chapter twelve
510 Words
They didn't sleep that night.
Meera finally agreed to tell them something.
Not everything.
But enough.
She explained that Willowmere was never simply a place.
It had been built around something much older.
Something hidden beneath it.
Something that could not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.
The girl listened carefully.
“What is underneath?”
Meera hesitated.
“A doorway.”
The boy frowned.
“A doorway to where?”
Meera looked at the girl.
“To another realm.”
The room became silent.
The girl almost laughed.
“A realm?”
“I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds impossible.”
“So did everything else you've discovered.”
That stopped her.
Meera continued.
“Your grandmother discovered that the doorway could be opened. But she also discovered something worse.”
“What?”
“That it could not simply be closed.”
The girl stared at her.
“Then what did she do?”
“She hid the key.”
The girl immediately looked at the mysterious object.
Meera nodded.
“Yes.”
“But why me?”
Meera didn't answer.
“Why was it left for me?”
Again, silence.
Then Meera said something that made her blood run cold.
“Because the key was never the object.”
The girl stared at her.
“What?”
“The object only reveals the way.”
The boy slowly looked at the girl.
“And the person who can open it…”
Meera finished the sentence.
“Is you.”
Nobody spoke.
The girl stepped backward.
“No.”
Meera remained calm.
“You don't understand yet.”
“I don't want to understand.”
“You deserve to.”
“My grandmother knew?”
“Yes.”
“And she lied to me?”
“She lied because she was trying to keep you alive.”
The girl turned away.
Anger rose inside her again.
Then she noticed something.
The boy wasn't surprised.
She turned toward him.
“You knew.”
He looked at her.
“Not everything.”
“But you knew something.”
He didn't deny it.
She shook her head.
“How many secrets are there?”
“Too many.”
She looked at the mysterious object.
“So what happens now?”
Meera walked toward the door.
“Now you find the missing piece.”
“The one in the puzzle?”
Meera nodded.
“And when you find it, you'll finally understand why your grandmother died.”
The girl's heart dropped.
“My grandmother's death wasn't natural?”
Meera looked at her.
“No.”
The room went completely silent.
“She was killed because someone discovered what she was hiding.”
The girl felt the world tilt beneath her.
Her grandmother hadn't simply disappeared.
Someone had taken her.
Someone had wanted her secrets.
And now they wanted the girl too.
Meera opened the door.
“We have to move.”
“Where?”
Meera looked toward the darkness outside.
“To the place beneath Willowmere.”
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD