The Girl in the Trees
788 Words
Chapter 8: The Girl in the Trees
Part 1: The Forest That Watches
We didn’t sleep.
Not after the temple shook. Not after Liam whispered about her.
We left at first light, the temple shrinking behind us, its stone walls steaming in the morning fog.
The Crimson Wilds felt… angrier now. The wind was sharper. The trees groaned like they were waking from hibernation.
Axel walked ahead, blade drawn. I held Liam close, heart thundering.
Then Liam stopped.
He turned his head to the left, slowly. Eyes locked on a figure in the woods.
I followed his gaze.
There she was.
Small. Barefoot. Pale skin like porcelain, hair tangled with dead leaves. Her eyes gleamed—silver, but cracked like shattered glass.
She didn’t move. Just watched.
Liam lifted his hand to wave.
And she smiled. Not innocent. Not kind. But knowing.
“I know her name now,” he said.
My blood ran cold.
Because I hadn’t asked.
And he hadn't told me how he knew.
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📖 Chapter 8: The Girl in the Trees
Part 2: The Name She Shouldn’t Have
“She’s called Lyra,” Liam whispered.
I froze.
That name…
It was the name my sister Marissa whispered before she died.
It was the name hidden in the deepest file of Crimson archives.
It was the name of the child the council claimed never existed.
Lyra.
Axel’s face went pale. “Lyra Blackthorn?”
“Yes,” Liam nodded. “She said she remembers the fire. She remembers what they did to her.”
I clenched my fists. “She shouldn’t be alive.”
“She’s not,” Liam answered softly.
Then he looked up at me, eyes flickering red-gold.
“She said I’m her twin flame. That if I burn, she becomes real again.”
Axel grabbed Liam’s arm. “Don’t listen to her. She’s trying to control you.”
“She already is,” Liam said.
From behind us, every branch snapped in rapid succession—like bones breaking in a spiral.
And when we turned around…
Lyra was gone.
But the trees had moved.
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📖 Chapter 8: The Girl in the Trees
Part 3: Threads of Flame and Blood
We made camp in the ruins of an old Crescent outpost.
The night was colder. The stars were redder.
I tried to rest, but Liam wouldn’t stop humming. The same melody from the temple. The one I didn’t recognize—but feared.
When I asked where he learned it, he said, “Lyra taught me in the womb.”
Axel nearly dropped his blade. “What did he just say?”
“In the womb,” I repeated, whispering. “But that’s impossible.”
Liam looked between us. “You were supposed to have two children, Mommy. But they took her out before I was born.”
Tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t move.
Because he wasn’t wrong.
I had been pregnant with twins. Only one heartbeat was left by the time the healers checked. They told me the other child… dissolved.
But what if they lied?
What if Lyra wasn’t a ghost?
What if she was a soul ripped from her body…
…and now, she wanted Liam’s?
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📖 Chapter 8: The Girl in the Trees
Part 4: She Speaks
That night, I heard a voice behind me.
Soft. Innocent. Wrong.
“Why didn’t you fight for me, Mommy?”
I turned—fast.
No one.
Just trees. Just wind.
But the fire went out.
And Liam was standing barefoot in the center of the ashes, eyes wide open. Sleepwalking—or being pulled.
He whispered: “She wants me to go with her now.”
“No!” I rushed forward.
His eyes blinked. “She says you’ll try to stop her. She says you always choose me.”
“Because you're my son,” I choked.
He tilted his head.
“She says… I’m not yours. Not anymore.”
Then a gust of wind roared through the forest—and for one second, I saw Lyra.
Standing behind the trees.
Smiling.
And wearing my sister’s necklace.
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🩸 Teaser – Chapter 9: When Blood Calls Blood
Secrets can’t stay buried when the dead wear your jewelry.
As Aurora spirals, desperate to protect Liam from Lyra’s growing influence, Axel begins uncovering the truth behind Marissa’s death—and the ancient Crimson ritual no one talks about.
Meanwhile, Lyra begins appearing in Liam’s reflection.
Not just in mirrors.
In water.
In glass.
In his eyes.
And with each appearance, Liam forgets something about himself.
Chapter 9: When Blood Calls Blood
If Lyra steals his soul…
Aurora may have to make an impossible choice:
Save her son…
Or destroy her daughter
- Writer
