The image dissolved into darkness, the pool now reflecting only the night sky above. She leaned forward, fingers trembling, but the water had gone cool and flat. The connection was gone.

She stood, wiping her hands on her jacket. She now knew two things for certain:

1. The garden was alive and conscious.

2. Cassian was still out there - but not here.

To find him, she would have to pass beyond whatever threshold separated this world from the one hidden within the garden.

And the black flower from before - that single blossom etched in runes - had not been a warning.

It was an invitation.