Three levels beneath Saint Astra Polytechnic, the mechanical laboratory breathed with the scents of ozone and heated metal. Eloise, clad in protective goggles and armed with a miniature welding torch, affixed the final joint of her mechanized arm-guard. Brass gears meshed with surgical precision, while pale-blue soul-fluid coursed through its conduits like artificial blood.
"Test sequence seven. Ready," she said into her headset.
Zoe typed rapidly at the control console. Three wall-mounted screens displayed structural stress metrics, soul-energy flow diagrams, and external environmental data."All systems online. But, Eloise… you're really going to the museum tonight?"
"Viretta's Starlight Core is losing energy by the minute." Eloise lifted the completed arm-guard. It covered her forearm to her fingertips, its surface engraved with runes, its joints set with glowing gems. "According to her decay model, if we don't recover it within two weeks, her structure will suffer irreversible damage. There will be no recovery."
"But that place—"
"I know the risk." Eloise flexed her fingers; the mechanical joints emitted a low hum. "That's why we prepare. Did you breach the municipal surveillance grid?"
"Eighty percent of the Old Harbor cameras are dead. The remaining twenty percent loop last week's footage." Zoe summoned a thermal map. "But satellite imaging shows a persistent heat source inside Black Brick Alley No. 13. Not boilers. Not appliances. It looks like… biological heat. Multiple biological signatures."
"Guards?"
"Or exhibits," Zoe whispered. "I also traced the last movements of the missing students. Three days before they withdrew, each received an anonymous parcel. The sender can't be tracked. But the delivery footage shows a man in Victorian dress—without a face."
"Without a face?"
"The facial region is distorted, like signal interference." Zoe enlarged the image. Indeed, the man's face dissolved into a blur of light. "But his cane bears a ruby ornament. Identical to Sebastian Mohl's."
Eloise shut down the torch and removed her goggles. In the depths of her left pupil, faint silver sparks glimmered—her spirit-sight no longer fully dependent on suppression runes.
"Viretta says high-order thaumaturges can warp the surrounding information field, including optical records," she said. "If Mohl still exists in any form, he could do this."
"Then we're still going?"
"Precisely because of that." Eloise opened the museum blueprints. "Look here—basement level two. This section's walls are abnormally thick, yet labeled 'storage.' The actual volume is three times larger."
"A hidden chamber?"
"Mohl's workshop." She magnified the area. "Viretta's memory fragments indicate he performed sensitive experiments deep underground, away from the Society's monitoring. If we can locate the access—"
The laboratory door slid open.
Professor Gianna Archer stood in the doorway, white coat immaculate, tablet in hand. Her gaze swept the room and paused briefly on the mechanical arm-guard.
"Miss Sterling. Miss Chen," she said, stepping inside as the door sealed behind her. "I noticed you accessed restricted architectural archives. Care to explain?"
Zoe stiffened. Eloise turned calmly. "A coursework project, Professor. We're studying thaumic nodes in Victorian architecture. The Museum of World Wonders is a representative case."
Archer regarded her with microscope precision. "That building is under containment. Unauthorized entry constitutes a severe violation—expulsion at minimum, criminal charges at worst."
"We have no entry plan. Only data analysis."
"Excellent," Archer replied, calling up another file. "Because I have just issued a research permit. Under the 'Supernatural Heritage Preservation Program,' Saint Astra Polytechnic is authorized to conduct a non-invasive survey of the Museum of World Wonders."
Eloise and Zoe exchanged glances.
"I will lead the project. Four students are selected." Archer displayed the roster: Eloise Sterling. Zoe Chen. Redmond Carter. Leon Walker."Tomorrow at nine, Old Harbor District. Bring only basic instruments. No weapons. No experimental devices."
Her eyes flicked to the arm-guard. "Including that."
"Professor," Eloise asked carefully, "why us?"
"Because you can see." Archer did not soften her words. "Don't pretend otherwise, Sterling. I noticed it in the first lecture. All four of you respond to scouting spirits. And the museum is saturated with such entities. We require observers capable of perception."
