Chapter Nine
Beneath the Stillness
The water was still.
Too still.
Amelia stood at the edge of Crescent Hollow Lake—barefoot, the pendant warm against her skin, Kaia and Marah watching from a distance. The moon hung heavy above her, its light turning the surface silver.
"This is where it began," Kaia said softly. "And if you listen closely, it'll tell you where it ends."
Amelia's heart pounded. "What happens when I go in?"
"You won't walk through water," Marah said. "You'll walk through memory. But it will feel real. It will feel... like it wants to keep you."
Amelia took a breath, closing her eyes.
Elvira. I'm coming.
She stepped into the lake.
⸻
The water didn't resist her.
It pulled her in gently, like a mother's hand—cool, then warm, then—
Nothing.
And then—
Everything.
She opened her eyes.
She stood in a version of Crescent Hollow, but not the one she knew. The sky was twilight, frozen in a mix of purples and deep blues. The buildings shimmered with light that pulsed like breath. Reflections walked the streets—transparent, glowing people made of liquid glass, acting out scenes that felt pulled from someone else's life.
Memories.
She took a step forward.
A child with wild black curls ran past her—her younger self. Behind her, a woman laughed softly.
"Elvira," Amelia whispered.
She turned—and there her mother was.
Not a vision. Not a ghost. But flesh. Solid. Real.
"Elvira?" Amelia ran forward, but the space between them stretched, like time was trying to keep them apart.
Elvira raised her hand, palm open. "You came."
"Of course I did!" Amelia choked. "I saw you—in the mirror. I saw you kiss Dad. I saw you vanish."
Elvira's face flickered. "This realm is made of echoes. What you saw... was real. But remembered."
Amelia's throat tightened. "Why did you leave me?"
Tears formed in Elvira's eyes. "To save you. I made the lake a deal it couldn't refuse. My life, for your future. But it didn't want to let me go entirely. So it trapped me here."
She glanced around. "This place is a cage made of love and water. And now it's breaking."
Amelia's hands balled into fists. "Then let's break it open and get out."
Elvira smiled sadly. "It's not that simple. For me to leave, the lake must take something else."
"No!" Amelia stepped closer. "Take me with you then!"
But Elvira's form already began to blur. The lake wouldn't let her stay long.
"Elvira!" Amelia shouted.
Her mother's last words echoed through the realm as her image faded:
"Find the girl with the mirrored eyes.
She holds the key I couldn't."
⸻
Amelia gasped and broke the surface of the real lake—soaked, coughing, the pendant searing against her chest.
Kaia and Marah ran to her.
"What did you see?" Kaia asked, kneeling beside her.
"My mom," Amelia whispered. "She's alive. But she's not free."
"And the key?" Marah asked.
Amelia's eyes locked on Kaia.
Not just because she was the newest mystery.
But because, in the moonlight—
Her eyes shimmered like mirrors.
Amelia sat on the bank, shivering beneath the blanket Marah had thrown over her. Her thoughts were loud—Elvira's voice, the memories, the shimmer of that surreal world. But louder than all of it was the image of Kaia's eyes under the moonlight: silver, reflective, deep like still water.
"Kaia," she said, her voice low. "Your eyes. They... mirror things."
Kaia paused mid-step.
Marah's head turned sharply.
"What does that mean?" Amelia asked.
Kaia didn't answer right away. Instead, she knelt beside the lake and touched the surface with two fingers. The water rippled—but only around her touch. It bent in perfect circles, like it recognized her.
"I wasn't lying when I said I was born from both worlds," Kaia finally said. "But I didn't tell you everything."
Amelia narrowed her eyes. "What didn't you tell me?"
Kaia looked over her shoulder. "I wasn't just born on the other side. I was made. Crafted from water and memory. My mother was a Watcher. My father... he was a Seer, like you."
Marah drew in a sharp breath.
"So you're not fully human?" Amelia asked.
Kaia shook her head. "I'm a vessel. A living key."
Amelia's heart pounded. "You hold the key my mother couldn't."
"I think she gave it to me," Kaia said. "Before she was sealed. Her last act in the lake was binding her knowledge—her Sight—into something the gate couldn't destroy."
"And that's you?" Marah asked, still tense.
Kaia nodded. "But I've never been able to access the full power inside me. It's locked. And the only one who can unlock it..." she looked at Amelia, "is you."
Amelia stared at her, stunned. "Me?"
Kaia stepped closer. "You're the heir of the Reflection Line. You're the only one who can awaken what Elvira left inside me."
"And then what happens?" Marah asked, cautious. "What does unlocking you do?"
Kaia turned back to the water. "It opens the path to the Gate of Eyes. Where your mother is trapped."
The pendant around Amelia's neck pulsed again—strong, hot.
She looked at Kaia and knew this was no longer just a mission to understand her powers. It was a choice.
One that could free her mother.
Or destroy the seal holding everything else back.
"Then let's unlock it," Amelia said, standing.
Kaia held out her hand.
And when Amelia took it, the lake roared—a deep, ancient sound, as if something far beneath the surface had just awakened.