They exchange nervous looks.
Mora speaks first. "Kaelren went looking for you, Elle. He used the locket and the Elm Gate to pull you back. But something went wrong. Instead of pulling you through, it pulled him in." She pauses. "He's somewhere in the iterations. Same as you. He's been searching for you."
The ground tilts beneath me. Or maybe that's just my knees going weak. Kaelren is in the iterations. Scattered across timelines. Looking for me while I've been stumbling through iteration after iteration.
"How long?" I ask. "How long has he been gone?"
"On our end? About three weeks," Leo says. "We briefly spoke to him a little over a week ago, and he was in Iteration Fourteen. We do not know if he is still there now."
Three weeks. He's been lost for three weeks, and I didn't even know.
I hear a sharp crack, the unmistakable sound of wood connecting with something solid, and then a new face shoves its way into the frame. Round. Bearded. Wearing a pointed red hat that's seen better centuries.
"Listen here, missy." A gnome jabs a gnarled finger at me through the water. "We've got stuff to do, but you need to hurry.Things are getting pretty hairy here, and I don't know how much longer we can hold them off."
I blink. "Who are you?"
"The name's Raskel, and I've been standing guard over your grandmother's backyard since before your bloodline figured out indoor plumbing. Now—"
Bryx leans into the frame. "He hits really hard for someone so small."
"I'll hit harder if you don't stop interrupting me, bug boy." Raskel turns back to me. "The borders are fracturing. The Elm Gate is destabilizing. Every day Kaelren is gone, the anchor weakens, and without an anchor—"
The image ripples. A wave passes through the pool, distorting their faces, warping the sound.
"You're breaking up," I say, leaning closer. "Raskel, what do I need to do?"
"—find him—" Static. "—before the gate—" More rippling. "—no more resets—"
"Elle!" Leo's voice cuts through, desperate. "Just come home. Please. Find him and come home."
"We love you!" Mora calls out.
"Stay gorgeous!" Bryx shouts.
Sarah's voice, calm and clear: "We'll hold things down here. Do what you need to do."
The connection fractures. Their faces stretch, blur, and dissolve into pink water and sunlight. The glow fades. The pool goes still.
They're gone.
I stay crouched at the edge of the pool for a long time. I'm shaking. My face is wet, and I don't remember when I started crying, but the tears are rolling down my cheeks and dripping into the pool, making tiny ripples in the water that was just showing me the people I love most in any world.
I wipe my eyes with my sleeve and stand up.
Thalia is standing a few feet away, watching me. Her expression is soft in a way I haven't seen from her before. There's a sheen in her eyes too, a glassiness she blinks away quickly, but not quickly enough.
"Thank you," I say, and my voice comes out rough. "For that. I needed it."
She nods. A simple acknowledgment. Then her expression shifts, and the weight comes back into it. The same heaviness I saw in the desert, the same sense that she's carrying something she can't put down.
"I have to leave you now, Elle."
"Of course you do. Mysterious appearances and dramatic exits. That's your whole thing."
She doesn't laugh. She steps closer, and her green eyes lock onto mine with an intensity that pins me in place.
"When the time comes," she says, her voice low and deliberate, as if she's choosing every word with surgical precision, "you must take the leap of faith. Don't hesitate. Don't think. Just jump." She grips my arm, her fingers strong. "There are no more chances after this, Elle. This is it."
