The ruins of Ravensbrook’s first church loomed ahead, bathed in the dim glow of a cloud-shrouded moon. Lena’s breath fogged the air as she gripped the flashlight tighter, its beam slicing through the oppressive darkness. She could feel the weight of the amulet’s promise, its importance humming in her thoughts. This was the first step in sealing the fractures—and maybe in finding peace. But the whispers didn’t agree. “Turn back,” they hissed, curling in her ears like icy fingers. “You don’t belong here. None of you do.” The crumbling church was a skeleton of its former self, its once-proud steeple reduced to jagged rubble. Nature had reclaimed much of the site, vines curling around shattered pews and moss covering the remnants of stone walls. Yet, the air buzzed with a strange energy, he

