Back at the shrine, Caleb reached the ritual circle a half-second too late to stop the working from launching, but exactly in time to see something none of them had anticipated — the sigils flickering, sputtering, straining against a resistance that seemed to be pushing back from somewhere far beyond the shrine's stone walls.

"Something's fighting it," Corin shouted, staring at the circle in stunned disbelief. "The rite's not landing clean. Something on the other end is holding the bond shut."

Jeanne's eyes snapped open, fury and confusion warring across her face as her carefully prepared working strained and buckled against a resistance she clearly hadn't planned for. "That's not...