Hey everyone,
There are a few things in this story that have been waiting patiently for their turn.
Chapter 27 brings one of them a little closer.
Max and Seth have dealt with plenty they did not understand before, but understanding the threat and knowing what to do about it are two very different things.
And after the events of the last chapter, a quiet evening would probably be reasonable.
Naturally, they are not getting one.
Welcome to Chapter 27.
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With what little strength I have left, I open the portal to the old house.
Gold spreads across the opening before the passage clears, revealing a hallway I recognize immediately.
For half a second, I hesitate.
Seth's fingers tighten around mine.
Campbell draws another fragile breath behind us.
That decides it.
I step through.
The Living Scripture comes with me, glyphs moving beneath my skin even after my feet touch the floor. I try to pull them back and receive absolutely nothing resembling cooperation.
Wonderful.
Apparently, saving Campbell has done nothing to improve its mood.
I make a mental note to have a very serious conversation later with the ancient divine power currently behaving as though my skin belongs to both of us.
Assuming conversations are even an option.
Jamey is the first person I see.
His eyes widen.
Then they keep widening.
I follow his stare to the mirror hanging beside the hallway entrance and immediately understand why.
I look terrible.
My hair has survived whatever happened in the warehouse through determination alone, while exhaustion has taken up permanent residence beneath my eyes. Gold still moves faintly across my skin, appearing and disappearing before I can stop it.
Seth steps through behind me.
He somehow looks considerably better, which feels deeply unfair.
A controlled exhale leaves him as silver moves through the portal with Samuel and Campbell supported between its currents. Seth guides them into the hallway without jarring either man, while his other hand remains firmly twisted into the back of our captive's shirt.
The man is barely conscious.
Seth appears entirely unconcerned by this.
Jamey looks from him to me.
"I have questions."
"Keep them."
"I have concerns too."
"You can keep those as well."
His mouth opens.
"Jamey."
"Keeping everything."
The portal closes behind us.
I scan the people gathered farther inside and immediately realize someone is missing.
"Where's Gabriel? Did he…"
The doorbell rings.
Jamey points towards it. "Either your timing has become supernatural too, or that's him."
Gabriel enters with the medic less than a minute later. The medic takes one look at Samuel and Campbell and moves straight past the rest of us.
Seth exhales slowly as he lowers both men onto the couches, the silver supporting them until the medic has their weight.
"Campbell first," I tell him. "Gunshot wound. He stopped breathing before we brought him back."
The medic's head snaps towards me.
"Back?"
"Long story."
He apparently decides he does not have time for one.
Good man.
Movement catches my attention from across the lounge.
Eric has taken a step towards me.
He stops when our eyes meet.
Concern is written plainly across his face, and for a moment neither of us moves. Yesterday, I might have crossed the space between us without thinking. Today, I remember his son. Isabella. The question he asked me.
I look away first.
Seth says nothing. His hand simply finds the small of my back as he passes me, steadying me when exhaustion makes the floor shift beneath my feet.
I lean into him for half a second before straightening.
That is all I can manage right now.
Angela stands near Eric, keeping enough distance from the rest of us to make her discomfort obvious. Her gaze moves from the fading gold beneath my skin to the silver disappearing around Seth.
Whatever she is thinking, she keeps it to herself.
I appreciate that.
Unfortunately, we are still missing people.
I pull out my phone and call the other Gabriel.
He answers on the second ring.
"Gabriel, hi. I need you at the old house as soon as possible."
A brief pause follows.
"Thirty minutes."
The call ends.
I stare at the phone.
"Always a pleasure."
Jamey looks over. "Business Gabriel?"
"Business Gabriel."
"Ah. The cheerful one."
"Exactly."
Lady Elsa gets the next call. I give her the same address and considerably less explanation than she deserves before ending it.
By the time everyone is accounted for, the lounge smells of strong coffee and antiseptic. The medic works over Campbell while Samuel sits nearby with his shirt open and enough blood on him to make me uncomfortable every time I look in his direction.
