The day at school dragged on for what felt like an eternity. Max sat through classes, barely paying attention, his mind spinning with everything that had happened the night before. How could he possibly focus on algebra when he’d stepped through a glowing portal into some interdimensional gateway? Even as Mr. Garvey droned on about polynomials, Max felt the buzz of the Nexus pulsing faintly inside him, like a hidden secret he couldn’t shake.

Jake had noticed something was up. “Dude, you look like you haven’t slept in a week,” he said during lunch.

“I’m fine,” Max replied, keeping it vague. “Just, uh, weird dreams again.”

Jake gave him a sideways look but didn’t push it. Max had been vague about his dreams before, but this time, it felt like more than just weird sleep. He was hiding a whole new life, one Jake couldn’t even imagine.

When the final bell rang, Max couldn’t get out of school fast enough. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and made a beeline for the door, eager to escape the mundane world of high school and return to the strange, cosmic reality he was now part of. 

The walk home was quiet, the autumn air crisp with a faint scent of burning leaves. As Max turned down the familiar street leading to his house, his mind drifted back to the previous night. He could still feel the energy of the Tether coursing through him, even now. The visions, the connection to other worlds—it was all so vivid, so real. But for now, the Nexus felt distant, like a dream just out of reach.

He reached his front yard, dropped his backpack by the door, and paused, looking out toward the small garden that sat just outside his house. That’s when he saw it.

At first, Max thought it was a statue—something his mom might have picked up from a garden center. It stood near the edge of the yard, nestled between the tall hedges. A tall, stone figure, hands covering its face as if in sorrow. 

But something about it made Max’s skin crawl.

He walked closer, his heart rate picking up. The figure was eerily familiar, though he couldn’t quite place why. It was about the size of a human, with wings folded behind it, and its posture was hunched, as if it were weeping.

Max froze mid-step. His eyes widened as recognition slammed into him like a freight train.

“No way,” he whispered.

It was a *Weeping Angel*. 

Straight out of *Doctor Who*, one of the show’s most terrifying villains. The stone figures that only moved when you weren’t looking. The ones that sent you back in time if they touched you.

But this couldn’t be real. Max’s mind raced. Weeping Angels didn’t exist—they were fictional, part of a TV show, just a character created to scare viewers.

He took a slow step back, his instincts screaming at him to run. But then something strange happened. The air around the statue seemed to shimmer, like a heat mirage, distorting the space around it. And suddenly, Max realized this wasn’t a statue. This wasn’t some random decoration his mom had picked up.

This was real.

The Angel hadn’t been here this morning. Max was sure of it. And if it wasn’t a statue... *what was it doing here?*

Max’s heart pounded in his chest as he remembered the one crucial rule from the show: *Don’t blink.*

He kept his eyes locked on the Angel, backing away slowly. His brain scrambled for an explanation. Was this part of the Nexus? Was it something from another world that had crossed over? Or had someone sent it here—someone who knew what he was now?

Max couldn’t afford to blink. His eyes were beginning to burn, but he couldn’t take his gaze off the stone figure. The Angel remained motionless, its hands covering its face, but Max knew better than to trust its stillness.

“What the hell is going on?” Max whispered to himself.

His mind raced back to what Orin had told him—about the balance between worlds, about how disturbances in the Tether could bring things from other dimensions. *Was this one of those disturbances?*

Max glanced toward the front door of his house, just a few feet away. He could make a run for it, get inside, and lock the door. But the Weeping Angels didn’t follow normal rules. They didn’t just break into houses—they could appear anywhere, as long as they weren’t being watched.

Max’s throat was dry. His vision blurred for a split second, and he blinked—just for the briefest moment.

When he opened his eyes, the Angel had moved.

It was closer now. Just a few feet from where it had been, its hands still covering its face, but its posture had shifted. It was leaning forward slightly, its stone form even more menacing up close.

“Okay, don’t freak out, don’t freak out,” Max muttered, backing away slowly.

He had to think fast. If this thing was real, then he needed to figure out a way to stop it. But how? In the show, the Doctor always found a way, but Max didn’t have any sci-fi gadgets, and he certainly wasn’t a Time Lord. He was just a kid from Earth who had barely begun to understand the Nexus.

His mind flashed to his phone, still in his pocket. Could Orin help? Could the Nexus give him the answers he needed?

Without taking his eyes off the Angel, Max slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. His thumb hovered over the screen, but his hands were shaking. What if he blinked again? What if the Angel moved while he was distracted?

He couldn’t risk it. He had to keep looking.

But then, a sudden, sharp thought hit him—*mirrors*. In *Doctor Who*, mirrors could stop the Angels by reflecting their own gaze back at them. If he could just get to a mirror...

Max’s eyes darted toward his house again. The bathroom window. If he could make it inside, grab a mirror from the bathroom, he might have a shot.

Keeping his eyes fixed on the Angel, Max slowly backed toward the door. His legs trembled, and his breathing was shallow. He didn’t dare blink again.

His fingers fumbled for the doorknob, and when he finally found it, he twisted it open as fast as he could without losing sight of the Angel. The door creaked open, and Max slipped inside, slamming it shut behind him. His eyes still burned, and he forced himself to keep them open, not daring to close them even for a second.

He ran to the bathroom, heart pounding in his chest, and grabbed the small handheld mirror from the sink. His hands were shaking as he raced back to the front window, holding the mirror up at an angle that let him keep an eye on the Angel without looking directly at it.

Max swallowed hard, holding the mirror in front of him as he watched the Angel through its reflection. The stone figure remained frozen, its hands still in place, but the shimmer in the air around it hadn’t stopped. The Angel was there, waiting, just like in the show.

Max’s heart pounded as he muttered to himself, “What do I do now?”

As if in response, his phone buzzed in his pocket.

He pulled it out, careful not to take his eyes—or the mirror—off the Angel. The message on the screen sent a chill down his spine:

*The Nexus sees all. The disturbance is just beginning. Beware of the shadows, Max Arwen. They are watching.*

Max’s breath caught in his throat as he glanced back at the Angel. He could feel it now—this wasn’t just about some TV villain come to life. Something far bigger was happening. The Tether was unraveling, and the Weeping Angel was just the first sign.

And somewhere, in the shadows, something else was watching him.

Max tightened his grip on the mirror, his pulse racing. He wasn’t sure how long he could keep this up, but one thing was certain: his ordinary life was over.

This was just the beginning.