The war room still hummed with tension when Nathan led me out of the crowd. Morbid curiosity pushed me forward. Fear dragged behind my ribs. The elders formed a half circle around something draped beneath a canvas in the center. No one spoke. No one breathed too loudly. The air tasted like dust and cold metal.
Leah stood near the head of the group, her face pale. When she saw me, she hesitated. “Margot. You should prepare yourself.”
“For what.” I said. “Another surprise corpse. A cryptic message. An emotional meltdown. Those are basically my hobbies now.”
No one laughed. Figures.
Nathan met my gaze as he pulled back the canvas.
The wolf beneath was no longer flesh. No longer fur or muscle or anything remotely alive. Its body had become stone. Literal stone. A frozen sculpture mid coll
