I slipped into the research room, hesitating at the threshold. The familiar smell of old books and leather bindings mixed with the subtle electrical hum of modern technology, a perfect metaphor for our entire operation. Milenko sat hunched over the central table, completely lost in his work, surrounded by the recovered documents from the Archives. His silver-streaked hair caught the late afternoon light streaming through the tall windows.

  "Find anything interesting?" I asked, keeping my voice low despite us being the only ones in the room.

  Milenko didn't startle, he barely seemed to register my presence. His fingers traced patterns across yellowed pages, connecting invisible dots that only he could see. The documents were arranged in what looked like random clusters to my untrained eye, but I'd worked with him long enough to know there was meticulous order to his apparent chaos.

  "Fascinating," he murmured, finally acknowledging me with a brief glance. "Simply fascinating."

  I approached the table, careful not to disturb his arrangement. "Care to share with the class?"

  Milenko pointed to Pan?i?'s herbarium notes. "These aren't just botanical observations. Look at these markings, these aren't plant locations at all."

  I leaned closer, squinting at the faded ink. "They look like ordinary field notes to me."

  "That's exactly what they're meant to look like." Excitement quickened his words. "But observe how they correspond with Cviji?'s underground maps." He pulled another document closer, placing it beside the herbarium. "The so-called rare plant locations align perfectly with these underground chambers."

  My interest piqued. "Energy lines?"

  "Precisely." Milenko's eyes gleamed. "And not just any energy lines. These form a pattern I've only read about in theoretical texts. A network that exists parallel to normal magical currents, like, " He paused, searching for the right analogy.

  "Like a shadow network," I offered, remembering his earlier mention.

  "Yes!" Milenko tapped the pages with newfound energy. "These documents together form a partial map of Serbia's shadow network, energy pathways that run beneath the conventional magical currents we typically monitor."

  I studied the arrangements, trying to see what Milenko saw. The historian's excitement was contagious, but something else nagged at me, Ljiljana's worried expression when the shadow network was mentioned earlier.

  "You know," I said, studying the maps more closely, "there were no recorded breaches until now. If they're using these shadow pathways, "

  The door creaked open behind us, and Ljiljana entered carrying a tray with steaming cups of tea. Her hair was pulled back in her usual practical bun, though a few strands had escaped to frame her face.

  "Thought you boys might need something to keep the brain cells firing," she said, setting the tray down on the corner of the table. "Sorry I had to duck out earlier, Goran needed help with those protection protocols for the weekend security detail."

  "Perfect timing," I grinned. "Milenko's just about to explain how we've been chasing shadows, literally."

  "Remember when we first started working together, Aleksandar?" Ljiljana asked, passing me a cup. "You were so skeptical about the whole magical energy concept. Now look at you, discussing networks like an old pro."

  "Well, seeing is believing, and I've seen plenty of, " I stopped mid-sentence, noticing how Ljiljana had frozen, her eyes fixed on the document arrangement.

  The change in her demeanor was subtle but unmistakable. Her hand trembled slightly as she set down the teapot, droplets spilling onto the wooden surface. Her eyes darted from Pan?i?'s herbarium to Cviji?'s maps, and the color drained from her face.

  "You've... aligned them," she whispered.

  Milenko nodded enthusiastically. "I believe they form a partial mapping of the shadow network. These convergence points here and here, " he pointed to several intersections marked on both documents, ", they're not random. They're access points."

  Ljiljana's fingers reached out, hovering over the papers without touching them. She pulled back suddenly, as if they might burn her.

  "These shouldn't be arranged together," she said, her voice unnaturally controlled. "The information is too sensitive to be laid out like this."

  I exchanged a quick glance with Milenko, who looked equally puzzled by her reaction.

  "Ljiljana," I said carefully, "what exactly do you know about the shadow network that's got you so spooked?"

  She began gathering the documents with surprising urgency. "These need to be secured properly. If anyone were to see these patterns together..." She didn't finish her thought, continuing to stack the papers with methodical precision.

  "Ljiljana," Milenko protested, "I was in the middle of analysis, "

  "Analysis can wait," she cut him off, an edge in her voice I rarely heard. "Some knowledge isn't meant to be pieced together so casually."

  I frowned at Ljiljana's reaction, then looked back at Milenko. "What's going on? Why are these documents triggering alarm bells?"

  Milenko sighed, scratching his beard. His earlier excitement had dimmed, replaced by a cautious reluctance that matched Ljiljana's mood.