Someone presses a mug into my hands.
I do not know who.
I drink anyway.
The coffee is hot, bitter and nowhere near strong enough to repair the last few hours.
A plate of food appears on the table beside me.
That receives considerably less attention.
Seth lowers himself onto the couch beside me, close enough that our knees touch. The silver has disappeared, although exhaustion has begun showing around his eyes too.
"You need to eat."
"So do you."
"I will."
"That sounded suspiciously like something you said because you want me to stop arguing."
His mouth shifts slightly. "Is it working?"
"Absolutely not."
For a few minutes, we leave it there.
The other Gabriel arrives first with a man I do not recognize. He enters with the same clipped efficiency I remember, surveys the room once, and chooses a position near the doorway.
Lady Elsa follows roughly ten minutes later.
By then Campbell is stable enough for the medic to stop looking as though death is personally inconveniencing him.
I put the coffee down.
"We need to decide what happens next."
The room quiets.
"With Samuel and Campbell out, we're already two people down. We cannot pretend that doesn't change what we can do."
Samuel starts to object.
I point at him.
"You nearly bled out."
"I did not."
"You're covered in blood."
"Most of it isn't mine."
"That is not helping your argument."
Jamey raises one finger. "For what it's worth, I think Max is winning."
Samuel gives him a look.
The finger disappears.
My attention catches on Eric before I can continue, and the words I have been avoiding sit heavily in my throat.
He is already watching me.
The decision makes sense. I know it does, but knowing that does very little to make saying it easier.
My fingers tighten around the mug. "You have a son and a wife, Eric. We cannot risk taking you with us on this one."
Discomfort moves through the room almost immediately. Jamey shifts deeper into his seat and suddenly finds the ceiling fascinating. Alec drags a hand across his mouth before leaning back, while Lady Elsa lowers her gaze to the coffee in front of her. Across from them, Samantha adjusts her position without looking at either of us.
Nobody says anything.
They do not need to.
Eric remains completely still.
For several seconds, his expression gives me nothing, but I know him too well to miss the change in his breathing or the tension pulling through his shoulders. His gaze drops briefly before returning to mine.
"You think having a family makes me less capable?"
The question is quiet enough to make the room feel even smaller.
"No, and you know I don't."
"Then what are you saying?"
I swallow before answering. "I'm saying there are people waiting for you to come home."
His face changes.
Barely.
It still hurts to watch.
Eric glances towards the floor, his jaw tightening before he looks back at me. "That was true yesterday too."
"I know."
The words leave me more softly than I intended, and the silence afterward carries far more than either of us has said.
Five years passed for him.
A wife. A child. A home and a life that continued while mine stood still.
For me, the man sitting across from me had been mine almost yesterday.
Now I am using the people he loves as the reason he needs to stay behind.
My stomach twists. Eric shifts forward, forearms resting against his thighs. His hands come together between his knees, fingers tightening before he speaks.
"So that's it? Samuel and Campbell get hurt, and you decide I'm the one who stays behind because I have more to lose?"
"That isn't what I said."
"It's what you mean."
Alec shifts beside him, but I catch the movement from the corner of my eye and give the smallest shake of my head. He eases back again, leaving the silence between Eric and me untouched.
"I'm trying to make sure what happened to Campbell doesn't happen to you."
Eric lets out a slow breath and looks away. His hands separate, one dragging across his jaw before he turns back to me. "You don't get to decide that because I have a son."
The words hit harder than I expect because part of me knows he is right.
"I know I don't get to decide what your family means for you." I tighten both hands around the mug, using the heat against my palms to keep myself still. "I'm asking you to sit this one out because I know exactly who would be left behind if you didn't come back."
Eric goes quiet.
His shoulders lose some of their tension, although his hands remain clasped between his knees. He looks down for several seconds, and when he finally lifts his head, the fight has changed.
He understands what I am actually asking him to protect.
The thought of Isabella and his son receiving the kind of news we nearly had to give someone about Campbell turns my stomach. Whatever else exists between Eric and me, I refuse to be the reason they lose him.
