Summer Lies

Chapter 4 – Shadows in the Water

The boat glided silently across the dark water. The sky was gray and heavy, and the waves slapped lazily against the hull, as if the sea itself was holding its breath. The group sat in silence. Emily stared ahead, her eyes locked on the island they were approaching. An island covered in dense forest, with steep cliffs and no signs of life.

“We shouldn’t be here,” Léo mumbled, but no one answered.

When they reached the island’s rocky shore, they pulled the boat up onto the beach. The sand was dark and wet, and the air hung thick with humidity. They moved quietly into the forest, where the trees stood close together and no birds sang. Everything felt wrong. Too quiet. Too old.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, they reached a small clearing. In front of them lay the ruins of an old stone structure—maybe a temple or shrine. In the center stood a worn pedestal with carved symbols, and in the middle of it, a shallow bowl-like indentation covered in moss and dirt.

“It’s the same symbol as the one on the box,” Emily said softly.

“Is this where it came from?” Sarah asked, reaching out toward the stone.

“Wait…” Isac began, but it was too late.

The moment Sarah’s finger touched the indentation, a deep rumble echoed from beneath their feet. The ground trembled, and with a sharp click, a hidden panel in the earth slid aside. A dark hole opened up—stairs leading down into the ground.

“Are we really going down there?” Léo asked nervously.

“We’ve come this far,” Emily said firmly. “We have to.”

Carefully, they descended the narrow stone steps, damp and covered in algae. The air grew cooler the deeper they went. It smelled of earth and something older… something dead.

At the bottom, they entered a low chamber. Sunlight filtered in through thin cracks in the ceiling, casting long shadows across the room. In the center stood a pedestal covered with a piece of cloth. Emily stepped forward and lifted it.

A photograph.

She froze. The photo was recent—not an old, faded one. It showed Katy standing on the beach, holding the box. She was smiling. But something about it felt wrong. Too posed. As if someone had been behind the camera… and knew exactly what they were doing.

“How did this end up down here?” Sarah whispered, picking it up carefully.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Ethan said. “Someone must have placed it here.”

Emily looked around the chamber. “Then someone took her. And they’ve been watching us.”

A loud noise made them all jump. The door behind them slammed shut with a bang. They ran up the stairs—but the opening was gone. A heavy stone had sealed it shut.

“We’re trapped,” Isac said quietly.

Time passed slowly. They sat close together in the dim room. Only the slivers of light from above kept the fear at bay. Emily sat next to Ethan, who had his arm around her. Sarah sat alone, on the opposite side of the room.

“I’m sorry,” Emily said suddenly, her voice hoarse. “For everything. For kissing him. For being angry. For not being there for you.”

Sarah looked up, eyes glassy. “I miss her,” she whispered. “She always understood me. I could tell her anything.”

Emily crawled over and sat beside her. They didn’t say more, but leaned into each other, shoulder to shoulder.

The next morning, the group met again, this time at the old café by the waterfront. Tourists were beginning to arrive, sipping iced coffee and taking selfies with the sea behind them, completely unaware of the mystery unfolding just a few streets away.

Luke arrived last, sliding into the seat next to Sarah. “I talked to my uncle’s friend,” he said. “He’s willing to meet us. Tomorrow morning, early. He says the symbol is connected to an old legend, something about a sunken temple.”

“A sunken temple?” Emily repeated, raising an eyebrow. “That sounds… dramatic.”

Luke shrugged. “It’s Greece. Everything’s dramatic.”

They laughed—except Emily. Her mind was spinning. A temple beneath the sea? Could that be where the necklace was from? Or where Katy had gone?

“I think we should go back to the ruin,” Isac said. “There might be more clues we missed.”

Ethan nodded. “We didn’t get to explore the whole place. We got scared off too quickly.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Luke muttered.

“You screamed louder than anyone,” Sarah teased, nudging him with her elbow.

Emily forced a smile, but her eyes were distant.

By mid-afternoon, they had gathered their things and hiked back to the overgrown path that led to the ruin. The sun was burning above them, and the air was thick with heat. As they walked, Zoe’s name suddenly popped into Emily’s mind—Katy’s supposed cousin. She’d never met her, but she remembered Katy mentioning a girl who was “too obsessed with money and secrets.” Could it have been Zoe?

They reached the ruin, its stone entrance now eerily quiet. Birds chirped in the trees above, but no wind stirred the leaves.

Inside, they spread out, flashlights in hand, searching every c***k, every wall, every shadow. It was Sarah who found something first.

“Guys,” she called, crouching beside a broken tile in the floor. She pulled it up gently—and beneath it was a hollow space. Inside lay a small, velvet pouch.

Ethan knelt beside her and opened it. Inside was a second necklace—identical to Katy’s.

Emily froze. “There were two?”

Sarah’s voice trembled. “Maybe more.”

Luke took a step back. “This is bigger than we thought.”

And then—footsteps. Not theirs. From deeper inside the ruin.

Everyone froze.

“Did you hear that?” Isac whispered.

More footsteps. Closer this time.

“Run,” Emily hissed.

They bolted out of the ruin, stumbling through bushes and branches, their hearts pounding in their chests. When they finally reached the road, they didn’t stop until they were far from the ruins.

Back at Emily’s house, breathless and shaken, they stared at the necklace on the table.

“There’s someone else out there,” Sarah said quietly. “Someone who doesn’t want us to find the truth.”

Emily looked at her friends—sweaty, scared, but still standing.

“Then we’ll find it anyway.”