Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
The mansion itself seemed frozen around the words.
My son.
Denise stared at the being rising from the shattered floor.
Then at Liam.
Then back again.
Neither looked surprised.
That frightened her more than anything else.
The Witness remained bowed.
Its forehead nearly touched the fractured marble.
The creature that had crossed impossible boundaries.
The creature that remembered Liam’s buried name.
Kneeling.
Not out of respect.
Out of caution.
Liam’s expression remained unreadable.
“You shouldn’t be awake.”
The ancient being smiled sadly.
“I could say the same thing.”
Its voice was unlike anything Denise had ever heard.
Not loud.
Not powerful.
Yet every word seemed to arrive from multiple distances at once.
As though the universe itself
