They came three hours before the UN meeting.
Seraphina was in the middle of putting on professional clothes—armor for the political battlefield ahead—when reality stopped cooperating. The room didn't go dark or freeze. It just became... more. Like someone had turned up the resolution on existence itself.
Seven points of light manifested in her bedroom.
"No." The word left her mouth before thought. "Not now. We have—"
"Time is irrelevant." The Timeweaver's voice came from past and future simultaneously. "We arrive when arrival is necessary. This moment. That moment. All moments."
Damon burst through the door, his Reality Anchor power flaring. But even he couldn't stabilize what was happening. The seven members of the High Council weren't quite in their reality—more like projecting into it.
Luna started crying from the nursery. Through their connection, Seraphina felt her daughter's terror: "The judge-lights are back. They're angry."
