The warehouse was cold, its shadows pressing in around us like they were listening. My flashlight skimmed over the crates again, lingering on the symbols carved into the wood. Every instinct I had was screaming for answers, but all Evelyn had given us so far was a bunch of cryptic warnings.

  “This isn’t adding up,” I said, breaking the silence. My voice echoed faintly, sharp against the stillness.

  Evelyn, pacing near the far wall, froze for half a second before turning toward me. “I’ve already explained—”

  “No, you haven’t,” I cut in, my tone hard. “You’ve danced around it. You’ve said just enough to keep us moving, but you haven’t told us the whole story. Not once. So, I’m asking you—no, I’m telling you—start talking. What is the Vault? What’s inside it? And why the hell are we risking our lives for this?”

  Evelyn’s jaw tightened, her green eyes flashing in the dim light. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me,” I shot back.

  Carter let out a sharp laugh, stepping away from the wall where he’d been leaning. “Oh, this should be good. Go on, Evelyn. Enlighten us. Because right now, it sounds like we’re playing errand boys for a Keeper fairy tale.”

  Her grip on her knife tightened, but she didn’t respond.

  “Let me guess,” Carter continued, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “The Vault is a magical box full of forbidden knowledge, and if we so much as sneeze in its direction, the world goes up in flames. Is that about right?”

  “Shut up, Carter,” Evelyn snapped, her voice low and angry.

  I stepped closer to her, crossing my arms. “No. Let him talk. Because for once, he’s making sense. You keep warning us how dangerous the Vault is, how we can’t open the crates, how the Keepers are the only ones who can handle it—but you haven’t given us one real reason to believe you.”

  “I don’t need you to believe me,” Evelyn said coldly.

  “Yes, you do,” I said, my voice rising. “If you want us to follow you—if you want us to trust you—you need to stop treating us like pawns in your little Keeper game and start acting like a leader. So, I’ll ask again: what is the Vault? And don’t give me any more half-baked Keeper nonsense. Tell me the truth.”

  I felt my pulse pounding in my ears as Caleb stared me down, his dark eyes sharp with frustration. Carter, smirking like this was all some kind of joke, leaned back casually, but there was nothing casual about the way his hand hovered near his gun. Even Luca, who had barely said a word, was watching me with quiet intensity.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  They didn’t understand. How could they? The Vault wasn’t just a secret. It was responsibility, history, power. It was everything the Keepers had fought to protect for centuries.

  But Caleb’s gaze didn’t waver, and Carter’s smirk felt more like a challenge than amusement. They weren’t going to let this go.

  “You want the truth?” I said finally, my voice hard. “Fine. Here it is.”

  I stepped closer to the crate, my fingers brushing against the symbols carved into the wood. “The Vault isn’t just one thing. It’s a collection. A network. Pieces of ancient knowledge, scattered across the world and hidden away to keep them out of the wrong hands. The Keepers were formed to protect it—to make sure it didn’t destroy us.”

  “Ancient knowledge,” Caleb repeated, his tone flat. “That’s what this is about? Books and artifacts?”

  “It’s not just books,” I snapped. “It’s power. Ideas. Technology. Secrets that could destroy everything if they fell into the wrong hands. Do you know what happened the last time someone tried to unlock the Vault?”

  I didn’t wait for an answer. “Empires fell. Civilizations collapsed. Entire cities wiped out—not by weapons, but by the knowledge itself. The truth the Vault holds isn’t just dangerous—it’s catastrophic. That’s why the Keepers exist. That’s why we protect it.”

  Her words hung heavy in the air, but they didn’t convince me. Not yet.

  “So what’s in these crates?” I asked, nodding toward them. “More pieces of that truth? More knowledge you think we can’t handle?”

  Evelyn hesitated, and that hesitation told me everything I needed to know.

  “That’s what I thought,” I said, stepping closer to the crate. “You’re asking us to risk everything for a cause you can’t control. For something you don’t even trust us to understand.”

  “You think I want this?” Evelyn snapped, spinning toward me. “You think I want to carry this? I didn’t ask for this, Caleb. I didn’t ask to be exiled, to lose everything I had, to spend my life running from people who want me dead. But I don’t have a choice. And neither do you.”

  Carter let out a sharp laugh, breaking the tension. “Oh, give me a break. You don’t have a choice? We don’t have a choice? Newsflash, Evelyn: we’re not your soldiers. We’re not your Keeper lackeys. We’re here because we want answers—and right now, you’re not giving us any.”

  Luca cleared his throat, his voice quieter but no less cutting. “He’s got a point. If you don’t trust us enough to tell us what we’re dealing with, why should we trust you?”

  Evelyn’s grip on her knife tightened, her knuckles white. “You don’t have to trust me. But if you don’t, you’re going to get yourselves killed. Or worse.”

  I clenched my jaw, my frustration boiling over. “You still don’t get it, do you? We’re already risking our lives for you. Every step we take, every move we make—we’re trusting you. But you can’t even give us the courtesy of telling us why.”

  “This isn’t about courtesy,” Evelyn shot back. “This is about survival.”

  “And if we don’t know what we’re surviving, what’s the point?” I said, stepping even closer. “You think we’re just going to follow you blindly? You think I’m going to follow you blindly?”

  Her eyes locked on mine, blazing with anger, but I didn’t flinch.

  “Enough,” Carter said sharply, his voice cutting through the tension. “We’re not moving another inch until we know what we’re up against. So, Evelyn, you’ve got two options: you either tell us everything, or we start opening these crates and figure it out ourselves.”