Night came slowly to Tides, the summer sun taking its time to sink below the horizon. Kyla spent the hours before dark trying to rest on Josh's surprisingly comfortable couch while he made phone calls, checking in with Chen and assuring him they were both fine and definitely staying home to recover.
"Yes, sir, we're both just watching TV and taking it easy," Josh said into the phone, while simultaneously pulling out a bag of lockpicking tools from his closet. "No, sir, we won't do anything stupid. Promise."
Kyla raised an eyebrow at him when he hung up. "You're a terrible liar."
"I prefer to think of it as creatively interpreting the truth." Josh set the tools on the coffee table. "Breaking into an abandoned bookstore to stop an interdimensional invasion technically counts as taking care of ourselves, right? We're being proactive about our safety."
"That's not how that works."
"Sure it is. Can't get invaded by alien armies if we stop the invasion. Therefore, breaking and entering equals self-care." Josh grinned. "See? Logic."
Despite everything, Kyla laughed. "You're ridiculous."
"Yeah, but I make this whole 'impending doom' thing more bearable, don't I?"
He had a point. Even with the weight of what they'd learned pressing down on her, Josh somehow made it feel less overwhelming. Like they were in this together, and together they might actually have a chance.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Kyla asked, sitting up. "We can't just walk up to the front door and start picking the lock in the middle of downtown."
"Actually, we kind of can." Josh pulled up a map on his phone. "Ravenwood Books is on a street with mostly commercial properties. After nine PM, the area's pretty dead. The closest business with late hours is a bar three blocks away. As long as we're quick and look like we belong there, nobody will notice."
"And if someone does notice?"
"Then we're two cops investigating a potential crime scene. We got a tip about suspicious activity and decided to check it out." He shrugged. "Not even technically a lie."
They spent another hour going over the plan and gathering supplies. Josh had an impressive collection of gear for someone who claimed to be a regular cop—lockpicks, flashlights, a small crowbar, even a portable radio scanner.
"Why do you have all this stuff?" Kyla asked, examining a particularly professional-looking lockpick set.
"My uncle was a locksmith. Taught me the trade when I was a kid. He always said you never know when you'll need to get through a locked door." Josh looked slightly embarrassed. "Plus, I may have gone through a phase in college where I thought I wanted to be like a movie spy. Bought a bunch of gear and then realized actual spy work is probably more paperwork than cool gadgets."
"You wanted to be a spy?"
"Don't judge me. Everyone has weird phases. I bet you had some questionable career ambitions too."
Kyla thought back to her teenage years. "I wanted to be a marine biologist for like two years. Had posters of whales all over my room. Then I realized I get seasick really easily."
"See? We've all got our things." Josh checked his watch. "It's almost nine. We should head out."
They took Josh's car this time, an old Honda that had seen better days but ran quietly, which was useful for not drawing attention. The drive to Ravenwood Books took fifteen minutes through increasingly empty streets. Downtown Tides transformed at night—the busy shops and cafes gave way to darkened windows and the occasional homeless person pushing a shopping cart.
Josh parked two blocks away, and they walked the rest of the distance. Kyla's heart was pounding, and she kept expecting someone to jump out and stop them, but the streets were deserted.
Ravenwood Books looked even more abandoned at night. The windows were dark, and the "CLOSED" sign hung at an angle like it might fall off at any moment. Josh pulled out his flashlight and lockpicks.
"Keep watch," he whispered. "This should only take a minute."
Kyla positioned herself so she could see both directions down the street while still watching Josh work. His hands moved with practiced confidence, manipulating the picks with small, precise movements. After about thirty seconds, there was a soft click.
"Got it," Josh said, pushing the door open.
Inside, Ravenwood Books was exactly what you'd expect from a store that had been closed for three years—dusty, dark, and smelling like old paper and mildew. Kyla's flashlight beam cut through the darkness, revealing rows of empty bookshelves and a checkout counter covered in unopened mail.
"Looks pretty abandoned," she whispered.
"Front of the store, yeah. But remember what Ortiz said—he saw the old man and the Messenger meeting here. They had to be somewhere." Josh moved deeper into the store, his flashlight sweeping across walls. "There has to be a back room or a basement."
They searched the ground floor carefully, checking behind counters and moving aside shelves. Kyla was starting to think maybe Ortiz had been wrong when Josh called out quietly from near the back wall.
