The temple sat on the hill like it had been waiting for us, pale stone catching the moonlight in a way that felt less like reflection and more like the building was doing it on purpose.
"Okay," Pearl said. "So do we sleep here, next to the freshly carved ominous symbol, or do we walk toward the creepy moonlit temple in the dark?"
"Neither sounds great," Des said.
"I didn't say either sounded great. I said those are the options."
Malachi crouched by the doorway, studying the new symbol without touching it. Up close, the lines were crisp, almost too clean, like they'd been cut with something sharper than a chisel.
"This wasn't carved by hand," he said. "Not entirely. There's a burn pattern under the stone dust. Someone used a focus crystal to finish it."
"The same kind Kai smashed on the mountain?" I asked.
"Maybe. Maybe worse." He straightened up. "Either way, it's recent. Hours, not days."
"So they're close," Kai said. It wasn't a question.
"They're close," Malachi agreed.
