Silence followed the journal's message.
The words glowed faintly on the stone floor, etched as if by fire:
"One of them was placed, not pulled."
"And one of you… has already started to turn."
No one spoke.
No one breathed.
KJ stepped back, eyes darting to each face.
"Okay, that's not creepy at all."
Shoto slowly closed the book. "It's messing with us again."
Brandon shook his head. "No. This time… I think it's warning us."
His eyes locked onto Riley.
Riley blinked.
"What?"
"You've been off since we left the Ring," Brandon said. "You knew something about my family. A detail I never told anyone."
"I was just guessing—"
"No," Elizabeth said softly. "You're always watching. Listening. You don't even sleep."
"I—what are you saying?"
Braydon finally stood from his place beneath the tree.
The others stepped back instinctively — not from fear… but pressure.
The air around him was heavier.
Unstable.
He looked at Riley, but his gaze was… distant. Like he was seeing something else behind her.
"She's lying."
The voice was in his head again.
"But not just her."
Braydon clenched his fists.
"The rot spreads. One falls, and the rest will follow."
"I've heard the voice," Braydon said suddenly.
Everyone turned to him.
KJ narrowed his eyes. "What voice?"
Braydon looked at Shoto. "The thing that fell. It's not dead. It's awake. And it's talking to me."
That sent a ripple through the group.
Shoto stepped forward, eyes flaring faintly. "And you waited to tell us?"
"I didn't know what it was until now."
Gage drew his weapon. "We're wasting time. If someone's already turning, we deal with it."
Elizabeth raised a hand. "Nobody's hurting anyone."
Brandon spoke without looking away from Riley. "Then she talks."
All eyes turned to her.
Riley's face was pale now. Her hands shook.
"I'm not… I don't know what you think I am—"
And then Marcus — the quiet one — stepped forward.
"I do."
Everyone froze.
Riley's head whipped toward him. "Marcus—?"
He didn't even look at her.
He looked at Shoto.
"You've been looking in the wrong place."
And then he smiled.
But it wasn't Marcus's smile.
It was too wide. Too calm.
The skin beneath his left eye cracked. Just slightly. Like a mask shifting.
"I wasn't pulled here."
"I was planted."