By the end of the week, neither Evelyn nor Lucas can afford the luxury of working alone.
Too many questions remain unanswered.
Too many relics are missing.
And with every passing day, Raven Hollow feels increasingly unstable, as though the town itself senses the danger gathering beneath its foundations. The weather turns erratic, rain falling from clear skies or sudden chills creeping in at noon. Street lamps flicker for no reason, and dogs bark at shadows no one else can see. Old clocks stop and start again, hours off. The townspeople glance nervously at each other, unsettled by odd smells of ozone and the twitch of leaves in windless air. Each disturbance feels like another warning, a sign that something beneath the surface is shifting.
The agreement comes reluctantly. Neither trusts the other completely. Yet both understand the truth. If the seal fails, it won’t matter who was right.
Everyone will suffer.
The meeting takes place after sunset in the sheriff’s office, a modest brick building overlooking the market square. Rain taps steadily against the windows while a storm brews beyond the hills. The scent of wet earth drifts in whenever the wind rattles the doorframe.
Lucas sits behind his desk, arms crossed. Evelyn stands near the evidence board. The silence stretches between them.
Finally, Lucas breaks it. “I still don’t like this.”
A faint smile touches Evelyn’s lips. “I wasn’t aware your approval was required.”
“It isn’t,” Lucas responds.
“Good,” Evelyn says with a smile.
Lucas exhales heavily. “You realize if this goes wrong, the council will blame both of us,” Lucas says glumly.
Evelyn smiles and replies, “They’re already blaming me.”
“Fair point,” Lucas says.
For a brief moment, the tension eases. Not gone and just softened.
Lucas slides a thick folder across the desk. “I’ve gathered every report connected to the relic thefts.”
Evelyn raises an eyebrow. ”You’re sharing official records?”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Lucas said.
“I am surprised,” Evelyn responds.
“I can still take them back.” Lucas smiles.
Her smile grows slightly. You won’t.”
Their eyes meet. For just a second. Long enough for something warm and unfamiliar to flicker between them before both quickly look away.
Professional.
Focused.
Safer that way.
Outside, thunder rolls across the valley.
Inside, the investigation begins.
Their first task is to review the pile of reports Lucas has gathered, each detailing a stolen relic, each with strange gaps or inconsistencies. Evelyn reads aloud the list of missing items: an iron key, a silver bell, a stone marked with unknown runes. Lucas spreads maps across the desk and pins the theft locations. Patterns fail to emerge at first, but both notice that the break-ins leave behind a lingering scent of burned sage and, in one case, a trail of dirt leading in from the graveyard. They jot notes, cross-reference old town ledgers, and realize several relics vanished on nights when the weather turned abruptly violent. The clues feel scattered, but a thread of unease already connects them, tugging them relentlessly forward.