She displayed a blurred photograph: luminous clusters drifting along the walls."This was taken three years ago during a sanctioned probe. Spirit density measured four hundred times the norm. We must chart their distribution, behavior, and potential threat to public safety."
"Why now?" Zoe asked. "It's been sealed for a century."
"Because the readings are changing." Archer produced a rising graph. "In six months, radiation has tripled. Last week, residents reported 'strange music' and 'sounds of breaking glass.' The Society fears the seal is failing."
She fixed her gaze on Eloise. "You have two days to prepare. Objectives: data only. No interaction. No entry into restricted zones. Three hours maximum."
"And if something goes wrong?"
"Immediate withdrawal. I will monitor from the external command post." A pause. "This is scholarship, not heroics. Understood?"
"Yes, Professor."
After Archer departed, silence reclaimed the lab.
"She knows more than she admits," Zoe said. "She openly acknowledged Seers. The Academy officially denies hereditary thaumic aptitude."
"She's using us," Eloise replied, dismantling visible components of the arm-guard and disguising them as instruments. "But she's also giving us access. A legal entrance ticket."
"And the other two students?"
"We assess them. If they are also targets—then the museum is a trap for every awakening Seer." Eloise's eyes hardened. "But Viretta has no time left."
That evening, Eloise returned home.
Viretta floated in the center of the living room, weaving a complex net of silver light. At its heart hovered a crystal shard, emitting faint starlight.
"I am reconstructing memory," Viretta said softly. "This fragment is an envoy token from three centuries ago—of the Faerie Court. Its sigils were damaged."
Eloise activated spirit-sight. The shard's inner data resembled torn pages.
"Can I help?"
"With your Time Anchor," Viretta said. "It can stabilize temporal flow and rewind the fragment to its intact state—but carefully. Too far, and the data will be lost forever."
Eloise opened her watch. The crimson gem revolved, warm and steady. She adjusted its rotation near the shard.
Light resonated with starlight. The fragment's patterns clarified. Visions emerged:
…Seventh convocation of the Starlight Council...humans present "soul-machinery"...court divided… hawks fear threat… doves seek alliance… I voted yes…
…night before ritual… my sister Eleanor warned me… "Do not trust human machines"… she discovered something… but could not finish…
…ceremony… not peace… a trap… crystal array inverted… my starlight extracted… agony…
…last sight… my sister's face… she was crying… but her hand… upon the control node…
The shard split and fell dark.
Eloise gasped. "Your sister… she was involved."
"No," Viretta said coldly. "She was forced. She wore the Ring of Obedience—used by nobles to control servants."
"By whom?"
"Unknown." The shard crumbled into dust. "But Mohl cooperated with the hawks. He must know."
She turned. "I must go with you."
"But Archer forbade spirit interaction—"
"I will not appear as a spirit." Viretta compressed into a thumb-sized silver gem. "My Star-Core Fragment. Place me within your watch. The Time Anchor will conceal me."
The gem was warm and heavy in Eloise's palm.
"Is it safe?"
"Safer than staying here. And I will read what you cannot."
Eloise opened the watch. The silver gem joined the crimson one, twin stars in orbit.
"Now rest," Viretta whispered. "The museum is not a place. It is a living system. It breathes. It hunts. You will walk into its stomach."
That night, Eloise dreamed: jars of wings and eyes… and three human heads—the missing students.
She woke at three a.m.
Moonlight cast geometric patterns on the floor. The watch trembled. The gems spun out of sync, repelling and attracting.
A vision burst forth: the hidden chamber. The perfect polyhedral Star-Core, entwined by black tendrils. And in shadow, a man with a ruby cane and a scalpel dripping silver blood.
"I await you, daughter of Sterling," his voice rasped in her mind. "Bring me my star, and I will give you truth."
The vision shattered.
This was not research.This was an invitation to sacrifice.
Eloise rose, lit her desk lamp, and began to plan.
Forty-eight hours.
The museum waited.
The silver gem trembled within the watch. Viretta's voice whispered:
"Starlight says it will rain tomorrow. Bring a coat, Eloise. In darkness, rain hides footsteps… and other sounds."