Chapter Four
1011 Words
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Selene leaned her back against the frigid stone wall, her breathing kept low as she listened.
The lighthouse was quiet. Too quiet.
Caius was next to her, his hand still clasped around her wrist. His hold tightβnot to stop her, but to ground himself.
Because something was there with them.
Above it, the golden beam of the lighthouse continued its slow rotation. It created long, eerie shadows on the spiral staircase that curled up to the lantern room.
That was impossible.
The lighthouse had been out of use for years. No one had kept it up. No one had turned on the lantern.
And yet, the beam rotated. Steady. Waiting. Watching.
Selene gulped hard. "Caius, why is it still operating?"
He didn't reply.
Because he was looking at something.
Something carved into the stone wall.
Selene followed his eyes.
It was a name.
Noβa series of names.
Carved into the stone, one after another. The first name so old it had almost disappeared, the last one carved in a sharp, shaky hand.
Caius Merrow.
Under it, another name had been carved.
Selene Vaughn.
Her lungs seized. Her name.
Selene's heart pounded in her ears. Why was her name here?
Caius touched, tracing the letters with his fingers. His name. Her name. Side by side.
His hand shook.
"I've been here before," he whispered.
Selene spun to face him. "You remember something?"
Caius swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. His voice was rough. "Not all of it. But I know this place."
He slapped his palm onto the stone, his body tense. And then he let out a sharp breath.
"I think I died here."
---
The Shadows of the Lighthouse
Selene's skin crawled. The air within the lighthouse was thicker, heavierβlike it was alive.
The golden beam of light above kept rotating, its slow, mechanical sweep. The stairway that wound up to the lantern room curved in a perfect spiral, vanishing into darkness above.
Selene wrapped her arms tighter around herself. "Why is my name here?"
Caius didn't glance at her. "I don't know."
His voice was very low.
Too low.
The air changed.
Selene sensed something shift.
Not in front of her. Not beside her.
Above her.
She slowly raised her head.
Her stomach fell.
A shadow stood at the top of the spiral staircase.
It was barely perceptible in the faint light, its shape waveringβnot solid, not human.
And it was staring down at them.
Selene's breath came in ragged gasps. Her body screamed at her to flee.
But she couldn't move.
The shadow moved down the staircase.
Slowly.
Each step groaned under its unseen weight.
Caius clutched Selene's arm. His hand trembled.
The shadow crept to the landing above them.
Thenβ
It stopped.
For a moment, the lighthouse was utterly silent.
And thenβ
It spoke.
"You were never meant to come back."
Selene's eyes went blind. The voice was deep, ancient, layered. Not a single voice. Multiple voices.
The temperature in the lighthouse dropped. Her exhalations burst out in small, white puffs.
Caius was the first to move.
His arm closed tighter around her arm as he pulled her back, away from the staircase. "We have to get out."
The whisper echoed behind them. "You should have drowned."
Selene spun and fled.
---
The Flood That Should Not Be Possible
As soon as they stepped off the bottom of the staircase, the lighthouse began to transform.
The air thickened, the walls seemed to move, and thenβ
A great, booming groan shook the building.
The earth shook under them.
And thenβ
Water gushed out through the cracks in the stone.
Selene screamed, backing away as dark seawater started to gush in.
Caius grabbed her, his arm around her waist. The water was cold.
It wasn't a flood.
It was the ocean.
It was coming into the lighthouseβnot from a broken pipe, not from the outside stormβbut from nowhere.
From everywhere.
Selene gasped, the freezing water to her knees in mere seconds. It was rising too quickly.
Caius took her hand. "We need to go up."
Selene's eyes widened. "Up?! That creature is up there!"
Another voiceβa low, terrible whisperβissued from the water.
"Come back."
Selene felt a knot form in her stomach.
The water was not only flooding the room.
It was creeping up for them.
---
The Climb to the Lantern Room
Caius yanked her towards the stairs. "We have no choice."
Selene gritted her teeth and ran.
They ran up the spiral staircase, the icy water rising up behind them, devouring each step they took.
The shadow at the top did not move.
It was still, waiting.
As if it knew.
As if that was always meant to occur.
Caius and Selene climbed to the top.
The lantern room.
It was different from what Selene recalled.
The walls were plastered with ancient maps, ship's logs, and corroded tools. The lantern above cast golden light, causing twisting, long shadows.
And in the center of the roomβ
A mirror.
Noβa window.
It did not reflect the interior of the lighthouse.
It reflected the sea.
Selene gazed at it, her heart pounding. It wasn't a reflection. It was reality.
She could see the waves. The storm.
And something under the surface.
A thousand reaching hands.
Caius gasped. He recalled.
He spun around to her, his face white.
"I was drawn into the sea," he whispered. "And I wasn't alone."
Selene's eyes grew hazy.
She moved forward towards the mirror, towards the face of the ocean.
And then she heard.
Not a whisper.
A voice.
A voice like hers.
"Come back to me."
Selene's fingers shook.
She knew the voice.
Because it was hers.
She had been here before.
Before tonight.
Before she was born.
And Caius had been with her.
Caius reached outβ
And the mirror shattered.
The lighthouse groaned.
The sea rushed in.
Selene screamed.
And everything went dark.
---
- Writer
