Only three days left.
Lena woke up to find her bedroom walls covered in strange symbols—ones she recognized from Varrick's old family journal. Her hands were stained with ink... and something even darker.
The book had moved during the night. Now it rested on her pillow, open to a new page titled "The Keeper's Oath." Below the elegant script were three names written in what looked like blood:
1. Karel Bohdan
2. Marguerite Duret
3. Alistair Voss
A fourth line waited, blank.
Her phone rang. Another unknown number.
"Miss Carter?" said a man's voice, smooth and calculated. "We haven't met properly. I work for people who are very interested in your... inheritance."
Lena stiffened. "Who are you?"
"Let's just say I'm a collector," he replied. "That book—it's dangerous. Let us take it. We'll keep you safe."
Across the street, a black town car sat idling. The shape of the person in the backseat was off—narrow head, oddly sloped shoulders.
Then the book flared to life. Its pages flipped on their own, revealing a warning:
He lies. The Collector takes Keepers. He skins them alive.
She ended the call. The car stayed there, unmoving, for hours.
Later that day, someone was waiting by her door—Mira, the woman who'd reached out after Varrick died. Her hair was ghost-white, her presence both young and ancient at once.
"I was the Keeper from 1999 to 2007," she said, pulling up her sleeve. A scar shaped like a serpent eating its tail curled on her forearm. "I survived by finding the place the book was born."
Mira told her about an old monastery Mountains, where monks in the 1100s had trapped something inside the pages. "The ritual site still holds power. If you burn it there, the curse ends."
Lena let out a half-laugh, half-sob. "Sure. Let me just fly to Romania!"
Mira took her hands. "You must. Before the Last Witness—"
The book snapped open. Mira screamed. Thin cuts tore across her face, slicing words in a language Lena didn't know. The wounds closed immediately, leaving silver scars.
"See?" Mira said, shaking. "It remembers me."
Lena threw a go-bag together while Mira explained the new rules:
1. Don't let the book touch bare earth.
2. Never open it after dark.
3. "Whatever it shows you, remember—The Witness mixes truth with lies. It shows you real things, but never the full picture."
As they left the apartment, Lena glanced at the hallway mirror—and saw her reflection wink back at her. Its eyes were pure black.
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