Voss stopped at the edge of the old cemetery and lifted one hand.

The others stalled behind her. No one spoke for a few seconds. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.

Gunnar was the first to break it. "You sure the thing came here?"

Voss didn’t look at him. "The trail ends at the crypt. That’s sure enough."

Mira crouched beside a broken headstone and dragged two fingers across the dirt. She rubbed the dust, sniffed it, then flicked it away. "Old rot. Spirit residue. Something passed through here not long ago."

One of the twins let out a long sigh. "That sounds like a yes disguised as a maybe."

The other twin clicked his tongue. "Or a trap disguised as a trail."

Voss finally turned. Her face was calm, which was more unsettling than anger. "It can be both."

Gunnar rolled his shoulders—a big man, thick neck, the kind of face that had been punched too many times to remember. "So what’s the play?"

Voss looked past him, toward the crypt sitting at the far end of the cemetery like a tooth in a dying mouth. "We split."

The twins exchanged a glance. Mira stood up, brushing off her knees. Gunnar frowned like he’d just bitten into something sour.

"I hate when you say that," he muttered.

"You hate thinking too," Voss said. "Still doesn’t stop us from needing it."

Gunnar grunted but didn’t argue. He knew better.

Voss pointed toward the left side of the cemetery, where the trees grew close and the shadows were thickest. "Gunnar. Mira. Take the outer perimeter. Circle wide. No loud movement. If something tries to slip past, pin it. Don’t chase too far unless I call."

Mira nodded once. Gunnar spat on the ground. "And if it’s not the Glimmertongue?"

"Then don’t die being curious."

The twins snickered. Voss turned to them next. "You two. Watch the gate."

The first twin groaned. "Gate duty? Again?"

The second twin made a face. "We always get gate duty."

"Because one of you talks too much and the other one thinks too little," Voss said dryly. "Together, you almost make a full person."

Gunnar laughed under his breath. The twins stopped smiling.

Voss stepped closer to them, and the humor dropped from her face. "Nothing gets in. Nothing gets out. If the Ashen Guard shows up, stall them. If any civilians wander close, scare them off without leaving bodies. And if anything starts singing, humming, whispering, or using your names—cut your earpiece and look at each other."

The first twin’s expression shifted. "That thing can mimic voices?"

Mira answered before Voss could. "It’s called a Glimmertongue for a reason."

The second twin swallowed hard.

Voss’s eyes moved across all of them. "No heroics. No pride. No stupid sacrifices. We take the creature, we leave, we get paid. Everything else is noise."

Gunnar cracked his neck. "And you?"

"I’m going in."

Mira looked toward the crypt. "Alone?"

Voss gave her a flat stare. "Unless you think I need company."

Mira raised her hands a little. "I think you hate company."

"Good. You’re learning."

Gunnar muttered, "Still think I should go in with you."

"No."

"Voss—"

"No," she said again. Quiet. Final.

Gunnar looked annoyed, but he didn’t push. That was the thing about Voss. She didn’t shout. She didn’t threaten. She just said no, and people listened, because the ones who didn’t hadn’t stuck around long enough to tell the story.

She touched her earpiece. "Check."

Mira tapped hers. "Clear."

Gunnar grunted. "Clear."

"Kai?"

"Clear," the first twin said.

"Finn?"

"Still clear," the second twin sighed.

Voss turned away. "Move."

They split. Gunnar and Mira vanished into the treeline, moving with the kind of quiet that only came from years of doing this. The twins shuffled back toward the gate, already bickering about who had to climb the tree for a better vantage point.

Voss walked toward the crypt alone. She didn’t hurry. Hurrying made noise. Hurrying narrowed the mind. And Voss had stayed alive too long to start making rookie mistakes now.

Her silver hand flexed once beneath the glove. A faint pulse of light, there and gone.

She reached the crypt entrance and stopped. Didn’t step inside immediately. She listened. The silence was heavy, the kind that pressed against your ears and made you want to fill it with something—a cough, a whisper, anything.

Voss breathed in slow, then out.

She tilted her head slightly to the left. Her eyes scanned the darkness near a broken wall. Nothing moved. But something felt off. A weight in the air that didn’t belong.

Her left hand glowed again, faint and cold.

She stared at the shadows for three long seconds.

Then she murmured, "Strange."

Her earpiece crackled. Mira’s voice came through. "What is it?"

Voss kept looking. "Nothing."

"You sure?"

"No."

Gunnar’s voice cut in. "That’s comforting."

Voss let the moment pass. "Keep moving."

She stepped into the crypt.

Lucian watched from the darkness behind a pile of rubble. He hadn’t followed too close. Voss had good instincts—better than most. When she’d stopped and looked his way, he’d gone completely still, not even breathing, letting his aura fold into the stone and the shadows.

It worked. Barely.

He waited until her footsteps faded inside, then moved to the crypt entrance. The air was colder here, damp, carrying the faint smell of old bones and something else—something alive.

He stepped inside.

The crypt was small, maybe twelve feet wide, with stone shelves on both walls and an altar at the end. Voss was already at the far wall, her silver hand pressed flat against what looked like solid rock. But the rock was glowing—faint lines appearing under her palm, not runes exactly, more like old hunter markings that had been sealed over.

Voss leaned closer. "There you are."

She twisted her wrist. Something clicked deep in the stone, low and heavy. A section of the wall shifted, sliding inward to reveal a dark tunnel sloping down into the earth.

Voss touched her earpiece. "Found the tunnel."

Gunnar answered first. "Of course you did."

Mira followed. "Any movement inside?"

"Not yet."

Kai’s voice came through, bored. "Gate’s clear. Nothing but crickets."

Finn added, "The crickets are suspicious. I’m watching them."

Voss ignored them. "Everyone stay in position. No one enters without my call."

Gunnar sighed. "You’re really going down there alone?"

"Yes."

"Still hate it."

"Still don’t care." Voss cut the line and looked into the tunnel. Her silver hand pulsed once. "Alright," she muttered. "Let’s see what you’re hiding."

She stepped into the dark.

Lucian waited until he couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore. Then he moved to the tunnel entrance. The air coming out was cold, wet, and carried that same musky smell from before.

He pulled out his phone. One bar of signal. He typed a quick message to Alistair: Tunnel under the crypt. Voss went in alone. Her team is split—two on perimeter, two at the gate. I’m following.

Three dots appeared. Then: Don’t do anything stupid.

Lucian pocketed the phone and stepped into the tunnel.

The darkness swallowed him whole. Behind him, the crypt was silent. Above, his team was still making their way through the town. And somewhere ahead, in the cold and the dark, the Glimmertongue was waiting.

Or maybe it was already hunting.