A Secret Passage and a Determined Ally

I stared at the newly repaired portal, still amazed by what Hazel had accomplished. The restoration that should have taken weeks of intensive effort by a team of our most skilled Greys had been completed by her in minutes. Simply incredible.

It wasn't just the speed that astonished me—it was the effortlessness. Where I'd struggled with the complex energies, Hazel had manipulated them as naturally as breathing. The raw power she possessed was beyond anything I'd ever witnessed.

But despite this miracle, caution still gnawed at me. Tomorrow seemed too far away when our bond group remained incomplete. Jaxon was still on the other side, and every moment without him left a painful void in all of us. Yet everyone insisted on waiting the full twelve hours for the portal to stabilize.

"What if something goes wrong?" I muttered to myself, running my fingers through my hair as I paced my room. "What if the portal destabilizes again before we can bring them back?"