Chapter 16: Whispers in the Fog
The morning mist had settled thick over Whisperwood, curling through the streets like ghostly fingers. The town seemed quieter than usual, as if it knew what Lyra and Kael were searching for.
The weaver's words clung to Lyra's mind. They disappear.
Kael hadn't spoken since they left the market. He walked beside her, shoulders tense, his fingers absently tracing the cracked gemstone on Seren's pendant.
Finally, he broke the silence.
"They were afraid."
Lyra nodded. "Not just of what we might find. Of what remembering might cost them."
Kael exhaled, his breath misting in the cold air. "That means it's not just the curse. The town is keeping this buried."
The thought sent a slow, creeping unease through her. The curse had shaped Whisperwood, twisted it into something unnatural but the people?
They had chosen to forget.
Lyra glanced at Kael. "What else do you remember?"
He hesitated. Then, his fingers tightened around the pendant.
"…A girl's laughter." His voice was barely above a whisper. "A lantern swinging in the dark. Someone calling my name."
His breath hitched. "Then… fire."
A sharp pain flickered across his face, like the memory itself was fighting back. He clenched his jaw. "I should remember more. But it's like"
"Something's keeping you from it," Lyra finished.
Kael nodded grimly.
Lyra looked ahead, her mind racing. If his memories were coming back, then something was changing. The town was losing its grip on the past.
And that meant Whisperwood wouldn't let them go unanswered.
A gust of wind rustled through the trees. Lyra caught movement out of the corner of her eye a figure standing near the well in the town square.
A child.
Barefoot, dressed in a thin nightgown, her long hair tangled from sleep. She was watching them.
Lyra slowed her steps. "Kael…"
He followed her gaze. His body tensed. "Do you see her too?"
Lyra's stomach turned cold. "You mean ?"
"I don't think she's real."
The child's head tilted slightly, her dark eyes locking onto Kael.
Then, she spoke.
"She's still here."
Kael inhaled sharply. "Who?"
The girl's voice was soft, barely a whisper.
"The one who remembers."
And then
She was gone.
A breath of wind. A blink.
The square was empty.
Lyra's heart pounded. She turned to Kael, but his expression was distant, his fingers ghosting over the pendant like he could still hear Seren's name in the air.
The town wasn't just watching.
It was warning them.
And Lyra had the sinking feeling that someone alive still knew the truth.
They just had to find them before it was too late.