By the time they returned to the safe house, dawn had begun to thin the darkness beyond the windows.
No one spoke much.
The Blackwood crypt had given them answers, but each answer had opened another door.
The first Guardian.
The Order of the Phoenix.
The secret beneath East Garden.
And the missing final chapter Rosemary had taken before the fire.
Elena sat at the long kitchen table with the ancient journal in front of her.
She had read the surviving pages three times.
The words had not changed.
Neither had the question haunting her.
Why had her mother removed the final chapter?
Adrian placed a cup of coffee beside her.
“You haven’t slept.”
“Neither have you.”
“I wasn’t the one staring at the same page for two hours.”
Elena glanced at him.
“You were watching me.”
“Yes.”
“
