"Congratulations, Cyprian. To the Beaumont Empire," Alaric said, raising his crystal glass toward the chandeliers."To the empire," I replied, though a sudden, sharp cramp twisted my gut."Don't look so stiff, darling. You built this for us," Isadora whispered, sliding her arm through mine. Her perfume was thick, almost cloying tonight.I tried to smile, but my vision blurred. The champagne glass slipped from my hand, shattering against the marble floor. "Are you alright, Cyprian? You look pale," Alaric asked, though he didn't move to help."Just dizzy. The heat in here is a bit much," I muttered, leaning against the balcony railing."Is it the heat? Or is it the arsenic?" Isadora asked. Her voice wasn't soft anymore. It was sharp as a razor.I felt something cold and hard press against my forehead. I blinked, trying to clear the fog.We were alone on the terrace now. Alaric was standing back, his hands in his pockets, wearing a bored expression. Isadora was holding a silenced pistol

"Is he even a ghost?" I whispered. Thomas and I were standing in the back of a dingy apartment.In the middle of the room, a man sat at a desk covered in stacks of dusty ledgers. He wasn't glowing blue like me, or flickering like Thomas. He looked like he was made of old newspapers."That's Cedric," Thomas hissed. "Don't touch him yet.""Why not? He looks like he’s about to fade away," I said."He's a Glitch, Cyprian. He’s been hiding from the Soul-Eaters for years. If you startle him, he’ll vanish into the code and you’ll never find him again," Thomas warned.I stepped forward, my shoes making no sound on the floor. I needed an accountant. If I was going to take down the Beaumont Empire, I needed to know where the money was buried. "Cedric?" I called out softly. The man didn't look up. His fingers moved across a calculator that wasn't there, making clicking sounds in the air. "The numbers don't add up," Cedric muttered. "Alaric took three percent from the offshore account. Isadora

"He’s going to kill us both, Cyprian! We shouldn't be here!" Thomas shouted, his ghostly voice cracking with fear."I need answers, Thomas. And Cedric says this guy has them," I replied, moving through the thick fog of the docks."Oswin Vesper isn't just a ghost! He's a Frenzied Wraith! He’ll tear your soul into digital scraps!" Thomas warned, hovering behind a rusted shipping container."Then I’ll just have to make sure he doesn't," I said. I stopped in front of an old, abandoned warehouse near the water's edge. The air here was heavy, vibrating with a low, aggressive hum. A figure stood in the center of the pier, surrounded by a swirling cloud of red static. It was Oswin. He was massive, his spectral form distorted by edges of pure rage."Oswin Vesper?" I called out.The figure spun around. His face was a mask of agony, his eyes glowing like dying embers. "More debt! More lies! I’ll crush you all!" Oswin roared. He lunged at me, his fist turning into a heavy slab of dark energy.

"How's the market looking, Cedric?" I asked, leaning over the obsidian table."It's a bloodbath, Boss," Cedric cackled. He was typing into a keyboard made of flickering blue light. "I just dumped forty million shares of Beaumont Tech. The algorithms think it's a massive sell-off from the inside.""Can they trace it back here?" I asked."They can't trace what doesn't exist," Cedric said. "In their world, these shares just vanished into a ghost account. Literally.""Thomas, are the server rooms ready?" I barked."Ready and waiting!" Thomas yelled from the hallway. "Oswin and I are standing right over the main data hub in the Grey Layer. One word from you and we pull the plug.""Do it," I commanded. "If the stock is falling, I want the website to crash at the same time. Make them panic.""On it!" Oswin’s deep voice boomed. I watched the digital monitors on the wall. The Beaumont Tech stock ticker was a serrated red line diving toward the floor. This wasn't just business. This was a hau

"We’re in the basement of the manor, Cyprian! If the Auditors catch us here, we’re done!" Thomas hissed."They won't catch us. Cedric has the security loop on a five-second delay," I said."Five seconds isn't a lot of time!" Thomas whispered back."It's enough for a ghost. Oswin, is the wall clear?" I asked.Oswin placed his large, red-tinted hand against the cold stone. "There’s a hidden mechanism behind the masonry. It’s not mechanical. It’s spectral.""Cedric, can you bypass the occult lock?" I asked into the air."Working on it, Boss! It’s a complex encryption. They’ve used old blood as a password," Cedric’s voice crackled in my ear."Blood?" I asked. "Specifically Beaumont blood. It’s a genetic lock," Cedric said."I’m a Beaumont. Or I was," I muttered. I stepped up to the wall and pressed my translucent palm against the stone. I felt a sharp, stinging sensation, like a needle prick. The wall groaned, the heavy stones shifting and sliding apart to reveal a dark, sloping passage.