“What the hell is that?” Allison lurched to his feet. “Why is it making noise?”

“It’s still active!” Dad barked. “Get it into the fire—now!”

No one moved and the light died for no reason.

Moonlight vanished from the windows as if something had reached in and crushed it, plunging the mansion into a thick, suffocating dark. Silence followed unnatural, absolute.

Then the vial pulsed.

A weak, silvery glow throbbed from the fractured glass, slow and deliberate. Watching it felt wrong, like being watched back.

The air thickened. We choked in unison, coughing hard, lungs burning as if the darkness itself had weight.

My father went still but his face...