Thrash

The warping door suddenly went silent. Perfectly, unnaturally silent.

Then a single finger—pale as moonlight, long and impossibly slender—pressed against the glass.

Aspen's breath caught. For the first time since they'd known him, the ancient guardian of the Grove looked genuinely surprised.

"That's not possible," he whispered.

The finger pressed harder. The glass didn't break. It absorbed the finger, like water taking the shape of whatever touched it.

Kai growled. Marcus tensed. Samantha's hand was still outstretched toward the chocolate-key.

Guadalupe's voice was barely a whisper. "The prophecy was never just about the child."

The finger became a hand, then an arm—pale white with veins of obsidian pulsing beneath translucent skin. The magical barriers around Guadalupe's shop screamed in protest, ancient wards fighting against an intrusion that should have been impossible.