Eric leans back and rubs a hand across his jaw. His eyes move towards Seth for the first time before returning to me, and whatever he finds there makes his expression tighten again.
"You've already made up your mind."
I take a slow breath. "I have."
Another silence follows.
Seth remains beside me without interfering. His hand rests close to mine, giving me the choice to reach for it rather than doing the talking for me.
Eric notices that too.
His gaze drops to the small space between our hands before he looks away.
He does not agree with me. I can see that clearly enough.
Yet after another long moment, he gives a single nod.
It is not acceptance.
It is the end of the argument.
For now, that will have to be enough.
I let out the breath I have been holding and turn towards Alec and Jamey. "We will need both of you."
Jamey leans forward, relief loosening some of the tension that has held the room captive. "So I get to fight beside our terrifying power couple and…"
Alec smacks the back of his head before he can finish.
"Ow." Jamey rubs the spot and glares at him. "You could try communicating like a normal person."
"I did. You kept talking."
Alec's attention shifts to Seth and me, and the humor fades. "You both look exhausted. Whatever we do next, we need to account for that."
My eyes move towards the room where Samuel and Campbell are recovering. The sight of blood still staining Samuel's clothes makes any argument about resting die before it reaches my mouth.
"We don't have the luxury of waiting too long." I place the mug on the table and rub my palms against my thighs. "The warehouse gave us a trail. We follow it, find out where they're operating from and make sure they don't get another chance at us."
Seth shifts beside me. His hand finds mine where it rests against my knee, fingers sliding between my own. Silver stirs faintly around his shoulders as his thumb moves across my knuckle, the warmth of his touch at odds with the resolve tightening his expression.
"And then we do what we do best," he says. "We undo what they made."
A quiet agreement moves through the room, but nobody rushes to stand. The last few hours have taken too much out of all of us for that.
For now, we have two injured men to protect.
By the time the medic finishes, the house has grown quieter.
"And then we do what we do best," he says. "We undo what they made."
By the time the medic finishes, the house has grown quieter.
Samuel and Campbell are stable. Recovery will take time, especially for Campbell, but both men are breathing without assistance and their vitals have held long enough for the medic to finally pack away his equipment.
Right now, breathing is enough.
Gabriel remains near the front window after the medic leaves, arms folded as he watches the street. Every few seconds, one finger taps against his elbow. His attention moves between passing cars, pedestrians and anyone who slows near the house.
I understand the paranoia.
We brought an enemy here with us.
Samuel and Campbell are moved into the spare room, where they can recover away from everyone else. Samuel still looks pale beneath the bruising, while Campbell has yet to wake since the medic treated his neck and shoulder.
I check them both before returning to the doorway.
The glyphs across the frame glow steadily beneath my fingers.
Every line remains exactly where I placed it.
I move to the next one and check that too.
"Max."
Seth's voice comes from behind me.
"I'm checking."
"You checked three minutes ago."
"Things can happen in three minutes."
He comes closer, and silver follows the movement of his hand as he presses his palm against the frame beside mine. The Breath spreads through the protection already in place, strengthening the boundary before withdrawing with him.
"Now you've checked again," he says.
I glance at him. "Thank you."
"That wasn't encouragement."
"Still counts."
His mouth almost moves.
Almost.
We have both walked the house twice already. Seth reinforced the perimeter while I checked every glyph and seal from the front entrance to the windows at the back. Nothing has weakened. Nothing has crossed through.
The house is as secure as we know how to make it.
I should feel better.
I don't.
I return to the lounge and try sitting for approximately thirty seconds before giving up. My legs carry me back towards the hallway while my fingers trace the nearest glyph again.
Behind me, Jamey sighs.
"If you check that thing any harder, it might jump off the wall and poke you in the ribs."
I glance back at him. "Why the ribs?"
"I don't know. It looks vindictive."
Alec looks over from the couch. "Leave her alone."
Jamey raises both hands. "I'm trying to help."
