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I touch the final line. “The witness does not call.” The release stone sits beside the instructions on the table. “That’s me.”

Ezra looks from the instructions to me. “You think the curse put us into the same loop?”

“I think your bond already had the right fractures for the curse to catch.”

Theo’s jaw tightens.

I reach for him before he can hear that as blame. “You were kids. You formed a bond out of survival, and you did what you had to do.”

His hand closes around mine.

“The curse didn’t create your love or the bond,” I continue. “It found the fear inside it and anchored.”

Ezra touches the old bite at his shoulder. “And now I’m stuck where Susannah was.”

“Not exactly.” I move closer to him. “You’re not dying from the same illness. I don’t think the route cares why the bond formed or why it needs to open. It recognizes the pattern. One person trying to move while the bond keeps pulling him back.”

Theo’s voice comes out low. “So we finish the release.”

“Yes.” The pattern feels clearer as I say it. “I think the curse has pushed your bond into something that mirrors an unfinished release. If that pattern is right, completing the ritual may release the old bond.”

My mind keeps racing as the rest of the pieces settle. “The Saints think I’m the key. Maybe they think a Vines witness can stabilize GatorX damage. Or Dr. Sawyer connected the way Ezra responds to me with the route. I still don’t know which.”

Theo watches me. “You don’t know that.”

“No. But they know enough to believe they need me and the stone.”

The house knocks once inside the wall.

I continue sorting the evidence. “We have to hide the originals.”

Theo responds instantly. “Where?”

“Separate them. The locked records cabinet gets Josephine’s notebook. Put the post-ritual records in a case and keep that somewhere else in the house. Send Wes the digital copies and the route map.”

Theo gathers the first stack.

The house knocks again, almost approvingly.

Ezra catches my wrist. “Pepper, I still don’t understand how the curse explains what happens to me. Break it down for me like I’m one of your students.”

My words come out quickly as I gather the records into a waterproof box. “The failed ritual created a persistent metaphysical feedback pattern embedded in the local wetland ecosystem. It spread, and your survival bond appears to be resonating with its unresolved release structure.”

Ezra stares at me. “Not the AP kids, Pepper. The ones in tutoring.”

A laugh bursts out of me. It’s too loud, slightly hysterical, and exactly what I need. The frantic pressure loosens enough for me to take a full breath. “Sorry. I get technical when I’m freaking out.”

“Understandable. Try again with fewer words that require flash cards.”

I set down the papers. “The Everlasting Pack’s botched ritual created a wound so big the land absorbed some of its pain. That wound has been festering ever since. Their love held on so tightly that it became a curse on Sweetheart Haven.”

Ezra nods slowly. “Okay. Following.”

“Your bond with Theo was built during the worst time in your lives. You both believed holding on was the only way to survive.”

Theo stops beside the keeper cabinet, but I keep going.

“The curse found that fear,” I say. “Now it’s keeping your bond from changing even though both of you have changed.”