CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Finding her father became Olivia's secret obsession.
She used every resource at her disposal—Vanguard databases, survivor registries, Coven scrying, even old-fashioned asking around.
She contacted every enclave they'd visited, every community they'd helped, describing her father: fifty-three, gray beard, kind eyes, history professor, probably carrying too many books.
Weeks passed. Nothing.
Then, a breakthrough.
A scout returning from the western districts reported a community called Sanctuary—a large survivor enclave in the foothills, run by a council of elders. One of them matched the description: gray beard, kind eyes, history professor who talked too much about mythology.
"Olivia." Lucas found her in the storage shed, where she'd been training until her body gave out. "There's a message. From Sanctuary."
She dropped her spear. "What?"
"A radio transmission. They say... they say your father's there. Alive. He's been asking about you."
Olivia's legs buckled. Lucas caught her, lowering her to a crate.
"He's alive?"
"He's alive. He's safe. And he wants to see you."
The journey to Sanctuary took three days. Olivia brought Lucas, Cass, and Marcus—her closest team, her family. They travelled through territories that grew greener as they climbed, the alien ecosystem gradually giving way to more familiar forests and meadows.
Sanctuary was beautiful. A converted summer camp, nestled in pine trees, with wooden cabins and a central lodge and a lake that reflected the fractured sky like a mirror. It looked almost normal, almost like the world before.
Her father was waiting at the entrance.
He looked older, thinner, his beard longer and wilder. But his eyes were the same—warm, proud, full of love.
"Olivia," he breathed.
"Dad."
She ran to him, and he caught her, lifting her off her feet as he had when she was small. They held each other for a long time, crying, laughing, unwilling to let go.
"I looked for you," he said eventually. "After the sky fell. I went to the apartment, the gym, everywhere. I couldn't find you."
"I was at a shelter. Then a compound. Then... a lot of places." She pulled back, wiping her eyes. "Dad, I need to ask you something. About our family. About who we are."
His expression changed. The warmth remained, but something else joined it—resignation, maybe. Or recognition.
"I wondered when this conversation would come." He looked at Lucas, Cass, Marcus. "Can we speak privately?"
They walked to the lake, father and daughter, sitting on a dock that creaked beneath them. The water was still, reflecting three moons that shouldn't have been there.
"Your mother never knew," he began. "She was a wonderful woman, but this wasn't her burden to bear. I kept the secret alone, waiting for the day it would matter."
"What secret?"
"Our family, Olivia. The Thornwoods. We're not normal. We haven't been normal for ten thousand years." He turned to face her, his eyes serious. "We are the Guardians of the Threshold. The line that kept the Veil intact through every age, every civilization, every apocalypse."
Olivia felt the dock sway, though the water was calm. "That's... that's impossible."
"Is it? You've felt it. The connection to the World-Tree.
The way the Sovereign recognized you. The way your body defies what biology says it should be able to do.
" He smiled, sad and proud. "You are the culmination, Olivia.
The first Thornwood in generations to manifest the full potential of our bloodline. "
"What potential?"
"The ability to interface with the fundamental structures of reality.
To manipulate the Veil itself. To stand between worlds and keep them separate.
" He took her hands. "It's why you survived when others didn't. Why you could connect with the tree.
Why the Sovereign fears you. Because you are its opposite. Its natural enemy."
"But I'm not... I can't..."
"You can. You already have. The phasing, the enhanced healing, the resonance with Lucas—these are just the beginning. As the Veil continues to heal, your abilities will grow. You'll be able to do things that make the awakened look like children."
Olivia stared at the water, at her fractured reflection. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because knowing changes everything. I wanted you to have a normal life. To be happy, safe, unburdened." His voice cracked. "But the world had other plans."
"What happens now?"
"Now you choose." Her father's grip tightened. "You can embrace what you are, learn to use your abilities, become the guardian the world needs. Or you can walk away. Live your life. Find happiness where you can. The choice is yours, Olivia. It always has been."
She thought of Lucas, waiting back at the lodge. Of her team, her friends, her unlikely family. Of the people she'd helped, the battles she'd fought, the world she'd sworn to protect.
"I can't walk away," she said quietly. "Too many people are counting on me."
"Then I'll teach you. Everything I know. Everything my father taught me, and his father before him." Her father's eyes shone with tears. "I'm proud of you, Olivia. More proud than you can possibly know."
She hugged him again, feeling the weight of history settle onto her shoulders. Ten thousand years of guardianship. A bloodline of warriors who'd kept the darkness at bay.
And now it was her turn.