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“You two look cozy,” Lex observed, taking in our position against the wall. “Though your timing for romantic tension could be better.”

“What's the situation upstairs?” Sean asked, already turning his attention back to the tunnel configurations.

“Bad and getting worse.” Lex's usual humor vanished. “Those scientists? They're changing. Like they're being rewritten from the inside out.”

As if to emphasize his point, screams echoed from above, human voices twisting into something else. The sound carried harmonics beyond human vocal range, oscillating between pitches that made the tunnel air vibrate and my teeth ache down to their roots.

“How many?” I asked, forcing myself to focus past the headache and the mark's constant burning.

“At least a dozen confirmed.” Lex moved closer, examining the symbols with professional interest. “These tunnels are older than the city itself.”

“They're built to channel and focus power,” Sean explained, not looking up from his journal. “If we can activate the old wards...”

“We might be able to pull off a mass exorcism,” I finished, watching him trace patterns between symbols. The plan was forming in my mind, but the risks were enormous. “But channeling that much power could kill you.”

Sean's smile was grim. “Worried about me, Professor?”

“Just calculating odds of survival,” I replied, already analyzing the variables. “We need to activate specific points in the tunnel system to create a resonance effect, don't we?”

“Five points,” Sean confirmed, sketching a rough map. “Four corners forming a containment square, with a final point at the center.”

More screams filtered down, closer now. The sounds of pursuit were getting nearer, carrying notes that made my skull feel like it was trying to crack open. Whatever was happening upstairs was accelerating.

“We split up,” Lex suggested, checking his remaining weapons. “Hit the corner points simultaneously while Sean sets up the central focus.”

“And if something goes wrong?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“Then we die horribly while eldritch horrors wear our skin like suits,” Sean replied with that gallows humor hunters seemed to develop. “Just another Tuesday in paradise.”

Sean tore pages from his journal, handing them to each of us. “These are the activation sequences. The symbols need to be charged in exact order, or the whole thing collapses.”

I studied the diagrams, recognizing elements that matched patterns from my own research into the supernatural. Things I couldn't admit to knowing without raising questions I couldn't answer.

“This is old magic,” I said carefully. “Pre-Christian. You sure you can control it?”

Sean's eyes met mine, carrying weight beyond the immediate crisis. “Worried about my soul, Princess?”

“Worried about all our souls if this goes wrong.”

Above us, something moved through the rubble. The air rippled around the transforming scientists, colors inverting while shadows stretched in impossible directions. Sounds distorted, crashes echoed before impact, screams lingered after silence fell.

“Lex, take the north point. Cade, you're east. I'll start the central focus once you're both in position.”

We moved through the tunnels like shadows, each taking our assigned paths. The mark on my chest burned steadier now, responding to whatever power Sean was preparing to channel.

The corridor to the East point was a gauntlet of twisted shadows and corrupted magic. Three witches blocked my path, their glamours falling away to reveal ancient markings writhing across their skin. Underneath the dark power possessing them, I could see who they used to be, teachers, mothers, people who'd probably never chosen this darkness.

The first came at me with claws made of shadow, her eyes completely black. I ducked under her strike, muscle memory taking over as the silver blade found her throat. Black smoke poured from the wound as she fell, the woman she used to be visible for just a moment before the end.

The second and third attacked together, dark energy crackling between them. One had a photo in her pocket, kids, maybe, or family she'd never see again. The knowledge made my next strikes harder to execute, but hesitation would only prolong their suffering.

“There has to be another way,” I gritted out, parrying a strike that would have torn out my throat. But there wasn't time to findit, wasn't time to try a proper exorcism. The ritual was building to completion, and these people were already too far gone.

The blade sang twice more, and silence fell. I stood among bodies that were already dissolving into grey ash, trying not to think about the lives they'd had before darkness claimed them.

The East point waited ahead, ancient symbols carved into stone that hummed with patient power. My hands were steady as I began the activation sequence, though my heart felt heavy with necessary sins.

“East point activated,” I reported into my comm, hoping it would reach through the interference.