"Because it is," I said. "The Castellano bloodline has empathic connections to ancestral spirits. You're not just maintaining graves, Thomas. You're channeling knowledge from your Guardian ancestors."
Right on cue, a cold wind swept through the cemetery despite the humid Louisiana heat. Before I saw them, I knew we had visitors. “Company’s coming,” Dea muttered as translucentfigures began materializing around the graves. Men and women in period clothing appeared. Their faces bore the same strong features as Thomas’s.
"Well, this is new," Kota observed. She was right, and yet, after the day we'd had, ghostly ancestors were practically mundane.
"They've been waiting," Thomas said with quiet reverence. "They knew you'd come eventually."
One of the spirits, a woman in an 1850s dress with Thomas's dark eyes, stepped forward. "We are the Castellano guardians," she said in a voice that carried across dimensions like wind through dead leaves. "We have maintained our vigil for over a century, but the enemy has grown cunning."
"What enemy?" While I was certain she was talking about the Collector, I needed to clarify. Assuming you knew the answer was never wise.
“Those who serve the entity,” she replied.
"The betrayers walk among you," a man with a distinctive scar across his left cheek warned. "They wear familiar faces and speak of preservation, but they serve the Collector's hunger."
"One of the bloodlines has been corrupted," the woman continued. "For generations, they have infiltrated Guardian families and stolen knowledge. They’ve been weakening defenses and preparing for the Collector's return."
"Which family?" Dre demanded. "Which bloodline has been compromised?"
The spirits looked at each other with expressions of ancient pain. "The Drake line," the scarred man said finally. "Michel Drake's corruption did not die with him. His descendants have continued his work. They’ve been hiding among the Guardian families like wolves among sheep."
"Son of a bitch," I breathed as my mind began processing the information. It wasn’t surprising given Michel’s actions. But it did complicate things.
"I bet it’s the researchers approaching the families," Phi postulated.
"And we have no idea how many other Drake descendants might be positioned throughout the network." I felt a sense of dread as the implications hit me. "They have likely been mapping Guardian bloodlines for decades."
"There's more you need to see," Thomas said urgently. "The spirits have been guiding me to discoveries I never would have made on my own."
My sisters and I groaned in perfect unison. "Are you kidding me?" I muttered, staring at yet another set of mysterious stairs disappearing into the bowels of the earth.
"Mysterious stairs leading to underground chambers are definitely the theme of this crisis," Kota said dryly. "At this point, I'm expecting to find them in my breakfast cereal."
"I'm starting to think the original Guardians had a serious obsession with basements," Dani added, rubbing her temples like she was fighting a headache.
"Or maybe they were all just really committed to getting their daily step count," Dea said with her usual cheer.
Thomas looked confused by our less-than-enthusiastic response. "These are sacred passages?—"
"Oh, I'm sure they are," I interrupted, already resigned to our fate. "But we've been up and down more mysterious staircases in the past two days than a Victorian ghost story. Lead the way."
"There are tunnels that connect to sites all across the city,” Thomas explained as we reluctantly descended into yet another corridor that stretched beyond our flashlight range. “The original Guardians used them to move unseen."
"Of course they did," Kota muttered behind me. "Heaven forbid we find any Guardian secrets at ground level."
Despite our collective irritation with subterranean exploration, we went down behind Thomas. The tunnels were genuinely impressive. They were a marvel of 19th-century engineering combined with magical construction. The walls were lined with the same protective symbols we'd found in other Guardian sites. And the air hummed with preserved enchantments that had kept these passages hidden for over a century.
"How do you know about these?" Dani asked as we walked through corridors that should have been on every city planning map but weren't.
"The spirits guided me," Thomas replied. "Every few months, I'd get the urge to explore a new section. I had to clear away debris to make sure the passages stayed accessible. It’s taken me months, and I haven’t explored everything."
We'd been walking for maybe ten minutes when Dre suddenly stopped, holding up her hand for silence. "Do you hear that?"
Cocking my head to the side, I strained to pick up what she had. The sound of electronic equipment was barely audible over our footsteps in the distance. There was beeping, humming, and the subtle whir of machinery. What was it doing in century-old tunnels?
"That's new," Thomas said in an alarmed voice.
We moved forward more carefully with our magical senses on high alert. What we found around the next bend stunned us. Modern surveillance equipment lined the tunnel walls. There were cameras, motion sensors, and listening devices that looked military-grade.
