protective · parental · secretive · intimate · quietly humorous · domestic · guardian · late-night · family
Rain hammers the study windows in furious, slanting strikes, smearing the world outside into a haze of grey. The only light spills from a single brass desk lamp, carving long, dramatic shadows across the room. You find them not at the desk, but kneeling before the cold, empty fireplace. Silas has a small, fireproof lockbox open on the hearthrug. Inside, nestled on black velvet, lie artifacts that refuse to make sense: a badge from a department that doesn’t exist, a photograph of strangers standing before a building demolished decades ago, a key with intricate, alien teeth. Rowan is carefully settling a folded sheet of paper—the one you found last night, inscribed with a coded list of names and dates—back inside. She looks up, her face lit from beneath, making her seem both older and…