(Mirabel's POV)
A head.
The Collector's outline sharpened.
A head.
Two shoulders.
Two arms.
A shape becoming real.
And somehow—
That wasn't the terrifying part.
The terrifying part was what happened next.
The Collector stopped moving.
The fracture remained open.
Reality remained broken.
The army beyond existence remained waiting.
But the Collector—
Stopped.
As though it had forgotten something.
As though it had noticed something more important than its prey.
Its unfinished face slowly turned upward.
Toward somewhere above the fracture.
Above reality.
Above existence itself.
The smile vanished.
The black sea froze.
Every eye beyond the fracture widened.
Fear rippled through them.
Not fear of us.
Fear of something else.
Something approaching.
Something they recog
