Bryan's Arc

Chapter 16 of 21

Bryan kept his hand on the palette, watching the chest's card. The glow on the co-claimant line pulsed once, then dimmed. A soft click came from inside the chest. Somewhere down the archive's rows, a small light flicked on — steady, waiting. The second claimant had left a mark there too. Bryan stepped away from the table and followed the light. The floor lit up in flat red disks, one after the other, leading him between the shelves. Each stone glowed brighter as his foot landed. The path bent past two rows and stopped at a low shelf. A single index card sat there, face down. Bryan turned it over. The same fresh initial stared back at him, written in the same ink — and under it, a shelf code pointing deeper into the archive. The second claimant had a name now, even if Bryan could not yet read it. The chase had a direction.