Isaiah arrives at the gallery with a message from Viktoria, noting Sandriel’s intimidating presence and the uncertainty around Pollux’s arrival. He warns Hunt that Micah will punish failure and that pushing Jesiba’s limits is risky. Meanwhile, Bryce and Hunt exchange light texts that ease recent tension.

A sudden rainstorm forces Bryce to accept Hunt’s offer to fly to the lab. During the flight, Bryce confronts her fear and glimpses the city and its Gates aligned with the ley lines, while she and Hunt share a brief, warming closeness.

At Viktoria’s office, Bryce is introduced to the wraith. Viktoria reveals she tracked brief temperature dips—two-second, seventy-seven-degree drops—along major avenues, consistent with summoning events. Grainy camera stills show a kristallos foot in Moonwood the previous night, and a similar dip occurred near the time and place of Maximus Tertian’s murder.

Mapping the sightings, Viktoria shows the kristallos circling the Den in Moonwood—Sabine’s seat of power—before the trail abruptly ends near the Rose Gate in FiRo. The pattern reinforces the ley-line theory but complicates a simple case against Sabine, suggesting the demon was searching for something or someone.

Viktoria has deployed units and an Auxiliary pack to locate the creature without success. With Sandriel’s presence fraying nerves and Viktoria’s caution about boundaries, Bryce and Hunt quietly decide to spend the evening pursuing the kristallos lead themselves.