~ Ophelia’s POV ~
The gate groaned open like it hadn’t been used in years, a sound that felt too old to belong to the present.
Rust.
Steel.
Rain.
The van crawled forward, tyres crunching over gravel that sounded too loud in the silence of the night, as if the ground itself was warning us not to enter.
My breath caught in my throat as trees gave way to a clearing wide, empty, swallowed by shadows.
A building rose out of the darkness.
Not a mansion.
Not a warehouse.
Not anything familiar.
It looked like a forgotten institution, with brick walls, broken windows, and a roof sagging with age.
But the lights were on, and that was somehow the most unsettling part.
Someone lived here.
Someone powerful enough to hide in plain sight, powerful enough not to care how it looked from the o
