The sun had slipped fully below the horizon, leaving only indigo shadows and the soft, steady glow of the Disk in my hands.The shimmer on the ground lingered, reluctant—like the world itself was still listening.
Owen exhaled beside me.
I stared down at the gold in my palms, watching the light pulse in time with my heartbeat.The boundary—whatever it was—had come from this.From me holding it.From the way it answered when I touched it.
“It stopped him,” I whispered.
Owen moved closer.“Yeah.”
“I don’t…” I looked up at him, searching his face in the dying light.“I don’t understand what this is.What it did.”
“A ward,” he said quietly.“One of the old protections.Guardian relics are keyed to bloodlines—passed down through families who guard the Crossroads.When you touched the Disk, it recognized Alice’s blood in you.”
“Like the grimoire did,” I said.
He nodded.“The grimoire broadcast that you existed.The Disk claimed you as the Crossroads’ keeper.That’s why Garrat can’t cross the boundary now—the land knows you, and it won’t let anything through that you don’t permit.”
The words should have felt too big.Too impossible.
But the Disk hummed warm against my skin, and somewhere deep in my chest, something hummed back.
I let out a shaky breath.
“Well,” I said, my voice thin but steady.“That’s not weird or terrifying at all.”
Owen’s mouth curved faintly.“Yeah.”
I tightened my grip, feeling the weight of it settle into something that felt less like a weapon and more like a key I didn’t know I’d been missing.
And for the first time, I understood—
weird wasn’t the problem.
Understanding what I was supposed to do with it… that was the problem.
Chapter Twenty
“Piper?”
I dragged my eyes up from the Sun Disk and met his.He had a look of wonder on his face.Wonder and… admiration?
“That happened,” I said.Not a question.A statement trying to become real.
“Yeah.”His voice was soft.“It did.”
I held the Disk so tight in my hands they cramped.It continued to glow, the only light between us as darkness shrouded the forest.
“A ward,” I repeated, testing the word.“So this thing… it can keep them out?”
“For now.”Owen’s expression shifted, something cautious entering his eyes.“But wards aren’t meant to hold forever.They’re meant to buy time.”
Time.
The word settled heavy in my chest.
“How much time?”I asked.
He shook his head.“I don’t know.My father would know better than me.We should go,” he said then.“I’ll take you home.”
