The withdrawal didn’t feel like relief.
It felt like being released from pressure only to realize something had been holding the shape of the room together.
Denise noticed it immediately.
The air in the courtyard loosened.
The pull inside her chest dimmed to a faint echo.
And yet—
nothing about it felt safe.
She looked down at Liam.
“What just happened?” she asked quietly.
Liam didn’t move his gaze from the treeline.
“They paused the synchronization,” he said.
Denise frowned. “Why would they do that?”
A pause.
Then Liam answered:
“Because forcing it didn’t work.”
That made her go still.
“…so they just stop?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
And that one word carried more weight than everything else.
Below, the forest was still.
Too still again.
But now it wasn’t the stillness