  "Because I think I've confirmed what I suspected," he said quietly. "These aren't just random historical curiosities, they're fragments linking to 'The Balkan Meridian Society.'"

  The name hung in the air, unfamiliar to me but clearly significant to my colleagues.

  "And that would be...?" I prompted.

  "A secret organization of scholars that operated between 1850 and 1880," Milenko explained, his voice dropping lower as if the walls themselves might be listening. "Prominent Serbian intellectuals, Pan?i?, Dani?i?, ?ujovi?, Petrovi? Alas, Novakovi?. Names we revere in our history books, but what's not taught is how they formed this clandestine group."

  Stolen story; please report.

  Ljiljana had stopped gathering papers, her hands trembling slightly as she leaned against the table.

  "They discovered something revolutionary," Milenko continued. "Magical energy doesn't flow randomly, it follows specific lines that converge at particular points across the Balkans. This network forms a kind of... magical infrastructure."

  I struggled to follow. "So they mapped ley lines? That's hardly groundbreaking."

  "No, no," Milenko shook his head emphatically. "They didn't just map them, they harnessed them. They developed a system to redirect and redistribute magical energy without relying on Book Keepers."

  My gaze darted to Ljiljana, whose knuckles had whitened as she gripped the edge of the table.

  "That's impossible," I said. "Magic has always required Book Keepers to channel and distribute power. That's fundamental."

  "Not for them," Milenko replied. "Their headquarters was hidden beneath Studenica Monastery, with secondary nodes at specific locations across the region, Ostrog, Gra?anica, Plitvice Lakes, Lake Ohrid, ?erdap Gorge. They created a network that could theoretically bypass the entire Book Keeper system."

  "Is this what our hackers were after?" I asked, connecting the dots. "Did they somehow learn about this shadow network and want the knowledge for themselves?"

  Milenko rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It's more than possible. The Society created a master grimoire, they called it the Codex, containing all their revolutionary knowledge. It wasn't just theoretical; it was practical, applicable magic that could reshape how energy is distributed and used."

  "So where is this Codex now?" I asked, my detective instincts kicking into high gear. "And how would our hackers even know about it?"

  "That's where things get complicated," Milenko sighed, reaching for his tea. "During the Serbian-Ottoman Wars between 1876 and 1878, the Society was discovered by multiple opposing forces. Ottoman intelligence, Austrian spies, even rival magical groups, they all wanted the Codex."

  Ljiljana started slowly aligning the papers, her back rigid, listening with an intensity that seemed almost painful.

  "The Society made a desperate decision," Milenko continued. "They split their Codex into fifteen fragments, each encoded differently to prevent unauthorized reassembly. Some used Ancient Slavic runes, others Ottoman magical scripts. There were fragments encoded with Orthodox Christian cryptography, folk magic symbols, and even scientific ciphers. The idea was that no single person or group could understand all the encoding systems."

  I whistled softly. "Fifteen pieces scattered across the Balkans. That's one hell of a puzzle."

  "And here's where it gets relevant to our case," Milenko leaned forward, lowering his voice further. "According to my research, these fragments should have been digitized during Yugoslav cultural preservation projects between the 1960s and 1980s."

  The implications hit me like a bucket of ice water. "You're saying these fragments could be hidden anywhere in the digital archives of state institutions? Just sitting there, waiting for someone who knows what to look for?"

  "Precisely," Milenko nodded gravely. "Now coming back to our documents I firmly believe that this herbarium is one of the fragments. The Pan?i? fragment was likely digitized, or the dummy file was created, during collection cataloging in 1978, and was stored in the Natural Archive database, the very one that was targeted. If I'm right, our hackers aren't just after random historical curiosities. They're hunting for pieces of the Codex. What I still need to discover is whether this is all there is," Milenko waved toward the document, "or if there is something more we can extract by unlocking or decrypting it."

  "And if they get all fifteen fragments?" I asked, already dreading the answer.

  "Then they'll possess knowledge that could potentially bypass the entire Book Keeper system," Milenko replied. "They could redirect magical energy at will, without the traditional constraints."

  I glanced at Ljiljana, who looked as though she'd seen a ghost. "No wonder someone was willing to kill for this."

  "Enough," Ljiljana snapped, her voice cutting through the room like a blade. "I've heard enough of this nonsense."

