The next morning, the town was quiet.
No one had heard the bell. No one had seen the lights that danced above the tower in the night. But Elior, Maren, Noah, and Vianna knew what they'd witnessed.
And now… they were four.
Rin was gone.
Vianna was still shaken. Her voice, newly returned, cracked when she spoke. She stayed close to Maren, afraid to sleep, afraid the silence might steal her voice again.
Elior unfolded the newest letter again.
> "Four locks undone.
Three remain.
The Warden waits for the final call.
The next gate lies beneath the water.
Find the drowned.
Find the fifth."
"I think I know where to go," Noah said.
They turned to him.
"There's a lake," he said. "Near the edge of the forest. Hidden. It's not on any current map. They called it Lake Remera a long time ago. But in the older records… it had another name."
Elior narrowed his eyes. "What name?"
Noah hesitated. "The Mirror That Forgot."
---
They left just before sunset, the woods casting long shadows as they drove past the edge of Greyhollow's last street sign.
The trees thickened, branches twisting like fingers.
Vianna clutched her coat tighter. "I remember this place. I was brought here once… when I was little. I saw a girl standing in the lake."
Elior glanced at her. "Alive?"
"No. She had no eyes."
The path narrowed until they couldn't drive any further. They got out and walked the rest of the way—into a silence deeper than death.
And then… they saw it.
Lake Remera.
Still. Black. Reflecting no stars.
No wind touched its surface. No sound. No birds. No frogs. No insects.
It was a mirror of pure oblivion.
Maren took a slow step forward. "This place feels like… nothing ever leaves here."
Noah nodded. "Because it doesn't."
---
They found the dock—rotting, nearly collapsed.
At the end of it sat a small wooden boat, perfectly preserved.
A note carved into the wood:
> "Row if you dare.
But the water knows your name."
Elior climbed in first.
The others followed.
The moment Vianna set foot inside, the boat began to drift without a single push.
They moved slowly, gliding over a lake that reflected none of them.
Then the water began to whisper.
Words bubbled from beneath the surface.
"Elior."
"Maren."
"Noah."
"Vianna."
Then… a fifth name:
"Aimee."
The water stilled.
Maren whispered, "The fifth…"
And then, just beneath the boat, a face appeared.
A girl. Fifteen or sixteen. Pale. Eyes open. Floating just below the surface.
She wasn't dead.
She was waiting.
---
The boat rocked violently.
Elior grabbed the edge. "Hold on!"
But the lake erupted—hands of water reaching up, clawing, pulling.
Vianna screamed as one wrapped around her ankle.
Noah kicked at the tendril. "They're not trying to drown us!"
Elior shouted, "Then what?!"
"They're trying to drag us under—show us what she saw."
The water pulled all four of them into the lake's depth—
And they sank.
Not in water.
In memory.
---
They awoke in darkness.
No… not darkness.
Underwater.
But they could breathe.
Around them, ghostly fish swam backward. Trees grew upside-down. And floating in the center was Aimee.
She looked up.
Eyes glowing faint blue.
"Why did you come?"
Elior stepped forward. "You're the fifth. The fifth soul."
She shook her head. "I'm what was left of her. The rest… stayed behind."
Maren frowned. "Behind where?"
Aimee pointed downward.
To the bottom of the lake.
Where a door stood.
Ancient. Locked.
"Someone trapped me here," she said. "They said I was chosen. That I had to keep the door closed."
Noah asked, "What's behind it?"
Aimee's voice trembled. "The one who writes the letters."
The water shivered.
Vianna stepped beside her. "You don't have to protect it anymore. We've broken four seals. It's almost over."
Aimee looked at her, confused. "Over?"
But then—
A sound.
Something knocking on the door from the other side.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Maren whispered, "It knows we're here."
Aimee suddenly clutched her chest. "It's waking… the Forgotten One."
The door below split open with a groan that felt like the end of time.
And from within… a voice crawled into their minds.
> "Five keys are not enough.
I need them all."
The lake turned red.
The air grew cold.
And the door opened.
---
They were thrown from the memory—back to the boat—screaming.
The lake boiled around them. Shapes beneath the water writhed, angry and afraid.
Elior saw Aimee now, real and alive, in the boat beside him. Gasping. Coughing.
"I remember now," she said. "They drowned me because I saw the sixth."
Maren's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
Aimee looked into the woods, her voice hollow.
"She didn't belong to this town. But she was born with the mark. They buried her alive. And she's still down there."
Elior caught the letter floating in the boat, wet but legible.
> "Five locks undone.
Two remain.
The next lies beneath the roots, in the forest where light never touches.
The one who breathes beneath the dirt waits for the sixth.
Dig deep.
And do not look away."
They rowed back in silence.
Aimee cried quietly.
Vianna held her hand.
Elior looked to the forest where no sunlight touched the ground.
And far away… something knocked again.