The Last Veilborn

Chapter 3 - A Name in the Dead Files

I left Elowen near the entrance and went back to the street. She had more questions than I could answer, and I wasn't about to explain the Veil to someone I had just met. Not when I didn't even know why that creature had approached her.

I checked the place where I had last seen it. There was nothing unusual now, just people walking past and cars moving through traffic. I took out my phone and opened the tracking app I used for Veil disturbances. The signal wasn't strong, but there was enough left to follow.

I had seen this kind of trace before. It usually disappeared within minutes, sometimes faster if the creature had crossed back through the Veil. This one was different. The signal kept appearing in short intervals, leading away from the building where Elowen worked.

I followed it.

I didn't call anyone from the department. I wasn't interested in explaining why I was following a creature that most people couldn't see, especially when I still had no idea what it wanted. Besides, I had learned not to share information before knowing who might be listening.

The signal led me away from the busy streets and toward an older part of the area. I checked my phone again as I walked. The location kept changing slightly, but it was getting stronger. Whatever had been there hadn't gone far.

I stopped in front of an abandoned building.

I knew the place.

It wasn't Warehouse 17, but it was connected to the same operation. Years ago, the building had been used as a temporary storage site for equipment recovered from Veil-related incidents. It was eventually shut down, and most of its records were supposed to have been transferred to the Hunter Registry.

I looked at the entrance. The old security sign was still attached to the wall, though part of it had fallen off. There were no lights inside, and the front door looked like it hadn't been used in a long time.

I checked the signal again. It was coming from inside.

"Of course," I muttered.

I pushed the door open and stepped in. The place smelled old, with dust covering most of the surfaces. I used my phone's flashlight and looked around. There were shelves along one wall, a few broken cabinets, and boxes left behind when the building was closed.

I didn't see the creature.

I moved farther inside, checking the corners and the spaces between the shelves. The signal was stronger now, but it wasn't coming from the main room. I followed it toward a narrow hallway at the back.

There was a metal door at the end. It wasn't locked, which I found strange considering the place had supposedly been abandoned. I opened it and found a small records room with old computers and filing cabinets.

Most of the equipment was useless. I tried one of the computers, but the screen wouldn't turn on. I checked the cabinets instead, pulling out folders and looking through their labels.

Some were damaged. Others had already been emptied.

Then I found a folder with an old incident number.

I recognized it before I even opened it.

Warehouse 17.

I sat down at the desk and placed the folder in front of me. The report was incomplete, but it contained references to the original breach. I read through the pages, checking the dates and names. Some details were familiar, while others weren't included in the official version I had spent years trying to access.

I turned another page and stopped.

The name Veyra was written beside the breach record.

I read it again, making sure I hadn't mistaken the letters. It wasn't a name I remembered seeing in the original report. I checked the page before it, then the one after. There were several references to the same name, but no explanation of who the person was or why it had been included.

I took out my phone and photographed the pages.

There was another sheet tucked inside the folder. It looked like an instruction added after the original report had been filed. The writing was short, with no signature or date.

I read it once.

Then I read it again.

DO NOT LET THE GIRL REACH THE SEAL.

I stared at the sentence for a while.

The girl.

I didn't need to guess who they meant. I had just met someone who could see a creature that should have been invisible to her, and that same creature had called her by a name she didn't recognize.

Elowen Veyra.

I leaned back and looked at the folder again. I still didn't know what the seal was, or why her name had been placed beside the original breach record. But someone had connected her to Warehouse 17 long before I met her.

And that meant I had been looking in the wrong direction for years.

-

I went back inside after Caelan left. I still had work to finish, but I couldn't focus properly. I kept thinking about the figure across the street and the way it had called me by a name I didn't recognize.

I tried looking it up on my phone during my break, but I didn't even know what to search. I couldn't remember the exact sound of the name, only that it wasn't mine. I checked my messages, hoping I might find something that could take my mind off it, but I ended up staring at the screen without reading anything.

Caelan had been just as frustrating as the things I kept seeing. He knew what the creature was, yet he refused to tell me. I understood that he didn't know me, but he was the one who approached me. He couldn't expect me to accept his warnings without asking questions.

I remembered his face when I asked why the creature had called me that name. He hadn't looked confused. If anything, he seemed like he was trying to decide how much to tell me.

That bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

I finished what I needed to do before leaving. On my way out, I looked across the street again. There was nothing unusual there, and the people passing by were going about their day like nothing had happened.

I stood near the entrance for a moment, checking the street before walking away.

I still didn't know what that thing wanted. I didn't even know what the name meant. But I couldn't just forget it, not after hearing someone else admit that the things I saw were real.

For once, I wanted an explanation that didn't end with someone telling me to ignore it.