We had seven days before the Hollow reached the western site.
Seven days from Cira's estimate, based on the cycle timing and the distance and the specific pace that something as old and as patient as the Hollow moved at. Seven days to prepare for a confrontation that the Ashborne had been building toward for nearly four centuries and that we had six weeks of preparation for.
The math was not in our favor. We worked anyway.
Maren took me through the morning and into the afternoon. What Cira had described — the absorption attempt, the failed extraction, the specific vulnerability of a Tide's gift to being drawn inward by force — gave Maren new parameters to work against. She spent the first morning sitting across from me with her eyes closed and her hands pressed flat on the table between
