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"Records are disappearing."

"I know."

"Technology is failing around this house."

Her eyes flicker. So she knows.

"How?"

"Because I'm standing inside of it."

The answer catches her off guard. Morrow speaks.

"It happened again."

Both of us turn.

"What happened?" I ask.

"The lights."

As if summoned by the words, every light in the cottage flickers. Once. Twice. Then all of them shut off. The room falls into darkness.

My instincts explode. I move immediately.

"Carys."

"I'm here."

"Morrow?"

"Here."

Good. Everyone accounted for. A second later, emergency lights activate. Dim red light fills the room.

And I see it. Carys's face. The fear she is trying desperately to hide.

Not panic. Not hysteria. Real fear. The kind people experience when they have finally encountered something they cannot explain.

And suddenly I understand. This isn't just about a missing teenager. This isn't just about corrupted files. Whatever is happening…

It found Carys. And somehow…

It found me too.

The reflection staring back at me from the windows doesn't look like an investigator. It looks like someone who already knows the answer.

My wolf settles. Not because the danger is gone. Because it has found what it was searching for.

Her.

I turn back to Carys.

"We need to talk."

She folds her arms.

"You always did love saying that right before ruining my life."