IA'S

d pull ne

tens again without warning, as if something

at I cann

jected bonds do not survive. Everyone k

rk. The cracked crescent

lowly. The scen

call absolute, then maybe the rules are inc

ays with me as

oment, I think

the impossible pull. Toward wha

ard the oldest buil

hives sit beneath

kept the report a

know wha

w who that wr

ever meant to go ne

hile the elders argued upstairs, he would wait below for someone to collec

of the stone stairc

th

crackle of torc

Alpha Hall. If I am going to do thi

e narrow passage

mells of old parchment, lamp oil, and st

aller than two men. Moon-carved wolves cover it,

one terrible moment pan

remember

comes back so clearly

heads, li

se my

moo

them

ath the wolves. One points up. O

t disc with bot

th

Stone grinds

d feels

and l

le

the second disc

k echoes thr

lse j

ked," I

ndle. It barely mo

like something

narrow opening befor

he dark. Scrolls fill every wall

nd my heartbeat sounds l

sh sits beside the lamp. The scent of ce

s already

skin, low and sharp, but

ly come

wa

lf and read the labels

ted B

own two

on from nearly eighty years a

. Different pac

The wolves recove

th scrolls

ollapsed. Nothing explains why the

my eyes

kne

oo

ked f

rked with a dar

es fl

per into t

lined with tied bundles and old files. My hands s

ymo

is labeled Offici

f the R

t and beg

The second lists witnesses. The third

I s

atta

the lin

es entered throug

o

is

ing turns

ember

, but that part never changes. Ni

p rea

tigated. Another lists the weapons recovere

nd a cont

e investigation be

stigators did not arr

turn to the

ing. Different eld

contra

ned on the second day has si

s impo

eat pound

d something about the dark-gold cresce

pages r

eals

s ending halfway

dama

u

ibe

m feels

elessness. Someo

e. Many

hich truth the pack w

ashes across my mark, sharp enough to

t n

arely leave

des beneat

sion

memory c

cre

sister'

calling

n

n a

ast my brea

is t

iv

. Blood runs down one

olves drag her a

ights

ar

aches

ach

refuse

for one desper

figure step

cl

l fl

ng break

t the shelf. Scrolls

ing refus

was

every member of my f

annot

ber waking up a

k felt ri

blood. Bodi

ies until I realized one wa

s say she died,

then she may sti

ht turns

t together, the arch

re you

in a

my arm. The other sees the s

d restricte

the trut

no perm

contrad

tens. They drag me

found cont

choes off

e ans

ers are alre

my u

orway, his eyes moving from th

ression

u think you

sist

re I can stop them. "

, then go

magined eno

aw h

mbered in

did

unstable sinc

ence lan

ause it

itation, as if he has already

alive," I

eps c

embarrassing

and r

es so fast I

Pain burns across my cheek.

shift. No

ack to h

pologize. He

ears," he says quietly. "Stop before you des

ste

en I s

t protec

ecting som

des. The cold spreading

pull surges

than

s through

ga

longer

dema

o

Not words. On

wall to ste

g against every instinct that te

aits beyond

me

ince the rejection,

and move befo

nto a run towa

ossible bond c