The air around the node still shimmered long after Evelyn had vanished.
We stood there, barely breathing. The silence wasn't peaceful—it was the type of silence that creeps under your skin and lingers in your bones. The shimmering pool of light where Evelyn had disappeared pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
"She didn't walk out," Bobby whispered. "She dissolved."
Jacob was already pacing, muttering to himself. "She's part of it now. The node didn't open—it took her."
Ambrose looked down at his arm, where the faintest trace of glowing veins flickered beneath the skin. He squinted, raised it to the light, and with his signature grin said, "Guys… I think I might be a firefly. Or I touched some radioactive curry."
Even in the thick of tension, Ambrose had a way of breaking through the fear. But this time, his joke didn't dissolve the unease—it amplified it.
I stepped closer to him. The glow was subtle, but unmistakable. Like threads of starlight dancing under his skin.
"Anyone else feeling… sparkly?" he asked, half-mocking, half-concerned.
Bobby shook his head slowly. "I think it's the node marking you."
"Great. Do I get a discount at the next interdimensional café?"
"Ambrose," I said, not laughing, "I'm serious. That glow… it's the same as what I saw around Evelyn when she first stepped out. Like the node has… touched you."
Ambrose's smile faltered just a second. "Touched sounds creepy when you say it, you know?"
But I could see the worry setting behind his eyes.
We took turns examining each other. None of us, except Ambrose, showed any signs. No glowing veins. No warmth. Nothing.
Bobby took out his handheld scanner again, his custom creation of salvaged parts, LEDs, and borderline genius. The screen flickered, crackled with static, and finally flashed a symbol.
"Energy signature—matched," he read aloud. "Same as Evelyn. But only on Ambrose."
Jacob backed a step away from him, subtle but noticeable.
I saw it.
And Ambrose did too.
"Woah," Ambrose said, lifting both hands, "Am I getting ghosted in real-time by my best friends? I knew my deodorant wasn't strong enough for other dimensions, but c'mon."
"Stop," I said firmly. "Nobody's turning on anyone. Not after everything."
But even I could feel the shift. The fold—the bond between us—was straining.
A gust of wind rolled across the field, and for a second, we heard whispers. Not loud. Not clear. Like words carried on a forgotten breeze.
Jacob stiffened. "Did anyone else hear—"
"Yeah," Bobby confirmed, eyes scanning the node's edge. "It's getting more active. The time flux might be thinning the walls. Whatever Evelyn did… it woke something up."
We all turned to look at the pool of light again. It had dimmed now, soft as moonlight through a veil. But still pulsing.
Ambrose looked at his hands again, then muttered, "Guess I'm the chosen glowstick."
I forced a smile, but the worry had crept into my chest like ivy.
"Let's get back," I said. "We need to regroup, and Bobby needs to run more tests. And Ambrose—try not to explode or ascend into a higher plane of existence just yet."
"Dang," Ambrose said, cracking his knuckles. "Guess I'll cancel the enlightenment party."
As we walked back toward the cottage, the silence didn't lift. The trail felt unfamiliar, though we'd walked it dozens of times.
The node had shifted something in all of us. And though none of us said it aloud, we all knew it—
The fold between our worlds wasn't just weakening.
It was watching us now.
And it had chosen one of us.