I gathered them at dawn again. The same spot. No uniforms. No formalities.
Felix wore three scarves, muttering about fog and ghosts. Wallace brought his toolkit. Garrick was already sweating through his shirt, stretching like we were about to run a marathon. Mira twirled a new cursed ring on her finger, and Julien looked like he'd slept in a tree. Leo groaned the moment he saw the obstacle course I'd built.
Only Cassandra didn't speak. Just watched me, as if trying to decide which Lucian had shown up today.
I looked them over, each a disaster in their own unique way.
"Alright, children," I said, chalk in one hand, rune-etched stones in the other. "Today, we begin training for a threat that might not exist, from a timeline that isn't ours, inside a reality that's already falling apart."
Julien blinked. "So a normal Monday."
"Precisely."
