The silence hung heavy over the Watchers as they arrived at the townhouse with the first glimmers of a wet dawn. There were only so many failures a person could take before it got to them. At least Avian had made away with a non-fatal graze of a bullet. It could've been a lot worse.

And yet, Harper felt like she'd come back with an organ missing. Whatever that thing was that pumped in her chest seemed to have shut off. She'd given up on trying to talk to Declan. Not that he could help her. There was only one person who could help her make sense of things and know what to do.

She needed to talk to Gerard.

He always knew how to make things better, or at least give her a different, less fatalistic perspective.

As she shrugged her muddy and torn up coat by the door, she couldn't help but doubt, for the first time in her life, that he really could make it better.

How could anyone make this better?

Where did she even start unraveling what she'd seen with her own eyes? Theo, alive. Not just alive, but working for Crispin.

None of it made any sense.

She'd seen him die. She'd seen him alive.

Low murmurs sounded from somewhere down the hall, and shortly after the front door had closed behind Wick, Leonie made an appearance. Her face solemn, Leonie strode between them and found Declan, hugging him without a word. For the first time in what felt like ages, he met Harper's eyes over Leonie's shoulder with a look of complete confusion. Harper was as lost as he was. Leonie pulled back, her eyes glistening. "I'm so, so sorry."

Something in Leonie's voice made Declan grab her firmly. He searched her gaze looking for an answer she couldn't verbalize.

A horrible foreboding snaked through them, wrapping its tentacles around each Watcher. Harper felt her throat close up before Leonie said the words.

"Your father passed away this morning, Declan."

The floor rushed to meet Harper, and she held onto something—someone—to stay upright. She watched Declan run down the hall and make a left towards Gerard's bedroom. Avian was a split-second behind him, and Harper rose and followed shortly thereafter. She felt like she was walking on a plank over a restless sea, her legs wobbling with each step.

No. How. Not possible.

Someone had made the bed around Gerard so that it looked like he was resting. A blanket covered his brittle form, its sienna shade only sharpening the contrast with the parchment of his wrinkled, lifeless hands peeking from his blue pajamas. Harper had never seen his face so peaceful. Those ever-frowning eyebrows that seemed to have a life on their own had settled above his eyes like fluffs of snow.

Declan crouched next to the bed and gingerly took his father's hand in his. He closed his eyes and touched his forehead to it. He was squeezing his jaw so hard, Harper thought she could hear his molars grind. A shudder passed through all who stood in the room. Someone had left the window open.

Harper rubbed her arms, wishing she'd left her coat on. She watched the curtain billowing above the bed, a white veil waving in goodbye. A glass of water sat empty on the nightstand. She tried to look anywhere but at Gerard. She couldn't bare to see him like this.

A whimper came from somewhere, and it took Harper a moment to recognize it came from deep inside her. She leaned onto Avian who, wrapping his arm around her, shook in his own soundless grief. There were people around them, but Harper couldn't see or hear them. There was only Avian, holding her up, and Declan, whose entire body was a ball of agony. No one dared to approach him. Wick had withdrawn into a corner and folder into himself, arms crossed and face as unreadable as ever. His eyes shone behind his glasses.

Harper couldn't believe it.

Gerard was gone.

The man who'd taken her in, who'd given her shelter. The one who'd pulled her through her darkest moments. Saved her life more than once. The one who'd literally beat her with a stick when she was not using her head. The only person who could help her make sense of the world.

Gone.

Fallen asleep, never to wake up.

At least he'd died in peace.

She hoped he had dreamed of something nice. Or nothing at all.

Harper had never been one to believe in an afterlife, being a Researcher at heart, but she sent a silent prayer up into the universe. If there was such a thing as a world beyond this where spirits went, she hoped he would be reunited with his darling daughter, Rebecca.

Leonie was the first to break the vigil. "Declan, I am so sorry to say this right now, but there is some bad news." She waited for him to respond. When he showed no sign of moving, she continued. "Declan, the safe house on the south side was, eh...ransack? Someone broke in."

Declan finally looked up.

Gerard had shared the location of the Order's artifact trove with exactly four people: his two children, one of whom was dead, and two others whom he loved like his second son and daughter.

The artifact trove of the Watchers may not have been a match to that of Ra, but having it fall into the Society's hands would be devastating, and that safe house was dangerously close to the trove's location. One of the last Watcher posts safeguarding it.

Harper and Avian exchanged a glance with each other and with Declan.

Squaring his shoulders, Declan gently lowered his father's hand onto the bed and rose to his height. He kept staring down, as if afraid he would wake Gerard. Or perhaps he was afraid of acknowledging there was no waking him up.

Gerard was gone.

When it looked like Declan's legs had locked into place, Avian placed a hand on his shoulder. "You are the head of the Watcher's Order now. You need to protect his legacy."

Declan's nostrils flared as he took shallow inhales and slow exhales. His gaze had yet to leave his father.

Leonie reached out to him. He flinched at her touch, and she quickly withdrew her hand. "We will take care of your papa," she said, teary-eyed. She glanced down at Gerard's still form and quickly looked away, adding with a whisper, "it is the least I can do."

"Brother?" Avian prompted. He hadn't called him that in a long time. It warmed Harper's heart to know that even though Declan has lost his whole family, he would always have a brother in Avian.

Declan cleared his throat and turned to Avian, speaking with a trembling voice. "Get Bernie and Marissa on the phone. They'll know what to do."

Avian grabbed a hold of him and half-led, half-pushed him out of the bedroom. "Come on."

It was only when Wick appeared at Harper's side that she noticed the room had emptied. She looked down to see her white knuckles clutching the footboard of the bed where she stood.

"Come with me," said Wick quietly.

Harper glanced at the door where Leonie hovered a moment longer before vanishing. "Where?" asked Harper.

"You'll need your coat," he replied and strode out.

"Wick," she followed him down the hall, aghast at his indifference. Gerard had just died, and he thought she was going somewhere with him? "Wick, this is not the time—"

"Yer gonna wanna be there."

"Wick," she called after him, her lips trembling. "I don't know what this is, but I don't see how anything could be more important than being here right now. He's dead," she said, her voice breaking. "And Declan. Oh, God, Declan..."

Wick held her gaze for a moment, then held out her coat. His insistence was enough to break through the grief. Briefly, but long enough to allow clarity of logic to flow through.

There was only one reason Wick would insist she leave Declan right now.

She could almost hear Wick's voice in her head.

There's nothing you can do for Declan right now, Gerard will still be dead when we come back. But you can go and get answers.

Or was that Gerard's voice speaking to her?

A shiver ran through her.

She shrugged her coat back on, the raggedness of it an outward reflection of her soul this very minute.

She hoped it wasn't what she thought it was, even though her Researcher's mind had already connected the dots.