"You're not."
"That seems unnecessarily harsh."
I turn back to the glyph and run my fingers over the final line. "Support me quietly."
Jamey presses his lips together, visibly fighting whatever wants to come out next.
Footsteps pound down the passage.
Every head turns.
The maid appears at the lounge entrance so quickly that one hand catches the frame to stop herself. Her face has lost its color, and several breaths pass before she manages to speak.
"Miss Max, you need to come with me."
The fear in her voice has me moving before she finishes.
"What happened?"
Her hands clutch the sides of her apron. "The two men in the spare room are gone."
My feet stop.
Behind me, a chair scrapes violently across the floor as Gabriel stands.
"What do you mean, gone?"
"I went in to check the linens. They were both there, and I only stepped away for a few minutes." She shakes her head quickly, panic breaking through every word. "When I came back, the beds were empty."
Seth is beside me before I realize he has moved.
Silver gathers around his hand.
"Did anyone come through the house?"
"Nobody."
His attention snaps towards the hallway.
The Breath follows his outstretched fingers, silver moving across the walls and doorways as he searches the protections we placed there.
His expression changes.
"Max."
I already know what he found. Every protection we placed around this house is still intact. Nothing triggered the glyphs, disturbed Seth's seals or gave either of us the slightest warning that someone had crossed them.
My pulse kicks hard as the implication catches up with me.
They did not break in.
I am already running before I can decide which possibility frightens me more. My boots strike hard against the wooden floor as I race down the passage. The spare-room door stands open ahead of me, and gold begins moving beneath my skin before I reach it.
I stop inside.
Both beds are empty.
Samuel's blanket lies pushed slightly towards one side, while the indentation from his body remains in the mattress. Campbell's pillow still carries the faint smear of blood we missed when moving him.
Everything else is exactly as we left it.
My gaze goes straight to the doorway.
The glyphs are still glowing.
I cross the room and press my fingers against the nearest one.
Nothing is damaged.
Nothing has been disturbed.
Seth enters behind me and immediately checks the protections he added. Silver moves from his fingertips and travels across the frame, following every boundary before returning to him.
His breathing changes.
"They're intact."
Gabriel reaches the room behind us and stares at the glowing frame. "How the hell can they be intact?"
I keep my fingers against the glyph, irritation cutting through the panic already building in my chest. "Well, I said they are, and Seth just confirmed it. So unless both of us have suddenly forgotten how our own protections work, they're intact."
Gabriel opens his mouth, then thinks better of it.
I turn back towards the empty beds.
Which leaves us with a much worse question.
How did anyone take them?
Alec appears in the doorway with Jamey and Samantha close behind him. "Max, what happened?"
I turn slowly towards the empty beds.
"Someone took them."
Jamey's face loses every trace of humor. "Through all of this?"
"Apparently."
Seth moves farther into the room. His hand rises, and silver travels outward with the motion, searching beneath the beds, across the walls and along the ceiling before sweeping back towards him.
He turns sharply and sends it towards the window.
Nothing answers.
His next exhale comes harder.
Silver spreads again, faster this time, following the edges of the room before slipping across the doorway and into the passage.
"Seth."
He keeps searching.
"There should be something."
The control in his voice is beginning to fray.
He turns his palm and the silver changes direction immediately, driving back across the room as though another angle might reveal what the first search missed.
"A breach. A disturbance. Anything."
His hand closes.
The Breath pulls back with it.
For the first time since I met him again, Seth looks at his own power as though it has failed to give him an answer.
I move towards him.
"Seth."
His eyes meet mine.
"They were injured, Max."
That does it.
Beneath the anger, I finally hear what is driving him.
Samuel could barely stand when we brought him home. Campbell had only just started breathing again.
Whoever took them knew exactly how vulnerable they were.
I turn towards the untouched glyphs.
The gold continues glowing beneath my fingertips.
Every protection we placed around them is still there.
Whatever entered this room never broke a single one.
