The haunted opera house loomed like a memory too long suppressed, its bone-white facade cracked and swallowed by ivy, with stained glass windows that once refracted color now dulled by soot and age.
Inside, the air was dense with the scent of mildew and broken echoes. Evangeline crossed the threshold last, her footsteps uncertain, her fingers twitching slightly at her sides.
She’d told herself she could stomach anything after the In-Between - monsters, magic, gods, but murder scenes was another thing entirely.
They moved in silence through the gilded corridors, led by Selene, whose black boots whispered over dusty red carpet. Lucien flanked the left, claws not drawn but itching beneath the surface. Xander kept behind Evangeline, eyes scanning every shadow, every cracked statue that lined the marble alcoves. Cassius walked ahead, blade sheathed but hands loose, like a predator in perfect control.
“This place was warded,” Selene said, eyes flicking to the vaulted ceiling, where faded
