The map Idris spread across the table was ordinary vellum.
That, Ethan thought, was probably the most unsettling thing about it.
There was nothing remarkable about the paper itself. No moving ink. No green-gold glow. No strange symbols that seemed to shift when you looked away. Just a worn map of the eastern district, marked with streets, alleys, squares, and the occasional building Idris had bothered to name.
But there were three small marks near the edge of the district.
Three green-gold circles.
Three pyres.
"Three," Alistair said.
He stood over the table with both hands resting against its edge, staring at the marks.
"In three months."
Idris nodded.
"Three confirmed Takings in the eastern district. All three were burned publicly. All three were declared successful cleansings."
"Successful," Ethan repeated.
Idris glanced at him.
"That's what the reports say."
Ethan looked at the map again.
"And how many of them actually were?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Wren sat on the other side of the table, arms folded tightly across her chest. Her eyes had been fixed on the three marks ever since Idris placed the map down.
Alistair noticed.
"You recognize something?"
Wren didn't answer at first.
She leaned forward and pointed to the southernmost mark.
"That one."
Her finger moved to the second.
"And that one."
Then the third.
"Those are all places where people were burned."
"We know that," Alistair said.
"No."
Wren shook her head.
"I mean I remember them."
The room became quieter.
Ethan looked at her.
"You saw them?"
"I heard about them."
She hesitated.
"Before they took me."
Her fingers tightened against her sleeves.
"People talked. You hear things when you're waiting for your turn."
Alistair's expression changed slightly.
"Your turn?"
Wren looked at him.
"The pole."
The words came out flat.
"Everyone knew what happened. People disappeared, then somebody would say they'd been Taken. A few days later you'd hear that they had been burned."
She looked down at the map again.
"But there was always something strange about the stories."
"What kind of strange?"
"The people who were supposed to be Taken."
She frowned, trying to remember.
"Some of them didn't act like they were possessed. Some of them were just... frightened."
Ethan felt something tighten in his chest.
"Like you."
Wren nodded.
"Like me."
Alistair remained silent for several seconds.
Then he looked at Idris.
"Pull the original reports."
"I already did."
Idris reached for a stack of papers beside the map.
"All three cases were handled by the eastern district watch."
Alistair's eyes narrowed.
"Same watch?"
"Same station."
He placed the reports on the table.
"Different officers signed them, but all three reports were reviewed by the same man."
Ethan leaned closer.
"Who?"
Idris tapped the top page.
"Captain Rennick."
Wren went completely still.
Ethan noticed before anyone else did.
Her breathing had changed.
"Wren?"
She didn't look at him.
"I know that name."
Alistair's voice became quieter.
"From where?"
Wren swallowed.
"He was there."
"Where?"
"The square."
Her eyes lifted slowly.
"He was the one who tied me to the pole."
The room fell silent.
Alistair's face didn't change, but Ethan had begun to recognize the subtle signs that meant the man's mind was moving quickly.
"You are certain?"
"I'd recognize him anywhere."
Wren's voice was shaking now, but she forced herself to continue.
"He was wearing a dark coat. Same face. Same voice."
She looked at Ethan.
"He told them to make the ropes tighter."
Ethan felt the coal inside his chest shift.
Not violently.
Not like when it sensed another Cthu.
Just enough to remind him that it was listening.
Alistair noticed his expression.
"Ethan?"
"I'm fine."
He looked back at the map.
Three pyres.
Three reports.
One man connected to all of them.
And now Wren.
"Why would a watch captain personally oversee a burning?" Ethan asked.
Alistair didn't answer immediately.
"Sometimes they do."
"All three times?"
That stopped him.
Ethan pointed toward the map.
"If these were ordinary Takings, why would the same captain be involved every time?"
Idris adjusted his glasses.
"He wouldn't necessarily be."
"Then why is he?"
Nobody spoke.
Ethan continued, following the thought as it formed.
"And if the reports say all three were successful cleansings, but we're sitting here looking at evidence that at least one person who went through the same process survived"
He stopped.
The implication hung between them.
Alistair finished the thought.
"Someone has been controlling the information coming out of the eastern district."
"Or hiding something," Idris said.
"Same difference."
Alistair picked up the first report and read it again.
His expression hardened.
"Rennick."
Wren's eyes remained on the map.
"He's the one who told everyone I was already gone."
Ethan looked at her.
"What?"
"He said there was no point waiting."
She rubbed her arms.
"He said whatever was inside me had already won."
Her voice dropped.
"And then he lit the torch."
Ethan said nothing.
He remembered the flames.
The heat.
The screaming.
The moment he had opened his eyes again and found himself standing in the ashes.
Someone had decided he was already dead before he actually was.
Now he wondered how many others had received the same sentence.
Alistair folded the report.
"We're going to see him."
Idris looked up sharply.
"Directly?"
"No."
Alistair's eyes moved toward the eastern district on the map.
"Not through the front door."
Wren frowned.
"Then how?"
Alistair gave a thin smile.
"The same way we get into most places where someone doesn't want us."
Ethan waited.
Alistair looked at him.
"We don't ask."
For the first time since the investigation had begun, Ethan felt something almost resembling anticipation.
Not excitement.
Something colder.
A decision.
The three marks on the map no longer looked like records of past burnings.
They looked like footprints.
And Captain Rennick had left all three.