Seth's gaze stays on the empty beds as the silver returns to his hand.
"This wasn't a breach." His voice has lost its earlier frustration, leaving something colder behind. "Whoever did this bypassed everything we put in place."
I look at the glowing glyph beneath my fingers.
The protections are intact. Seth's seals never reacted. Samuel and Campbell disappeared from a room protected by both of us without either of us sensing anyone enter or leave.
The possibility forming in my head makes my stomach tighten.
Someone found a way around us.
The possibility forming in my head makes my stomach tighten.
Someone found a way around us.
Gold surges beneath my skin before I can control it.
The Living Scripture spreads across my arms and throat, glyphs appearing faster than I can read them. I press one hand against the doorframe as the reaction intensifies, heat pushing through my palm while every line searches for a disturbance that is already gone.
"Find them," I whisper.
The gold flashes beneath my skin, but nothing answers.
I push harder this time. "Samuel and Campbell. Find them."
Glyphs race across my wrists before fading just as quickly, leaving me with the same empty room. My pulse climbs as Seth moves closer.
"It can't find them."
Saying it aloud makes the fear worse.
Seth turns towards the center of the room and draws a slow breath. Silver gathers with the inhale, spreading from his hands as he turns his palms outward. He releases it carefully, sending the Breath across the floor, beneath both beds and through the walls.
His eyes close as he searches.
I watch his face instead of the silver.
His brow tightens first.
Then his eyes open.
"Nothing."
My hand closes around the edge of the doorframe. "Try again."
Seth does.
His next exhale carries the silver farther, through the ceiling and into the passage beyond. His control remains precise, but I see his fingers tense when the Breath returns without an answer.
"They were right here," I say. "Campbell could barely move."
"I know."
"Samuel was injured."
"Max, I know."
My grip tightens until the wood presses painfully into my palm. "Then where are they?"
Seth reaches me before I can push the Scripture again. One hand closes around my wrist while the other catches my shoulder.
"We will find them."
"How? Neither of us can even tell how they left."
That silences the room.
Alec, Jamey and Gabriel remain behind us, but nobody tries to fill the gap.
I look down at the gold still moving beneath my skin. It has never felt uncertain to me before.
That frightens me more than I want to admit.
"Anderson." His name leaves my mouth as the pieces begin coming together. "This has to be him."
Seth releases my wrist but stays close. "He isn't doing this alone."
"You don't know that."
"Neither do you."
He is right, and I hate that too.
"Then we stop guessing." I turn towards the others. "We find out how they did this, and then we get our people back."
Lady Elsa steps forward before anyone can answer. "That is exactly what you need to do, but neither of you is thinking clearly enough right now."
My head turns towards her.
She does not flinch.
"Someone removed two injured men from behind protections created by both of you," she continues. "Before you charge after Anderson, understand how."
Samantha appears in the doorway with her phone clutched in one hand. She has gone unusually quiet.
"I might know."
Every face turns towards her.
She crosses the room and holds the screen out towards Seth and me. "Do you remember the book Seth gave me at the Labyrinth? The one on Shadow Concepts?"
Seth takes the phone from her. "What did you find?"
Samantha points to an image on the screen. "This."
A black glyph fills the display.
I lean closer.
"It resembles the Hanged Man," Samantha says. "That's why I remembered it. Most of what I read in that section dealt with inversion, but this glyph was different."
Seth scrolls farther down.
His thumb stops.
"Divine mimicry," he reads.
Alec moves closer. "Meaning what?"
Samantha folds her arms tightly across her chest. "The text says the decree can imitate the signature of divine power closely enough to pass through protections designed to reject everything else."
My attention returns to the untouched glyph on the doorway.
"So, our protections didn't fail."
"They may have done exactly what they were supposed to do," Samantha says. "They just didn't recognize whoever came through as a threat."
That is considerably worse.
Seth continues reading while the silver around his fingers grows faintly brighter.
"There are restrictions," he says.
Samantha nods. "That's the part that bothered me. It says very few people can wield it."
