrypted one. The military-grade secure app Jake had set up for him.Message

"They're here," Tommy said. Looking out the window. Black SUV pulling up. Harrison's people. Professional. Armed. Ready."Go with them. Let them protect you. I'll figure this out. I promise.""You keep promising. But people keep getting hurt. My shop burned down twice. I got kidnapped. Now my cousin's family is being threatened. When does it stop, Jake? When do the people around you stop paying for your war?"Silence. Heavy silence.Then: "I don't know. But I'm going to try. That's all I can do. Try."Tommy hung up. Grabbed his go-bag. Went upstairs where his cousin was putting Lucas to bed."Mark. We need to talk. Right now. It's important."His cousin looked up. Saw Tommy's face. Knew something was very wrong. "What happened?""We need to leave. All of us. Tonight. Right now. There are people outside who are going to take us somewhere safe. Don't ask questions. Don't pack anything we don't absolutely need. Just trust me."Mark's face went pale. "Tommy. What the hell is going on?""I

Silence. Heavy. Uncomfortable.Then Elijah broke it. Like he always did."I'm not," he said. Grinning. Tossing one of the stress balls at Jake. "But let's do it anyway. What's the worst that could happen?"Jake caught the ball. Raised an eyebrow. "We could all die.""We could all die," Sora said at the same time. Dry. Sarcastic. "Every single one of us."Elijah's grin widened. "See? Nothing new. We've been almost dying for weeks now. We're basically professionals at this point. I'm thinking of updating my resume. Skills include: nearly dying, creative use of water as a weapon, looking good while running for my life.""Your humor is a coping mechanism," Sora said."Obviously. But it's either laugh or cry, and crying makes my eyes puffy." Elijah leaned back. Serious again. "But for real. I'm in. This Council thing sounds bad. Like end-of-the-world bad. And I'd rather die fighting than hide and wait for someone else to save us.""Agreed," Harrison said. "I'm in.""Obviously I'm in," Sora

"They're not. They can fracture. Break. Shatter if you hit them hard enough with enough power." Lin set the fragment on the table. It pulsed. Green light washing over the wood. "This piece has been in my bloodline for eight generations. Protecting us. Guiding us. Connecting us to the Shadow Heart's power without the full burden of wielding it."Her expression darkened. Haunted. "And I've been hunting the Council for twenty years. Ever since their forces killed my parents. Ever since I learned the truth.""The truth about what?" Jake asked. Deactivating his Hearts slowly. Cautiously. This woman wasn't an enemy. Not yet anyway."About what the Hearts really are. What they're really for." Lin looked around the room. "They're not just immortal beings. The Council. They're prisoners. Sealed away three thousand years ago by the original Heart wielders. Seven warriors who sacrificed everything to trap them. To cage them. To protect humanity."She picked up the fragment. Held it like it was p

He boarded the plane. Sat down. Buckled in.Lin sat across from him. "First time being kissed by your boss?""First time being kissed by anyone in months. Years maybe. I don't know. My life's been complicated.""Clearly." Lin pulled out her fragment. Held it. The green stone pulsing faintly. "But focus. We're going to Iceland. To find a corrupted Heart. To stop this Marguerite. To prevent the apocalypse. Your love life can wait.""Right. Focus. Iceland. Storm Heart. Apocalypse prevention." Jake took a breath. Centered himself. "What exactly are we walking into? You said the Storm Heart feels corrupted. What does that mean?"Lin's expression darkened. "Hearts have a specific energy signature. Clean. Pure. Powerful. The Storm Heart in Iceland. It doesn't feel that way anymore. It feels twisted. Wrong. Like someone's been interfering with it. Changing it. Corrupting it.""Corrupting it how?""I don't know. But whatever they've done, it's bad. Really bad. The energy feels sick. Diseased.