Helena stepped fully into the townhouse's common area, her experienced eyes immediately cataloging the scene. The four young cultivators she'd met at her office were present along with several others she didn't recognize, their positioning and body language suggesting recent trauma mixed with determined purpose.
"Miss Graves," Raze stood from where he'd been sitting. "Thank you for coming on such short notice, circumstances have forced significant changes to our timeline."
"The guard mentioned urgency," Helena said, setting her equipment pack down carefully. "What's happened since we last spoke?"
"The Pope discovered our investigation and sent his personal assassin to eliminate us," Raze explained. "We barely escaped and had to relocate here, which means waiting weeks for standard verification isn't viable anymore, we need to publish tonight or risk not publishing at all."