Jamey steps closer, his humor completely absent now. "How few?"
Samantha looks at Seth.
He has stopped scrolling.
Alec notices. "Seth?"
Seth lifts his eyes from the screen.
"The text gives them a name."
Seth pauses long enough for the silence around us to tighten before his gaze meets mine.
"Mirror Apostles."
Silence spreads through the room as Seth looks back at the black glyph.
"They don't have to break divine protections," he says. "They reflect enough of the same authority to be accepted by them."
My eyes return to the empty beds.
They had not beaten our defenses. They had never needed to.
We had let them through.
And somewhere beyond this house, Samuel and Campbell were now in the hands of people our power could not recognize as enemies.
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Although we are offered a place to stay, my answer comes before I can properly consider it. Sleeping under Eric's roof after everything that happened today feels unnecessarily complicated, and I have reached my limit for complicated.
With what little strength I have left, I open a portal and take Seth home.
Neither of us says much once we get there. Samuel and Campbell follow us anyway, carried in every unanswered question and every glance at our phones in case news has come through. We know where we are going at first light, but knowing where to start looking does nothing to quiet the fear of what could be happening to them before we get there.
Eventually, Seth runs a bath and pulls me in with him. The water is hot, the room smells faintly of lavender, and a bottle of wine somehow finds its way to the edge of the tub with a bowl of nuts neither of us makes much progress on.
I rest against his chest while his arms circle me beneath the water.
Today has given us plenty of reasons to be angry. Plenty of reasons to be afraid. Even between us, there are wounds we have barely begun to understand.
Yet this part still comes easily.
Finding him again.
By the time we crawl beneath the sheets, the fear has not disappeared, but I can breathe around it. I curl into Seth and kiss beneath his jaw as his arm closes around me.
"I am so glad to be home, and even happier that I'm lying here with you."
His hold tightens. "I concur, my fair lady. The woman I love, good wine and a few hours without anyone trying to kill us."
A tired laugh escapes me. "Your standards have dropped."
"Considerably."
His first kiss lands against my forehead, the second against my cheek, and the third catches the tip of my nose.
I close my eyes and let myself have this with him.
Whatever fear waits for us in the morning, whatever anger follows us into the Forgotten Quarter, we have learned one thing the years apart could not take from us.
We still know how to find our way back to each other.
Seth's fingers move slowly through my hair. "Sleep while you can. We leave at first light."
My eyes open again.
Samuel and Campbell.
The warmth in my chest tightens around their names.
"We're bringing them home."
Seth's hand stills against my hair before his arm draws me closer.
"We are."
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By morning, the city around us looks as though it has learned to carry damage without bothering to hide it. Cracked pavement runs between tired buildings while traffic pushes through crowded streets. A preacher shouts about hellfire from one corner, teenagers film themselves dancing on another, and a little girl in chipped pink shoes skips between all of it.
Her father stands outside a damaged shop with a metal bowl in one hand. "Candice, behave."
Candice ignores him and keeps skipping until she sees us.
She stops.
Her hand catches her father's sleeve. "Papa, that's the lady from my dream. And the man."
Her finger points towards Seth and me.
Her father immediately pulls her hand down. "Don't point, Candice."
I exchange a glance with Seth before taking a folded note from my pocket and placing it in the man's bowl.
"Thank you," he says quietly.
We continue walking, but quick footsteps follow us before we get far. Candice catches the edge of my coat and points towards the east.
"Place you lookin' for is that way. They say you find the church with no bell."
Alec looks down at her. "Who told you that?"
Candice shakes her head hard enough to send both ponytails across her cheeks. "No bell."
Before any of us can question her again, she runs back towards her father.
Jamey watches her go. "Well, that wasn't unsettling at all."
"East," Seth says.
We follow the direction she gave us.
Farther along, a young man with one leg sits on a plastic crate playing a battered violin with only two strings. The melody is rough and uneven, but Jamey slows beside me when he hears it.
A handwritten sign rests against the crate.
For those who lost their song.
