Mercy's Crown

<p>Some nights don't want to be survived.</p><p>Christmas Eve is one of them.</p><p></p><p>Rowan Mercer didn't come to the cemetery Looking for answers.</p><p>But the tunnels beneath it have been waiting for her - patiently hungrily and far longer than she realizes.</p><p></p><p>When a brutal winter storm traps her underground the old catacombs begin to twist around her. The lantern in her hand pulses like a living thing. Memories slip. The walls breathe. And a stranger named Trevor appears in the dark warm-voiced and impossible following her with familiarity they shouldn't trust.</p><p></p><p>He calls himself a guide.</p><p>The catacombs call her something else.</p><p></p><p>Rowan can feel it every time the lantern flares - every time the shadows bend toward her every time the night folds in on itself:</p><p>Something down her wants her.</p><p>Something ancient.</p><p>Something choosing her by name.</p><p></p><p>And before dawn Rowan will either become its answer...or its offering.</p>