Descending is, if anything, worse than ascending — Alex has to navigate the missing step in reverse, which requires a kind of faith he hasn't exercised since booking this trip. They make it down with only one suppressed noise of alarm (his) and one crisp annotation in the guidebook (hers: "Bell tower: sealed WRONG, stairs: lethal RIGHT"). Back in the chapel, Vesna has not moved. She is mopping a patch of floor that was already clean, with the focused energy of someone who considers momentum a moral position. She does not look up. "You found the room," she says. It is not a question. Alex and Mira exchange a glance. "Yes," says Mira carefully. "What is it?" Vesna sets the mop aside. She picks up the contract from the front pew and holds it with both hands like she is presenting evidence. "First," she says, "tell me what you saw. Then I will tell you why it should not exist."