Chapter 7 When Shadows Remember

The storm had followed us into the mountains.

It wasn't just weather anymore it was something older, something aware. The kind of storm that didn't pass but pressed its will on the land and listened for a reason to strike. Rain lashed the cliffs. Trees whispered secrets in the wind. My coat clung to my skin like a second layer of regret.

Kade walked ahead of me, silent but alert. Even soaked and scowling, he moved like the storm belonged to him. Every step he took said, "Follow me, or fall behind." And I hated that I did. That I couldn't stop looking at his back and feeling both safe and ruined.

"Are you sure it's this way?" I called, raising my voice over the roar of the wind.

His head turned just enough to let me glimpse the sharp angle of his jaw. "I've tracked Lira before, remember?"

Yeah. I remembered.

I remembered him holding her broken body in the woods.

I remembered thinking he would choose her.

I remembered the look in his eyes when he didn't.

We hiked in silence for a while, the only sound the squish of our boots in the mud and the distant growl of thunder. The forest was darker here denser, older. The kind of dark that didn't care if you had fire or faith. It would swallow you either way.

My thoughts kept circling the same truth, like a moth flirting with flame. Lira had broken the bond. Not just the twin bond, but something deeper. A soul-echo. A tether I didn't know could be cut until it was gone. And the hole she left behind wasn't empty it was alive. Pulsing. Twisting. Waiting.

"She's heading to the Vale," Kade said finally. "Where the veil between worlds is thin."

"Why?" My voice cracked. "Why would she go there?"

He stopped and turned to face me. His hair was plastered to his face. His eyes were darker than I'd ever seen.

"Because if she opens it," he said quietly, "she doesn't need a bond. She becomes something else."

I swallowed hard. "Something worse."

He nodded.

The wind picked up again, slapping us with cold rain.

"I don't understand," I whispered. "She was good, Kade. She was the kind one. The one who believed in love and healing and second chances."

"Maybe she still does."

"What the hell does that mean?"

He stepped closer. Close enough to see the flicker of something haunted behind his eyes.

"Maybe this is her second chance. Just not the one you wanted."

I didn't have an answer for that. Not one that wouldn't break me.

We found a cabin by nightfall barely more than a shack tucked against the curve of the mountain. Its walls were split and mossy. The door hung crooked. But there was a hearth. And for now, that was enough.

Kade got a fire going while I peeled off my soaked clothes and wrapped myself in one of the scratchy blankets we found. I sat on the floor, legs tucked under me, watching the flames twist and spit.

Kade didn't sit. He stood at the window, scanning the trees.

"She's close," he muttered. "I can feel her."

"So can I," I said. "But it's not... her. Not anymore."

He turned, eyes flashing. "Then what is it?"

I didn't know how to explain it. It wasn't just grief. Or betrayal. It was like someone else was inside me digging through memories that weren't mine, whispering truths I didn't want.

"She's not alone," I whispered.

The wind moaned outside. The fire cracked. And somewhere beyond the trees, something laughed. Not with joy. But with hunger.

The dreams came fast.

One moment I was lying on the floor, half-asleep. Next, I was in a garden that bled. The roses were black, their petals soaked in crimson. Lira stood beneath an archway of thorns. Her dress shimmered like spilled ink.

"You left me," she said.

"No. You walked away."

"You let me."

I stepped forward. The ground pulsed under my feet. "Why are you doing this?"

She smiled. Not sweet. Not cruel. Just... empty.

"I'm not the monster," she said. "You are."

The thorns writhed. The roses screamed. And I woke up gasping, sweat freezing on my skin.

Kade knelt beside me, his hand gripping my shoulder. "You okay?"

I stared at the fire, now dim. "She's inside my head."

He nodded slowly. "She's inside mine, too."

We left the next morning.

The path twisted like a riddle, all roots and cliffs and whispers. The air got colder. The shadows grew longer. And the trees... the trees started looking back.

"You hear that?" I asked.

Kade stopped. His head tilted.

"Whispers."

"Not whispers," he said. "Chanting."

We crept forward until we saw the figures cloaked in grey, circling a fire. Their hands moved in rhythm. Their mouths repeated words that scraped at the bones of the world.

"She's using them," Kade breathed. "Blood callers."

I took a step, ready to charge. But he grabbed my wrist.

"Wait. Watch."

Then I saw her.

Lira. Standing at the center. Eyes glowing. Skin pale as frost. And around her neck our mother's pendant. The one she was buried with.

"Oh my God," I choked.

And then Lira looked up.

Straight at me.

The world tilted. The trees screamed. And I felt her inside me again this time not whispering, but demanding.

"Come," she said in my mind. "Come and see what I've become."

We ran.

But not away.

Toward her.

Toward the fire.

Toward whatever came next.

We didn't make it.

The ground split open beneath us cracked like a mouth unhinging. I screamed as I fell, Kade's hand slipping from mine.

Darkness swallowed everything.

When I hit bottom, I didn't move.

Didn't breathe.

Didn't think so.

Until I heard her voice again.

But this time, it wasn't in my head.

It was behind me.

"I was hoping you'd fall," Lira said, voice soft. "It's easier to break you when you're already broken."