Jamey stares at the violinist. "I know that tune."
Alec looks at him. "From where?"
"That would be useful information, wouldn't it?" His expression tightens as he listens. "It feels like something from when I was little, but I can't reach it. Maybe the Sepulcher took that one too."
Alec drops a few coins beside the sign.
Seth pauses as well. His next breath releases a faint trace of silver, and the Breath follows his exhale towards the violinist. The damaged instrument cannot repair itself, yet the next note comes out fuller than the one before it.
The young man looks down at the violin and smiles.
I slip my arm through Seth's. "That right there is one of the reasons I love you."
He answers with a kiss against my forehead before we continue.
The farther east we travel, the more the city changes. People still move around us, but conversations become quieter and businesses grow farther apart. Even the traffic begins thinning as the chapel Candice described comes into view.
We pass a small funeral along the way. A priest stands beside a casket with only a handful of mourners gathered around him, his voice carrying scripture across the park.
Seth slows beside me. "He still receives the soul."
I squeeze his arm before we move on.
The chapel appears at the end of the street with a crooked steeple rising above the surrounding buildings. The bell is gone.
"That has to be it," Alec says.
Jamey studies the building. "Used to be the heart of this area. People know better than to come near it now."
I glance at him. "You could have mentioned that before we followed the mysterious child directly towards it."
"You seemed committed."
"Very helpful, Jamey."
Seth's attention remains on the chapel. "The boundary is close."
That wipes the humor from the moment.
I feel the difference before we reach the property. Cars continue along the road behind us, but nobody turns into the street ahead. A woman crossing towards the chapel changes direction when she notices where we are going.
My Scripture reacts beneath my skin.
Gold shifts across my wrist, several glyphs appearing before changing too quickly for me to read them.
Seth touches my arm. "Carefully from here."
The temperature drops when we step onto the chapel grounds. My breath becomes visible, and Seth turns towards a broken stone arch near the side of the building.
Sunlight reaches the rubble around it but stops before the passage beneath.
"There," he says.
Alec and Jamey move closer as Seth studies the darkness. He draws a slow breath, and a thin current of silver leaves him before disappearing into the passage.
His body stills.
"Anderson knows we're here."
My attention snaps towards him. "How many?"
Seth concentrates for another moment. "Enough that he expected company."
Jamey peers towards the passage. "That sounds suspiciously like a small army."
"It is."
"Wonderful. I was worried today might be easy."
Seth raises one hand for silence before turning his head slightly. The silver returns along his fingers as his attention shifts towards the left.
"We go that way."
Jamey leans towards Alec as we start moving. "How the hell does he do that?"
Alec keeps his eyes ahead. "I've stopped asking."
The chapel is only the surface of the Forgotten Quarter. Beyond it, broken paths disappear between fractured pillars and sections of stone half buried beneath years of neglect.
Then we find the stairwell.
Fresh boot prints disturb the dirt around the entrance, along with deep drag marks leading underground. Another impression cuts across them, far wider than anything a human foot should leave behind.
I stare down into the darkness.
"The Forgotten Quarter?" I ask.
Seth moves beside me. "The entrance to it."
Jamey looks at the tracks. "And apparently Anderson brought friends."
Then Seth moves beside me, Alec and Jamey closing in behind us as we cross into the Forgotten Quarter.
Anderson knows we are coming. His army is waiting, and somewhere beyond them are the answers we came for.
We have done enough searching.
Now we fight.
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Well, that escalated quickly.
I had every intention of giving Max and Seth a little time to recover after the last chapter.
Apparently, Chapter 27 had other plans.
There is something particularly uncomfortable about believing you are protected, only to discover that the danger never needed to break through in the first place.
And now we have Mirror Apostles.
I have been waiting a while to introduce that name.
I would love to know what you think they are, what you think happened to Samuel and Campbell, and whether you trust anything we learned about them in this chapter.
Because Max has finished searching.
The Forgotten Quarter is waiting.
And the next chapter begins on Anderson's territory.