Gia appeared in the grey mist almost immediately, like she'd been waiting for me to call. The look on her face told me she already knew something was wrong just from how exhausted I probably looked.
"You look worse than last time," she said.
"It's getting worse." I didn't have the energy for small talk. "Sixteen deaths now, maybe more I haven't found yet, and I can't track this thing like I did with the Harvester."
Gia gestured for me to walk with her through the mist. "Tell me everything you've learned."
I explained it all while we moved through the in-between space, how every victim used similar language about freeing themselves from lies, how they all seemed genuinely at peace with their choice to die. Told her about entering that man's dream and finding nothing foreign in his mind,
