Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The narrow floorboards hadn’t revealed anything during Rose’s earlier sweep, but now she felt the faintest thread of magic leaking through the gaps in the old planks.

She frowned. “Ugh. To reach it, I’d probably have to lie flat on this filthy floor.”

James silently watched the back of Rose’s head tilting this way and that as she considered it; she really did look ready to sprawl out if he didn’t intervene. He holstered his revolver, stepping forward.

“Step aside. I’ll move the bed.”

He grabbed the old iron frame and dragged it clear with a harsh scraping sound.

Rose clapped her hands without thinking. “Wow! James, you’re amazing!”

He cleared his throat a couple of times, embarrassed by the praise. “Ahem. Hardly worth applauding. Let’s tear up the floor. Here?”

He pressed his hands to the spot Rose had indicated. The board lifted with surprising ease, and at once a foul stench hit them in the face.

“Ugh…”

It wasn’t just rot—it was the familiar, revolting signature of Robert Burns’s corrupted magic.

Beneath the floor, they found an old metal biscuit tin and a thick notebook.

“Ugh, gross. This smell is going to stick to me forever.”

Rose wrinkled her nose in disgust, pulling them out. The box in particular was practically pulsing with murky, unpleasant magic strong enough for James to see clearly.

Rose took a steadying breath and unclasped the lid.

A click. James’s face twisted at once.

“…Christ.”

It obviously wasn’t biscuits inside.

“These are body parts from his victims.”

Rose’s voice was steady despite the disgust on her face; she’d clearly suspected it.

“He was even more of a lunatic than we thought.”

She nodded grimly, snapping the lid shut.

“I’ll go through the notebook too.”

She set the box down and picked up the thick notebook, flipping through it backward from the most recent entry.

June 8th, 967. Fifth experiment subject secured. Alice Hampton. Blood and thumb of a young woman who sees past and future.

Rose felt goosebumps crawl up her spine as she read the line describing her as the chosen target. She kept flipping pages, swallowing hard.

At the front of the entries describing four previous victims, she found:

May 17th, 967. Items required for the experiment: old flower vendor’s hair, betrothed man’s ring finger, rookie lawyer’s tongue tip, monocled gentleman’s eyeball…

May 4th, 967. Decided to try opening the small door at Linden Temple first. With the Archbishop’s blessing, we will face the truth.

Linden Temple? Small door? Archbishop?

Pages full of cryptic terms flew past under her fingers. Then:

April 26th, 967. Confirmed that Neutral’s Grail has been destroyed.

Rose’s expression turned to stone.

A cursed prayer from memory echoed in her head. ‘Ahadpessera’s vessel. Neutral’s pure maiden prepared as the Grail.’

Her hand trembled violently.

April 26th was the day after I slept with someone just to void the sacrifice conditions.

She frantically skimmed the pages around the “Neutral” and “Grail” mentions.

Destruction for creation. From the wreckage we will rise again.

For the Reverse Heavens, the next card must be prepared.

James’s voice broke in quietly. “Rose. Have you found anything?”

She didn’t answer at first.

“Rose?”

Her heart pounded hard enough to hurt. There was no doubt: Robert Burns hadn’t been acting alone. He was part of the same demonic cult as in her previous life, the ones who’d tried to sacrifice her to open Hell’s gate and summon the Reverse Heavens demon.

“James. We need to get out of here. Now.”

Her voice shook as she shoved the box and notebook back into her cloth bag.

“He wasn’t working alone. There’s a whole group behind him.”

The realization that those cultists might be coming right now made her pulse double.

James tried to calm her with his tone. “No need to panic. There are Golden Raven operatives watching for your evaluation. If anything happens, they’ll step in.”

Even he didn’t sound fully convinced.

He knew, too: if these were precious experimental notes for a cult, they would come to retrieve them.

Rose’s mother’s ring throbbed on her finger; anxiety crawled over her skin like fire.

Something feels very wrong.

As she shoved the evidence into her bag, a deafening crash split the air.

BANG!

The door slammed open, splinters flying.

“Well, well. Thought I smelled crows. Turns out it’s just rats.”

A huge man filled the doorway. Even with James’s height, the guy was comparable—broad, hulking, his skin crawling with snake tattoos.

He looked like trouble incarnate.

James stepped in front of Rose instantly, raising his revolver, but the man just smirked and charged.

James barely had time to draw before the giant tackled him, lifting him bodily and slamming him to the floor.

“Guh…!”

“James!”

James tried to rise, but the man’s massive hand wrapped around his throat and pinned him hard. It happened too fast for either of them to react magically.

“Hey, sweetheart. Unless you wanna see his neck snap, why don’t you hand that over nice and slow?”

He pointed lazily with one hand at the bag Rose was clutching, all while squeezing James’s windpipe with the other.

Rose’s mind went white with panic.

Are the Ravens outside even aware of this?

If I scream—would they hear?

What magic can I even use right now…

“Ah, ah. No cheating. You twitch that pretty little magic finger and—snap!”

He gestured at her glowing fingertips, grinning as the color drained from her face and the light died away.

“That’s right. Now, how about you hand me—”

BANG!

His words ended in a wet choke.

“Ghk!”

The revolver shot thundered in the tiny room, powder smoke burning their noses.

While the thug’s attention was on Rose, James had drawn and fired at point-blank into his gut.

“You bastard…”

Blood spurted as the man clutched his stomach, face twisted in agony.

“James!”

Rose lunged to help him up, ignoring the dizzying rush of energy and sensation as she threw an arm under him.

James coughed raggedly, voice shredded from the choking, but he didn’t lower the smoking revolver.

They both knew their best move was to run.

But neither of them accounted for one key fact.

It was a Mythos crime. If there were accomplices, they might be Mythosi too. That big brute had sensed Rose’s magical buildup before.

Meaning he had magic of his own.

And not just any magic.

A sickening sizzling sound filled the room as the smell of burning flesh rose.

The man’s hand glowed with fire as he cauterized his own wound.

Rose stared in horror at the grotesque sight of him deliberately burning his shot-up belly to stop the bleeding.

“Mythos using a gun? That’s cheating.”

“Sorry to disappoint you. I’m not a Mythos.”

BANG!

The second shot cracked out, hitting the man square in the knee.

He toppled with a howl.

James seized the moment to shove Rose out the door.

“Run! Call the Ravens!”

But the monster wasn’t done.

“Not… so fast!”

He dragged himself forward, blood smearing the floor, one massive hand clamping onto James’s ankle.

His eyes glowed an unholy red, blood vessels bursting in the whites so thoroughly they looked almost demonic.

“If we can’t recover it… we destroy it.”

That final muttered threat burned itself into Rose’s vision.

And in that split-second, her mind snapped into overdrive.

There was no time to think.

Not even one second’s hesitation would be allowed if she wanted to change the ending.