Chapter Text
It started, as many Library mishaps did, with good intentions.
The mission was supposed to be simple: retrieve a minor cursed object from a crumbling estate in Wales. Sophie came along because, well, the Library wanted her to.
Eve wasn’t thrilled.
“Exploding things is your dad’s job,” she muttered, adjusting Sophie’s tactical jacket.
“I don’t plan to explode anything,” Sophie replied.
Flynn kissed Eve on the temple and said, “It’ll be fine. She’s brilliant. You know that.”
“That’s what worries me.”
****
On Site – A Very Cranky Garden Shed
The artifact in question was supposedly a corrupted sundial once used to mark magical eclipses. Flynn and Cassandra were analyzing its markings. Eve was on perimeter. Sophie… was poking around the overgrown shed where the sundial had been stored.
“Uh, guys?” she called. “There’s another object in here.”
Flynn perked up. “Describe it!”
Sophie crouched. “Stone tablet. Glowing. Humming. Sitting on a suspiciously clean pedestal.”
Flynn was already sprinting. “Don’t touch it!”
“I’m not!”
The humming grew louder.
Cleo hissed.
Then—BOOM.
A pulse of shimmering light burst from the shed, knocking the door off its hinges. Everyone was thrown backward—but no one was hurt.
When the smoke cleared, Sophie stood at the center, unharmed, holding the now-silent tablet.
Flynn staggered toward her, eyes wide. “You exploded a timeline anchor.”
“I didn’t touch it!”
Cassandra groaned. “But it exploded, Soph.”
“I thought about touching it, Cassie,” Sophie clarified, “I picked it up after it exploded.”
Eve stormed up, eyes scanning Sophie head to toe. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Sophie said, completely calm. “Actually… I think I made it better.”
The tablet in her hands pulsed once, then settled.
Flynn looked like he might cry. From excitement. “You stabilized a temporal burst by sheer will. That’s—That’s amazing!”
Eve stared at him. “Flynn, she blew up something.”
“Yes, but so beautifully!” He beamed. “Isn’t that amazing?”