Page 222 of Awakened

“Why would you do that?” Caelan asks.

“Riven hypothesized something that, up until recently, we haven’t had enough worldwide data to determine a correlation. In the US, yes. But the rest of the world? No.”

I shake my head. “Wait. Last I read—which, to be fair, was years ago—there wasn’t any scientific proof that Ley lines actually exist. There’s speculation, of course. And hundreds of stories dating back, gosh, over a thousand years at least. But nothing definitive.”

Daxen stills. His gaze lands on mine with an intensity I’ve never felt from him before.

“That’s correct.” His voice sounds strained and raspy. He shifts closer, closing some of the distance between us on the couch. “But as Riven pointed out, Ley lines have seen the rise and fall of countless empires over the years. Hundreds of civilizations have built religious temples, monasteries, churches, apothecaries, libraries—even the first recorded observatory—all along Ley lines. Why?”

“Coincidence?”

Dax visibly winces. I shoot Caelan a confused look over my shoulder, but Caelan just grins. “He hates that word.”

That actually tracks.

I chew on my lower lip, trying to think. “Alright… let’s say all these civilizations that came before us knew something we don’t. What does that have to do with what’s happening now?”

Daxen’s eyes find mine, gleaming with that same intensity as before. “Because each disturbance has taken place on a Ley line. Every single one. There’s not a single outlier.”

“What the fuck,” Caelan mutters, scrubbing a hand down his face.

I shake my head, leaning forward as my eyes widen at the implications. “That’s—That has to be statistically impossible. You’re sure?”

“Ran it four times.”

Caelan wraps his arm around my waist and tucks me into his side. His scent wraps around me like a warm blanket, soothing my anxiety.

“What does this have to do with the news?”

Dax straightens, his scent growing thicker and lighter with excitement.

“This male they’re bringing on—he’s corroborating everything Riven and I have concluded ourselves. This is validation on a national scale. Which means other people are putting it all together. Paying attention.”

Caelan glances down at me, lips pressed into a thin line. It’s clear he thinks Dax is getting a little over-excited about the whole thing, but to be fair, I kind of understand.

The commercials end, and Dax reaches for the remote. He turns up the volume—even though no one’s talking and it’s already loud enough—as the news anchor reappears on screen.

“—joined now by Doctor Hugh Wilder, a cultural archeologist widely known in academic circles as a ‘Ley hunter.’ For those unfamiliar, Ley lines are believed to be invisible lines that span the planet, connecting significant ancient sites and landmarks. People have long dismissed them as superstition or pseudoscience. But Doctor Wilder believes they may hold the key to understanding these mass disturbances. Doctor Wilder, welcome.”

The screen splits, showing the Doctor behind a desk in a cluttered office or study. There are piles of books stacked in random towers, and the walls are covered with so many maps there’s no empty space left. Some are framed, and some are tacked to the wall, but they’re all marked by sweeping curved lines that cross continents and oceans alike.

The Doctor himself is bald and looks to be in his early fifties, with laugh lines around his mouth and eyes. Eyes that probably twinkle when he’s amused, but are currently dull with exhaustion as he returns the news anchor’s greeting.

“Doctor Wilder, you’ve been warning the world about Ley line disturbances for some time now. What have you observed?”

The Doctor. leans in a bit, like he’s gearing up for a fight instead of a lecture. This is clearly a man used to defending himself.

“I suppose I can’t exactly blame the masses for ignoring me,” he answers with a bitter laugh. “Who listens to the guy who yaps about Ley lines in 2026, right? Everyone thinks they’re just part of the stories their great-great-grandparents whispered over the hearth. However, the data’s undeniable. These anomalies—geographical, elemental, and otherwise—all occur along the same paths mapped centuries ago. Paths that some believe—with significant evidence to back them up—have existed for thousands of years. What I’ve done, and what anyone can do from your own home, in fact, is map the location of each of the recent disturbances. Then, you simply overlay it with a map showing the locations of the Ley lines.”

“And what did you find?”

“They’re a perfect match. The data doesn’t lie.”

My stomach flips as the screen flashes, showing a map of glowing lines and little black dots marking each disturbance. The perfect symmetry sends dread skating down my spine.

“Furthermore, as you can see here, the Eastern United States is overrun with disturbances. In the last few days alone, there’s been a massive uptick of small-scale happenings.”

“Such as?”