Run: 2026-02-19-01KHTRJ9VGMV3MZ5QX7NQR4DX1

Detective Harlow Quinn crouched beside the chalk outline, her knees cracking in protest. The abandoned Tube platform stretched into darkness, its ceramic tiles reflecting the harsh police spotlights. Three hours ago, this had been the bustling Veil Market. Now it was a crime scene. "Cause of death appears to be blunt force trauma." The forensics tech gestured to the blood spatter on the platform edge. "Victim struck their head during a robbery gone wrong. Simple as that." Quinn's fingers brushed her worn leather watch, a habit formed over eighteen years on the force. The blood pattern was wrong. Too deliberate, too artful. Like someone had painted it there. "Simple isn't the word I'd use." She stood, scanning the platform with narrowed eyes. "Where's the victim's belongings? Most muggers don't take everything." "Actually..." Eva Kowalski emerged from behind a evidence tent, her round glasses glinting in the spotlights. The museum researcher tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. "That's not entirely accurate. I've been cataloging reported thefts in the area. There's been a pattern of victims being stripped of all possessions." Quinn's jaw tightened. "Ms. Kowalski. This is an active crime scene. How did you get past the cordon?" "I have clearance from Inspector Chen." Eva clutched her leather satchel closer. "He thought my expertise might be useful, given the... unusual circumstances." "Unusual doesn't begin to cover it." Quinn paced the platform edge, boots crunching on broken glass. The victim's blood formed perfect concentric circles, like ripples in a pond. No impact spatter, no cast-off pattern. "This isn't just wrong, it's impossible." "Unless you consider a different explanation." Eva pulled a small brass compass from her satchel. Its face was etched with strange symbols, the metal worn with a green patina. The needle spun wildly before settling on a point behind the platform wall. Quinn's hand instinctively moved to her service weapon. "What is that?" "A tool for finding what others miss." Eva held the compass flat. "The blood pattern? It's not random. It's a sigil - a kind of magical symbol. Someone's trying to open something." "Magic?" Quinn barked out a laugh, but it held no humor. The scene before her brought back flashes of that night three years ago. Morris's face, contorted in terror. The impossible angles of his body. The symbols burned into the floor. "There's no such thing." "Then how do you explain this?" Eva pointed to the wall where the compass needle aimed. Beneath decades of grime, faint lines emerged - the same concentric circles as the blood pattern, etched into the tile. Quinn's training warred with her instincts. The evidence didn't fit any rational explanation, but accepting the alternative meant confronting what really happened to Morris. "Even if I believed you - and I'm not saying I do - what's the connection to our victim?" "The Veil Market isn't just a black market." Eva's voice dropped to a whisper. "It's a gateway between worlds. Someone's trying to force it open permanently. Your victim? They were just raw materials." Quinn's watch ticked loudly in the silence that followed. The sound echoed off the curved tunnel walls, mixing with the drip of water and the hum of generators. She thought of Morris, of all the cases that didn't add up over the years. Of evidence that vanished and witnesses who changed their stories. "Show me everything you know about these symbols." Quinn pulled out her notebook. "And Ms. Kowalski? If you're playing me, you'll wish you'd never heard of the Metropolitan Police." "I'm not playing you, Detective." Eva's fingers trembled as she opened her satchel. "I'm trying to prevent what happened three years ago from happening again." Quinn's head snapped up. "What do you know about that?" "Enough to know your partner didn't die by accident." Eva spread several ancient texts across the platform. "And enough to know we don't have much time before they try again." The spotlights flickered, casting strange shadows across the blood sigil. In the darkness, Quinn could have sworn she saw the circles begin to pulse with an inner light.