The bridge shuddered at dawn.
Not from Werner's weapon. Not from the void. From inside. A fold in reality—one of the spaces between spaces that Trench had been monitoring—cracked open like an egg. Not a question. Not an answer. Something else. Something that had been waiting in the silence between the third thing's pulses.
Lyra felt it as a snap in her chest. Like a rubber band breaking.
She ran to the bridge's edge.
The nameless color was bleeding. Silver-blue light leaked from a tear in the air itself.
"Third thing! What's happening?"
I am breaking. Not from outside. From inside. There is a fold I did not know existed. It is collapsing.
"Can you hold it?"
I am trying. But I was not built to hold collapsing folds. I was built to connect them.
---
Solace grabbed her arm.
"Step b
