The air in the office thickened, as if the Bureau itself was holding its breath. Trench kept his gaze locked on Emily, reading every twitch of her expression, every flicker of something unnatural behind her eyes. Darling, ever the scientist, fumbled for his pocket recorder and hit record without looking away.

"Who's already here, Emily?" Trench asked, his voice even but edged with tension.

Emily didn't blink. "They don't have names. Not yet. But they're watching."

Darling exhaled sharply, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Watching from where? The Astral Plane? Somewhere else?"

Emily tilted her head slightly, like she was listening to something only she could hear. "Not the Astral Plane. They've found another way in. A crack in the walls. A door that was left open."

Trench's mind snapped to the expedition. To the entity that had tried to take her. Had they unknowingly let something through?

He exchanged a look with Darling, who was already shaking his head, muttering to himself. "No, no, that shouldn't be possible. We stabilize every Control Point, lock down residual energy signatures. There's no way—"

"There is now," Emily interrupted. She swayed slightly on her feet, her breath shallow. "They showed me."

Darling shot forward, grabbing her by the shoulders. "What did they show you?"

Her eyes focused on his, and for the briefest moment, there was something else behind them. Something vast and endless, staring back.

Then she gasped, like she'd broken through the surface of deep water. "The Bureau isn't safe. We aren't safe."

A sudden, sharp noise echoed from the hallway outside the office—a warping crack, like the sound of space itself tearing. Trench had his gun in his hand before he even registered the movement, his instincts screaming a warning.

Darling paled. "That came from the Control Room."

Trench moved first. "We need to see what the hell just came through."

Emily stood frozen for a moment, her fingers twitching. Then she whispered, more to herself than to them, "They're here."

And then the lights flickered, and the alarms started screaming.