Chapter 427

XENOIS "We're going to figure this out," I said firmly. "All of us together. We'll research, we'll plan, we'll find a way to satisfy Janice's debt without losing Lumina. And if we can't find a way—" I met Shawn's eyes, "—then we fight. Cosmic entity or not, she wants to take our family member, she's going to face resistance." "That could trigger the timeline reset," Thorne warned from his position by the door. "Then we make sure our resistance is measured enough not to cross that line," I said. "We defend without attacking. We protect without threatening. We show Janice that taking Lumina comes with complications she might not have anticipated." "That's a very thin line to walk," my father observed. "We're Blackwoods," my mother said. "We specialize in walking thin lines. It's practically our family motto." "I thought our family motto was 'tactical innovation through controlled chaos,'" Riley said, his tears stopping as he engaged with the practical discussion. "That's the unofficial m