John didn’t like riddles.

  But right now, Vera was looking at him like he was the answer to one.

  "You already have," she had said.

  John exhaled sharply. "That’s not an answer."

  Vera’s gaze didn’t waver.

  "It’s the only one that matters."

  John clenched his fists. He didn’t have time for this.

  "If I had the answer, I wouldn’t be standing here," he said coldly.

  Vera tilted her head slightly. "Wouldn’t you?"

  John’s patience snapped.

  "Enough games." His voice was low. Sharp. "Tell me what you know."

  Vera sighed, like she had been waiting for that exact moment.

  Then—she reached for the book again.

  And turned the page.

  John’s breath caught.

  Because the page Vera had flipped to—

  Was blank.

  No name. No notes. No records.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  Just a single, hand-drawn symbol.

  John’s pulse pounded.

  Because he had seen that symbol before.

  Not in the city. Not in any file.

  But in his own memories.

  Flashes of it. Etched into metal. Burned into his subconscious.

  A mask-shaped emblem.

  John inhaled sharply. No. No, that didn’t make sense.

  "Why is this here?" he asked.

  Vera tapped the page.

  "Because this is what Ren was looking for," she said.

  "And this?" She met his gaze. "This is tied to you."

  John stepped back.

  He wasn’t ready for this. Couldn’t be.

  He had thought he was chasing something external.

  A lost piece. A missing link. A trail leading to the Mask.

  But now?

  Now, it felt like the Mask had been chasing him all along.

  John clenched his jaw.

  "Where did Ren get this?" he demanded.

  Vera exhaled.

  "From a place no one should have gone," she murmured. "A ruin buried beneath the old districts. A place where the first whispers of the Mask began."

  John’s pulse spiked.

  A ruin.

  A buried history.

  And the first mention of something beyond human.

  John exhaled. "Where is it?"

  Vera studied him carefully.

  Then, finally, she spoke.

  "You’re not ready."

  John’s jaw tightened. "Try me."

  Vera sighed.

  "South of the collapsed metro line. Past the dead zone. Beneath the old tunnels."

  She met his gaze.

  "If you go looking for it, John…" She hesitated. "You won’t come back the same."

  John exhaled slowly.

  Then he turned toward the door.

  "Good," he muttered. "I don’t want to come back the same."

  And with that, he left.

  John moved fast.

  He had wasted enough time waiting for answers to find him.

  Now?

  Now he was going to find them himself.

  The ruins beneath the city.

  The place where the Mask had been first discovered.

  The place Ren had found something that tied it to John.

  John didn’t know what he was walking into.

  But deep down, he knew one thing.

  The Mask was waiting.

  And soon?

  He would find it.

  Or it would find him.