"Kyla, check this out."
She joined him behind what used to be the store's biography section. At first, she didn't see anything unusual, just a regular wall covered in faded wallpaper. Then Josh pressed his hand against a section of the wall, and she heard it—a hollow sound, different from the rest.
"There's a space behind here," Josh said, running his fingers along the wallpaper's edge. "Help me find the seam."
They worked together, and after a minute, Kyla found it—a nearly invisible line in the wallpaper that, when pressed, caused a section of the wall to swing inward like a door. Beyond it was darkness and a staircase leading down.
"Of course there's a secret basement," Kyla muttered. "Why wouldn't there be a secret basement?"
"At least we're consistent. Every creepy place we investigate has a basement." Josh started down the stairs. "Come on."
The staircase was narrow and steep, and Kyla had to duck to avoid hitting her head on the low ceiling. At the bottom, they found themselves in a room that looked nothing like the abandoned bookstore above.
This was a laboratory.
Not like a fancy, modern lab with gleaming equipment, but more like a mad scientist's workshop from an old movie. Long tables were covered with papers, books, and scientific equipment. One wall was entirely covered in a massive map of Tides with pins and string connecting different locations. Another wall had a whiteboard filled with equations and diagrams. And in the center of the room, on a special stand, sat three glowing fragments.
"Holy..." Josh breathed, moving toward the fragments. "He kept some here."
Kyla was drawn to the map. Up close, she could see it wasn't just marking the locations where fragments had been found—it was tracking something else. Lines connected certain points, forming a pattern that looked almost like... a circuit diagram.
"Josh, look at this. The fragments aren't randomly scattered. They're positioned in a specific pattern across the city."
Josh came over, studying the map. "You're right. It's like they form a grid. And look—" He pointed to the center of the pattern. "What's at this intersection?"
Kyla checked the street names. "That's... that's City Hall. Right in the center of downtown."
"Why would City Hall be significant?"
Before Kyla could answer, they heard a noise from upstairs. Footsteps. Multiple people moving around in the bookstore above them.
Josh immediately switched off his flashlight, and Kyla did the same. They stood in darkness, barely breathing, listening to the sounds above. Voices drifted down, too muffled to make out words, but clearly male and clearly searching for something.
"Did we leave the front door open?" Kyla whispered, so quietly she could barely hear herself.
"I closed it," Josh whispered back. "They must have a key."
More footsteps, closer now. Someone was approaching the back of the store, near the secret entrance. Kyla's mind raced. They were trapped. There was only one way in and out of this basement, and if whoever was upstairs found the hidden door...
Josh grabbed her arm and pointed to the far corner of the room. There was another door, smaller and partially hidden behind a filing cabinet. They moved as quietly as possible, Kyla's heart hammering so loud she was sure whoever was upstairs could hear it.
The door led to a tunnel. Of course it did. Because apparently, Tides had more secret underground passages than actual streets. The tunnel was narrow and smelled like earth and old water, but it was a way out.
They hurried through the darkness, using their phones instead of flashlights to create just enough light to see by. Behind them, they heard a crash—someone had found the basement entrance. Voices echoed down the tunnel, angry and searching.
"They're down here! Find them!"
Josh and Kyla ran. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, twisting and turning. Kyla's lungs burned, and her head throbbed from the concussion, but she kept moving. They couldn't get caught. Not now, not when they were so close to understanding what was really happening.
The tunnel finally ended at a ladder leading up to a metal hatch. Josh climbed first, pushing the hatch open with effort. Dim light flooded down, and Kyla scrambled up after him.
They emerged in an alley behind what looked like an old warehouse. Josh quickly closed the hatch and they ran again, not stopping until they were six blocks away, hidden behind a closed restaurant, gasping for breath.
"We have to stop meeting in alleys like this," Josh said between breaths. "People are going to talk."
Kyla would have laughed if she could breathe properly. "Did you... grab anything? Any research?"
Josh patted his jacket pockets and pulled out a small notebook. "Got this off one of the tables. Grabbed it right before we heard them coming."
"That's it? We went through all that for one notebook?"
"Hey, Dr. Price's journal ended up being super useful. Maybe this one will be too." Josh opened it, flipping through pages. His expression changed. "Oh. Oh no."
"What?"
"This isn't Price's notebook. Look at the handwriting—it's different. Neater." Josh held up a page for her to see. "This belongs to the Messenger."
