Kael's POVThe bunker fell silent. Not the kind of silence that came with relief. The kind that made every heartbeat sound too loud. "We're here for the last surviving Luca."The voice echoed through the speakers again, calm enough to make my skin crawl. No threats, no countdown, no shouting, just certainty.Marcus recovered first. "Kill the speakers."Elias hurried to the control panel, fingers racing across the switches. Nothing happened. He tried again. The voice returned with a faint chuckle. "That won't help."Elias stepped back. "They're inside the system." Another heavy impact shook the ceiling. Dust drifted onto the table where the journal still lay open.Raven crossed the room in three quick steps, closed the journal, and slid it into her backpack. "No one touches this except us."Marcus gave a short nod. "Agreed."Adrian checked the hallway leading to the emergency tunnel. "They've blocked the main exit." "You know that already?" I asked. "I know professionals." He glanced t

Kael's POVThe first explosion was followed by another. The bunker trembled. Concrete dust drifted from the ceiling in thin gray streams, settling over the old files scattered across the table. Nobody spoke; everyone was listening, not to the blasts.To the footsteps.They echoed faintly through the ventilation shafts above us, steady and unhurried. Whoever was up there wasn't searching.They already knew where we were. Adrian checked the rifle in his hands. "I officially hate tonight."Raven gave him a quick look. "You hated tonight an hour ago." "I've found new reasons."Marcus ignored them. His attention stayed on the stranger. "You said they followed you." "I did." "Who?"The man looked toward the ceiling before answering. "The fewer names you know, the longer you live." Marcus's patience snapped. "For once in your life, stop speaking like a damn prophecy."The words bounced around the bunker. The stranger didn't react. Instead, he looked at Marcus with something that almost resem

Kael's POVThe hooded figure didn't lower their hand One finger rested against where their lips should have been. Stay quiet. Behind them, voices echoed through the tunnels, not one or two.A group. Their words bounced off the ancient stone walls, too distorted to make out, but close enough to know they were searching.Raven stepped beside me. Her pistol remained trained on the stranger. "Friend or enemy?"The figure didn't answer. Instead, they slowly lifted the lantern. Its warm light spilled across the floor between us. I frowned.The dusty stones were covered in footprints, ours and another trail, fresh. Leading away from the chapel through a narrow passage hidden behind the altar.The stranger lowered the lantern, then looked directly at me, with one slow nod. They wanted us to follow.Marcus leaned toward Raven. "It could be another trap." "It probably is." "Then why are we considering it?"She glanced at the approaching tunnel. "Because the people behind us aren't giving us ano

Kael's POV"They've found us. The custodian's whisper barely reached me, and then everything went quiet, not ordinary quiet. The kind that pressed against your ears until you started hearing your own breathing. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. Someone bumped into my shoulder.Adrian. "I can't see a damn thing.""Nobody move," Marcus said.His voice came from somewhere to my left. A match was struck. For the briefest second, orange light bloomed inside the chamber.Miriam had lit an old oil lamp. The flame was weak, but it was enough. The room returned in fragments: stone walls. The table.The cedar box. Raven was standing beside me, her pistol raised. The custodian is facing the hidden corridor and the six silent men who had arrived with him. All of them had drawn identical black knives, not guns—knives.The little girl's laughter drifted through the tunnel again, closer. Soft enough to sound almost playful. It made my skin crawl. One of the Custodian's men stepped toward t

Kael's POVThe engines didn't stop; they multiplied. One after another, the vibrations rolled through the catacombs until loose dust drifted from the ceiling like gray snow. Nobody spoke; nobody needed to. Whatever was happening above us had never happened before.The Custodian took the brass beacon from Marcus and crushed it beneath the heel of his boot.The metal cracked. A tiny spark fizzled and died. "It won't matter," he said. "They already have the location." Marcus folded his arms. "How long before they breach the upper tunnels?"The Custodian looked toward the ceiling, listening. "Twenty minutes."Adrian gave a dry laugh. "So plenty of time to panic." "No," Raven replied. "Just enough time to prepare." She was already checking magazines, counting rounds without looking. It amazed me how steady her hands remained. Mine wouldn't stop shaking, not from fear, but from frustration.That woman had been close enough to touch. Close enough to hear, and now she was gone again. I looked