They piled into the vehicle with Lexi pressing a torn strip of someone's shirt to her bleeding side, the engine roaring to life as the gaunt man watched them flee. Blood dripped from his ruined nose into a knowing smile that promised this wasn't over. Chloe gasped over the squealing tires, holding up a scanner that showed the pendant's energy signature pulsing like a homing beacon. "They weren't after the pendant—they were tagging it!" Dave swore violently and yanked the wheel toward I-95, nearly sideswiping a delivery truck. "Qi's gonna owe me a new damn safehouse and why the hell would they target seventeen year old kids and girls at that. What the fuck is wrong with the world now." He sweared as he drove to the hospital Mr Gray was kept in to get Lexi's injury.
The hospital room smelled of antiseptic and wilted flowers as Luna adjusted Mr. Grey's IV drip, the news playing muted footage of a "chemical plant fire" at the marina. His fever had broken an hour ago, but his fingers still trembled when he grasped her wrist. "Luna..." His voice was raspy but alert. "There's a safe deposit box... First National... key's in my—" The door swung open to reveal Mrs. Grey clutching a Starbucks cup, her sneer deepening at the sight of Luna. "Still here, parasite?" The pendant pulsed once—a warning—as Luna leaned close under the guise of fluffing his pillow. "Tell me tomorrow." Luna said before standing up, she had gone to his hospital room after changing in the suv leaving the rest with Lexi.
The breaking news alert flashed across the screen as she left—**Explosion at Miami Federal Records Center**—the camera panning across smoking rubble where Red Dragon had stored their Blackwatch files. Chloe's encrypted text vibrated in her pocket: *They're cleaning house. Meet at the church. Bring the necklace.* Luna touched the crescent metal, now warm as living flesh against her collarbone. "That's the only keepsake from my birth parents do why do these people want and why did my parents leave me at dad's place?" The question replayed itself in Luna's mind.
Somewhere in the Miami night, the gaunt man was watching. And if her visions spoke true, he wasn't the only hunter drawn to the pendant's call but why?!.
...…. An hour later
Rain sheeted down in silver curtains as Luna hunched beneath the awning of a shuttered bodega, the pendant's unnatural warmth seeping through her damp shirt. Across the street, St. Michael's weathered stone facade loomed through the downpour, its stained-glass windows dark as old bruises. Ari materialized beside her with the quiet efficiency of a shadow, smelling of wet leather and gunpowder. "Chloe's late," she muttered, thrusting a crushed energy bar into Luna's hands.
The synthetic chocolate taste clung to Luna's tongue as she scanned the empty street—every flicker of movement setting her pulse racing. "She's not late," Luna corrected automatically. "We're early." Ari's snort was cut short by three rapid flashes from the confessional booth—Chloe's signal cutting through the gloom like a lighthouse beacon.
The church basement smelled of mildew and candle wax, the flickering fluorescents casting long shadows across Chloe's makeshift command center. She'd turned a Sunday school table into a tech nest, her remaining laptop tethered to a jury-rigged server stack that hummed ominously. "They weren't just tagging the pendant," Chloe whispered, fingers flying across the keyboard with manic precision. The screen flared to life, displaying an energy waveform that made Luna's stomach twist. "They were *activating* it." Ari leaned in, her knife stilling mid-twirl as the map resolved into three pulsing red dots. "That's the Blackwatch facility...some private lab in the Everglades..." Her voice hitched. "And the Grey family estate?" The revelation landed like a punch to the gut, Mrs. Grey's venomous words in the hospital corridor taking on terrifying new dimensions. " Your master would be proud of you if he knew he trained a genius" Ari said as Lexi stepped inside the church.
Lexi slid a battered metal case across the table with quiet finality. "Dave sent this." Inside lay four military-grade earpieces and a single syringe of murky liquid that shimmered oddly in the dim light. "Comms and countermeasures," Chloe translated, distributing the earpieces with trembling hands. "This cocktail should mask the pendant's signal for six hours." She held up the syringe, the needle catching the light. "One dose only. Side effects include—" Ari moved faster than thought, snatching the syringe and jabbing it into Luna's arm before anyone could react. The world dissolved into static, the church basement melting away like wet tissue paper.
Suddenly Luna stood in a sterile white room that smelled of antiseptic and something faintly metallic. The gaunt man adjusted an IV line connected to—*herself.* Or some nightmare version of herself. The girl on the gurney couldn't have been older than eight, her veins glowing gold beneath translucent skin. The gaunt man hummed as he worked, his voice slithering into Luna's ears with clinical precision: "Subject Alpha's vitals stabilizing. Crescent protocol initiating in T-minus—" Pain lanced through her skull as reality snapped back with brutal force. Ari had her in a headlock, dabbing at Luna's nose with a wet napkin that came away crimson. "Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty. You were out two minutes and bled like a stuck pig." Chloe's face hovered into view, her pallor pronounced under the flickering lights. "What did you see?" Luna touched her still-bleeding nose, the coppery taste thick on her lips. "They're making more of us."
The argument that followed was conducted in hissed whispers, the rain hammering the church roof like a timpani roll. Ari's knife tapped an impatient rhythm against the table. "We hit the lab first. Cut the head off the snake." Lexi shook her head, her braids whispering against her raincoat. "The estate is closer. If Mrs. Grey's involved—" "Both are traps," Chloe interrupted, pulling up security schematics that showed motion sensors in ventilation shafts and armed guards patrolling the Grey property with fresh shoot-to-kill orders. Luna stared at the pendant in her palm, its crescent curve gleaming dully. "Then we let them come to us." The words settled over them like a shroud. "We bait the gaunt man. Make him show us where the children are." Ari's grin was all sharp edges and promised violence. "I'll get the fireworks."