The air in the house felt heavier by the second, thick with tension as the shadows seemed to pulse and creep in closer. The flickering lights cast jagged shadows across the walls, and the cold, oppressive atmosphere was suffocating.

Max and Jake stood by the front door, eyes wide and breath shallow, unsure of what to do next. Max still held the mirror in front of him, keeping the Weeping Angel in view through its reflection, but his arms were shaking with the strain of keeping it steady. His heart pounded in his chest, and the cold presence of the creeping shadows only added to the sense of dread that had wrapped itself around him like a vice.

Jake swallowed hard, his voice barely above a whisper. “Max, what is going on? I thought this was just some weird prank or something, but—” His eyes darted to the mirror, then back to the flickering lights. “This is real, isn’t it? That thing in your yard is real.”

Max nodded, his throat dry. “Yeah, it’s real. And it’s not just the Angel. There’s something else here. The shadows… they’re alive.” He shivered as he spoke the words, still trying to wrap his mind around the impossible situation they were in. “Whatever’s going on, it’s connected to the Nexus.”

“The Nexus? You mean that thing you told me about last night? I thought you were just making stuff up!” Jake looked genuinely terrified now, his usual bravado shattered.

“I wish I was.” Max’s voice was barely steady as he continued to hold the mirror at an angle, making sure he didn’t lose sight of the Angel. “Look, I don’t fully understand it, but there’s some kind of connection between different worlds, and the Nexus is the key. And now things from other dimensions are starting to cross over.”

“Things like that Weeping Angel?” Jake’s eyes darted toward the window, where the stone figure still stood in the garden, frozen in place but menacing all the same.

“Exactly.” Max took a shaky breath. “But there’s more. I got a message… something about shadows watching. I think whatever’s in the dark here is tied to all of this. We need to keep the lights on, or—” He didn’t finish the sentence. The implications were clear.

Jake’s face paled, and he took a step back, looking around at the shadow-filled corners of the room. “So what do we do? We can’t just stay here forever.”

“I don’t know,” Max admitted. “But we need to think fast. The lights could go out any second, and if they do…”

Just as the words left his mouth, the lights flickered violently, and for a split second, everything plunged into darkness. Max’s heart lurched in his chest, and a cold wave of panic washed over him. His grip on the mirror tightened as the light snapped back on, but dimmer than before.

“We don’t have much time,” Max said through gritted teeth. “We need to figure out how to stop this.”

Jake glanced at the mirror, then at Max. “Okay, but how? I mean, we don’t have the Doctor here to help us, and you’re not exactly a time traveler. What’s the plan?”

Max’s mind raced. He was just a kid, caught up in something far bigger than he could comprehend, but he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. He thought back to the message he’d received on his phone: *Do not trust the shadows. Keep the light on.* That was their only clue, but it wasn’t enough. There had to be more. Something he was missing.

Suddenly, an idea flickered to life in his mind—a memory from the previous night in the Nexus, when Orin had told him about disturbances in the Tether. The Tether was what connected all realities, and if it was unraveling, it meant the boundaries between worlds were breaking down.

Max looked at Jake, his eyes wide with realization. “The Nexus. It’s not just a portal to other dimensions—it’s a way to *fix* this. If we can stabilize the Tether, we might be able to stop the Angel and whatever’s hiding in the shadows.”

Jake blinked, trying to make sense of it. “Stabilize the Tether? How are we supposed to do that?”

Max frowned, thinking hard. “I don’t know exactly. But when I was in the Nexus, I could feel it—the energy, the connection between worlds. If I can tap into that energy again, maybe I can—”

A sudden loud creak echoed from the kitchen, cutting Max off. The shadows in the corners of the room seemed to ripple and shift, like they were alive. Max’s breath caught in his throat. The temperature in the house dropped sharply, and the lights flickered again, dimming even further.

A voice, low and distorted, whispered from the darkness. “You can’t hide forever, Max Arwen…”

Max’s blood turned to ice. The shadows—whatever they were—knew his name. And now they were speaking to him.

“Did you hear that?” Jake whispered, his voice shaking.

Max nodded, his heart pounding. He glanced toward the kitchen, where the creaking sound had come from, and saw movement—something dark and formless shifting in the shadows. His mind raced, panic rising inside him. They needed to get out of the house, but they couldn’t just run. The Angel was still out there, waiting for them to slip up.

Max gritted his teeth, his hands trembling. He needed to think. Fast.

“We need to get to the basement,” Max said, his voice tight with urgency.

Jake frowned. “The basement? Why?”

“There’s a backup generator down there. If we can get it running, we might be able to keep the lights on long enough to figure out what’s happening.”

Jake’s eyes widened in realization. “Right! Okay, let’s go.”

Max kept the mirror in front of him as they moved toward the hallway, his eyes darting between the Angel’s reflection and the shadows that seemed to slither along the walls. The cold presence in the house grew more intense, and the whispering voices continued to echo faintly in the distance.

*Max Arwen…*

His heart pounded in his chest, fear gnawing at the edges of his mind. He couldn’t afford to slip up now. Not with everything at stake.

As they reached the door to the basement, Jake grabbed the handle and pulled it open. The darkness inside the stairwell felt oppressive, like it was waiting to swallow them whole. Max swallowed hard, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

“Go,” Max urged, his voice strained.

Jake nodded, rushing down the stairs. Max followed, holding the mirror tightly as they descended into the darkness. The basement was cold, the air damp and thick, but the faint glow of emergency lights cast just enough illumination to make out the shapes of the cluttered space.

“There,” Jake said, pointing to the generator in the corner of the room. He hurried over to it, fumbling with the controls.

Max stood near the base of the stairs, still holding the mirror. His pulse raced as he glanced around the basement, the dim light barely reaching the far corners. The shadows down here seemed darker, deeper—like they were waiting for him.

“Come on, Jake, hurry,” Max muttered, his voice tight with anxiety.

Jake grunted as he pulled at the generator’s cord, trying to get it started. “I’m trying, man! This thing is old as hell.”

The lights flickered again, even dimmer this time, and Max’s stomach dropped. He could feel it—the shadows were closing in.

A low whisper echoed through the basement, chilling Max to the bone. “The light won’t save you…”

Max’s heart pounded in his ears. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching him from the darkness, waiting for the right moment to strike. The oppressive weight of the shadows pressed in on him, and his grip on the mirror tightened.

Suddenly, Jake let out a triumphant shout. “Got it!”

The generator roared to life, and the basement flooded with light. Max let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, the tension in his body easing slightly. The lights above flickered back to full strength, and for a moment, the oppressive darkness seemed to retreat.

But the relief was short-lived.

Max’s phone buzzed again, and he pulled it out with trembling hands. Another message had appeared on the screen:

*The light won’t last. Beware the shadows. They are hungry.*

Max’s blood ran cold. The generator had bought them some time, but it wasn’t enough. The shadows—whatever they were—were still out there. And they weren’t going to stop.

He looked at Jake, his voice barely steady. “We’re not safe yet. This isn’t over.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “What do we do?”

Max glanced toward the basement stairs, his mind racing. “We need to go back to the Nexus. It’s the only way we’re going to fix this.”

Jake stared at him in disbelief. “Go back? How? I don’t even know what the Nexus is!”

Max shook his head, his determination hardening. “I don’t know either. But I’m going to find out.”

As the generator hummed and the lights glowed faintly around them, Max realized that the battle wasn’t just against the Weeping Angel or the shadows. The real fight was for control of the Nexus itself. And if he didn’t act soon, the unraveling would only get worse.

The shadows were hungry, and time was running out.