Kyla took the notebook, scanning the pages. It was indeed different from Price's rambling scientific observations. This was organized, methodical. Lists of tasks, dates, instructions. And on the most recent page, dated yesterday, was something that made her blood run cold.
"Final preparations for the Alignment," she read aloud. "All twelve fragments secured at primary location. Portal stabilization equipment in place. City Hall ceremonies will provide perfect cover—large crowd, distracted officials, minimal security on lower levels. The King's vanguard will cross over at exactly 11:47 PM during peak lunar alignment. Estimated time for full army deployment: 4 hours. Resistance expected but manageable. Humanity's weapons are ineffective against King's forces."
"City Hall," Josh said quietly. "That's why it was at the center of the map. That's where they're opening the portal."
"And there's a ceremony there tomorrow night. The mayor's giving some speech about city improvements." Kyla remembered seeing posters about it around town. "There'll be hundreds of people there."
"Which means hundreds of witnesses when an alien army marches through downtown." Josh ran his hand through his hair. "We have to tell Chen. We have to evacuate the area, cancel the ceremony, something."
"With what proof? A notebook we stole from a secret basement? They'll think we're crazy."
"Then we need to find proof they can't ignore. We need to—" Josh stopped, his eyes widening. "Wait. The Messenger wrote that the King's forces are immune to regular weapons. But what if there's something that can hurt them? Some weakness?"
Kyla thought about everything they'd learned. The fragments, the portal, the connection between worlds... "The fragments. They're what's opening the portal. What if they're also what can close it?"
"Or destroy it," Josh added, excitement building in his voice. "If the fragments are powering the portal, and we can disrupt them somehow, break the connection—"
"The portal collapses, and the invasion can't happen." Kyla felt a surge of hope. "But how do we disrupt them? Price spent forty years studying these things. We have less than two days."
Josh was already pulling out his phone. "We need help. Someone who knows about dimensional physics or crystal structures or... I don't know, weird science stuff. Do we know any scientists?"
"Actually, yeah. Remember the geology professor that Price mentioned in his journal? The one who went missing after claiming to have made a revolutionary discovery?"
"Professor... something. I remember seeing the name." Josh scrolled through the photos he'd taken of Price's journal. "Here. Professor Sarah Hoffman, Tides University, Department of Geological Sciences. Disappeared June 2024."
"What if she didn't disappear? What if she went into hiding because she knew about the fragments?"
"It's worth a shot. If she's still alive and we can find her, she might know how to stop this." Josh checked the time on his phone. "It's almost eleven. Tomorrow we track down Professor Hoffman. Tonight, we get some actual rest because we're both running on fumes and bad hospital coffee."
"Your apartment?"
"My apartment. I've got a spare bedroom, and unlike your place, I actually have clean dishes."
"Hey, I resent that. I have... some clean dishes."
They made their way back to Josh's car, constantly checking over their shoulders. The drive back to his apartment was quiet, both of them lost in thought about everything they'd discovered. When they finally got inside, Josh locked the door and pushed a chair against it for good measure.
"I'll take the couch," Kyla offered. "You should sleep in your own bed."
"Not arguing with that. My couch is comfortable, but my back is getting too old for it." Josh grabbed a blanket and pillow from his closet. "Bathroom's down the hall if you need it. There's a new toothbrush in the cabinet under the sink."
"Thanks, Josh. For everything. I know we're basically committing career suicide by not following protocol, but—"
"But nobody else would believe us, and we don't have time to convince them." Josh smiled tiredly. "Besides, partners stick together, right? Even when things get weird. Especially when things get weird."
"Especially then," Kyla agreed.
She settled onto the couch, which really was surprisingly comfortable, and pulled the blanket up. Through the window, she could see the lights of Tides twinkling in the darkness. Somewhere out there, people were going about their normal lives, completely unaware that in less than two days, an army from another dimension was planning to invade their world.
And the only people who knew about it were two rookie cops with concussions, a stolen notebook, and absolutely no idea what they were doing.
But they had each other. And somehow, that made it feel like maybe, just maybe, they had a chance.
Kyla's last thought before falling asleep was wondering if Professor Hoffman was real, if she was alive, and if she'd be willing to help them save the world.
Tomorrow they'd find out.
Tomorrow the real work began.
End of Chapter 7