Chapter 3 The Edge of Truth

The path to the clifftop was narrower than Joanne remembered from the map. Overgrown brambles snagged at her jeans, and the salty wind tangled her hair as if trying to pull her backward. Each step forward felt heavier, not from the climb, but from the weight of the unknown waiting at the top.

Victoria stretched behind her in silence, still veiled in a gray morning haze. The town seemed to hold its breath, as if even the seagulls knew something important was about to unfold.

Kennedy was already there when she arrived.

He stood at the very edge, hands in his coat pockets, staring out at the jagged coastline below. His silhouette was sharp against the backdrop of churning waves and pale sky. For a moment, Joanne didn't move. She just watched him - watched the way the wind curled around him like an old friend. He looked like a man who belonged to the sea more than the land.

When he turned, his expression was unreadable. "You came."

"I said I would."

A ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I wasn't sure."

Joanne stepped closer, but not too close. "Why here?"

He glanced behind her, scanning the horizon as if confirming they were alone. Then he looked back out toward the ocean. "Because this is where the truth starts."

She raised an eyebrow. "That sounds ominous."

"It should."

He sat down on a large, flat rock, motioning for her to do the same. Joanne hesitated, then followed. The wind up here was colder, sharper. The kind that made your bones remember things you'd rather forget.

Kennedy didn't speak for a while. He rubbed his hands together like he was trying to warm a memory into life.

"When I left," he said finally, "it wasn't because I wanted to. It was because I had no choice."

Joanne crossed her arms. "You said that before. Still doesn't explain anything."

"I was seventeen," he said, voice low. "And stupid. I got involved with something I didn't understand. People I thought I could trust. Turns out, they were using me. Tracking me."

"For what?"

"For what I could hide," he said. "Not what I knew."

Joanne blinked. "What does that even mean?"

He turned toward her, and for the first time, his eyes weren't guarded. "Jo, my family wasn't from here. They were from somewhere... older. My dad, he used to say there were places in the world that don't exist unless you need them to. Victoria's one of them."

Joanne stared at him, trying to read between the lines. "Are you telling me Victoria is... hidden?"

"Not hidden," he said. "Protected."

"Protected from what?"

Kennedy looked away again. "From people who want to rewrite the truth. From what happened back then. From what I became."

Joanne felt a chill crawl down her spine. "You're not making sense."

"I know," he said softly. "But you need to trust me when I say, I left to keep you safe. If they knew you mattered to me..."

Joanne's heart skipped. "They who?"

Kennedy didn't answer. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small object - a tiny, weathered compass. He held it out to her.

She took it carefully. It was warm, like it had been held for hours.

"This compass only works in Victoria," he said. "Anywhere else, it spins uselessly."

Joanne tilted it slightly. The needle pointed firmly north, unwavering. She frowned. "Why?"

"Because it's not tracking magnetic fields. It's tracking truth."

She looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Kennedy..."

"I told you this place isn't what it seems," he said. "There are rules here. Old ones. And there are people who'd rather keep them buried. If you're here... you're part of it now."

Joanne clutched the compass. "I don't understand."

"You will," he said. "But you need to know something first."

She waited.

"There's a reason I couldn't come back. A reason I didn't call."

She nodded slowly. "Okay."

"There's a reason," he continued, his voice tightening, "why I didn't know I left someone behind."

Joanne's breath caught in her throat.

"What do you mean?"

He turned to her, and his eyes were glassy - not with tears, but with the weight of something that had haunted him far longer than she'd guessed.

"You were pregnant, weren't you?"

The words hit her like a blow.

Joanne didn't respond right away. Her throat closed. Her fingers clenched around the compass. And then, slowly, she nodded.

"Yes."

Kennedy's jaw tightened. He looked away, and for a long time, he didn't speak. When he did, it was almost a whisper.

"Was it... a boy or a girl?"

"Both," Joanne said, her voice a breath. "Twins."

Kennedy froze. His entire body went still, the only movement the twitch in his jaw. "Both?"

She nodded. "Two beautiful babies. Lila and Jonah."

He didn't speak.

"One of them's gone," she added quietly, her throat tightening around the words. "Jonah. He didn't make it."

Kennedy blinked hard. "Jo..."

"I blamed you," she said. "For leaving. For never coming back. I kept thinking... maybe if you were there, maybe if we had done this together-"

"I would've been there," he said fiercely. "If I had known."

Joanne shook her head, tears threatening now. "But you weren't. And now... Lila is all I have left. She's five, Kennedy. She looks just like you."

He ran both hands over his face and let out a breath like the wind had been knocked out of him.

"I want to meet her," he said.

"I don't know if I want that."

His eyes locked on hers. "Then tell me what I have to do."

She stared at him, torn between everything she had lost and everything she still wanted to believe in.

"Start by telling me everything," she said. "No more riddles. No more half-truths. You owe me that much."

Kennedy looked out over the sea again. "Alright."

Then, quietly: "But you need to be ready. Because what I'm going to tell you... will change everything you thought you knew about this place. And about me."