A chill passed through the air as morning broke, sunlight bending oddly through the kitchen window—like reality was warping ever so slightly. Amaira's pendant pulsed faintly, the cracked glass shimmering with impossible colors.
Tylor noticed it first. "That light… it's not natural."
Kayla touched the window. Her fingers met resistance, like pressing against warm glass. "It's not a window. It's a lens."
Elias cursed under his breath. "They've placed a refractor here—an observational gate. We're being watched again."
Amaira backed away, clutching the pendant. "I think... this is how she got through. The other me."
Before they could speak, a low hum rippled through the house, originating from beneath the floorboards. Tylor and Elias pried them up, revealing a network of old Collective cables—recently reactivated.
"They left a backdoor," Elias muttered. "Into our reality."
Tylor knelt beside it. "Can we trace it?"
Kayla nodded, already pulling up an interface on her tablet. "Yes. It leads outside town. The forest. Near the old observatory ruins."
Amaira stared into the pendant. A reflection blinked back—her, but older, colder.
"We have to go," she whispered. "She's waiting."
Tylor placed a hand on her shoulder. "Not alone."
The group gathered, gear in hand, eyes sharp. As they stepped through the lens-field now shimmering in the open doorway, Amaira's pendant gave one last flicker—this time with a different light.
Not fear.
Invitation.