The door appeared at dawn, exactly where the second had vanished.
A simple wooden door, brass knob, standing alone on the frozen river. No arch. No runes. Just a door that hadn't existed five minutes ago and would never exist again after today.
Harold Draven stood before it in bare feet and Reed's old university hoodie, steam rising from his skin in the minus-twenty air. Behind him, the entire family waited at a respectful distance (close enough to catch him if he fell, far enough to let him walk alone).
Reed's hand rested on Laken's lower back. Her frost had stopped spreading entirely; now it simply hovered around her like a wedding veil made of starlight. Luca and Wade stood shoulder to shoulder, phoenix scars dimmed to soft gold. Eliza held the original sleeping tear in a small cryst