  I blinked at her sudden transformation. Gone was the motherly tea-server of moments ago, replaced by something far more authoritative, a glimpse of the Book Keeper beneath the grandmotherly exterior.

  "Ljiljana, "

  "No, Aleksandar." She gathered the rest of the papers with swift, practiced movements, stacking them decisively. "This 'Balkan Meridian Society' is nothing but magical urban legend, conspiracy theories passed around by drunk magicians at three in the morning when they've run out of real stories to tell."

  I looked to Milenko, who seemed genuinely surprised by her vehemence. "But the documents, "

  "Are either deliberate misdirection or academic wishful thinking," she countered, already securing the papers in a folder. "You think you're the first to chase these shadows? Every decade, some eager researcher thinks they've found evidence of this mythical shadow network."

  Her eyes met mine, hard as flint now. "Do you know what happened to the last team that went hunting for these so-called 'nodes'? Three dead in a cave collapse near Ostrog, one permanently mind-shattered, and the fifth, " She stopped herself, shaking her head.

  I'd never seen her like this. Ljiljana was our resident grandmother figure, not this fierce guardian.

  "You don't understand what you're playing with," she continued, her voice dropping lower. "If, and that's a massive if, this shadow network ever existed, it represents magic that hasn't been successfully harnessed in centuries. Magic that predates our entire modern understanding of energy manipulation."

  "But if it's just a myth, " I started.

  "Even myths have power," she interrupted. "And some are dangerous enough that just pursuing them attracts attention from entities you don't want noticing you."

  A cold feeling settled in my stomach. Ljiljana wasn't just dismissing this, she was afraid of it.

  "These documents go into secure storage," she said firmly. "We focus on the actual case, finding who stole the files and why. Not chasing fairy tales about magical superhighways that supposedly let anyone bypass Book Keepers."

  The way she said it, a flicker of something in her eyes, made me wonder if that was what truly bothered her. A system that made Book Keepers obsolete would upend the entire magical power structure.

  "This shadow network business," I said carefully, "it threatens your position, doesn't it? As a Book Keeper?"

  Her gaze could have frozen the Danube. "No, Aleksandar. It threatens everything. And that's precisely why it can't be real."

  I watched Ljiljana carefully as she secured the documents, noting how her hands, usually steady as bedrock when handling magical artifacts, trembled slightly. Something about this wasn't adding up.

  "Three dead, one mind-shattered..." I repeated her earlier words. "That doesn't sound like the aftermath of chasing a myth, Ljiljana. That sounds like something very real and very dangerous."

  Her eyes flashed. "All the more reason to leave it alone."

  I glanced at Milenko, who looked torn between academic fascination and genuine concern. The puzzle pieces were clicking together in my head with that familiar snap I'd come to recognize from my detective days.

  "The hackers," I said slowly, the revelation forming as I spoke. "They're not just after random files or even one fragment. I fear they already have some of the pieces."

  Milenko's eyebrows shot up. "What makes you say that?"

  "The surgical precision of the attack. The tools that Trouble mentioned, the ones that worked 'extremely well and fast, nothing similar to regular hacking tools.' The fact that they knew exactly which date to search for in the archives." I started pacing, my mind racing ahead. "These aren't amateurs testing a legend. They're methodically collecting fragments of the Codex."

  "And if they already have other fragments..." Milenko began.

  "Then they'd know exactly what to look for and where," I finished. "The pattern and timing of the attacks, the professional hit squad that cleaned up afterward, this isn't some hacktivist group pushing a political agenda. This is a coordinated effort to reassemble something powerful enough that people are willing to kill for it."

  I stopped pacing and faced them both. "We need to tell Goran first thing Monday morning. This isn't just about data theft anymore, it's about someone potentially breaking the fundamental rules of magic."

  Ljiljana clutched the folder to her chest like a shield. "You have no proof."

  "No, but we have enough circumstantial evidence to warrant further investigation," I countered. "And if I'm right, the next attack won't be digital. They'll come for the physical documents when they realize their downloaded files are useless."

  Milenko nodded slowly. "Aleksandar's right. We need to brief Goran."

  Ljiljana's lips thinned to a tight line. "Fine," she relented, though everything in her posture screamed reluctance. "But this stays strictly within our team until we have something more concrete."

  I didn't say what I was thinking, that it might already be too late for secrecy. If someone was hunting Codex fragments, we weren't just investigating a case anymore.

  We were already in the middle of it.