CH 6 WHISPERS OF THE MOUNTAIN
1347 Words
Nova barely slept.
Every time she closed her eyes, the child’s voice echoed through her mind.
Find the text.
Before it’s too late.
She lay awake until the fire dimmed into glowing embers, until the storm softened into a gentle whisper against the walls. By the time morning came, she felt the weight of something pressing behind her ribs — like the mountain itself was holding its breath.
When she finally emerged from her room, Liam was already in the kitchen, sleeves rolled up, quietly washing dishes. He looked up the second he heard her footsteps.
“Morning,” he said softly. “You okay?”
Nova hesitated. “Not really.”
He wiped his hands on a towel and moved closer. “Nightmares?”
“More like… echoes.”
Liam paused, trying to decipher her meaning. His eyes softened. “Nova… we can go through the book again. Together. Maybe there’s something we missed.”
Nova nodded slowly, appreciating his steadiness more than she could say. “Where’s Ellie?”
“In her fort,” he said with a faint smile. “She said she’s ‘guarding the kingdom’ until breakfast.”
Nova let out a breathy laugh. “At least one of us slept well.”
Liam handed her a mug of warm tea instead of coffee. “You look like you need this more.”
She took it, and their fingers brushed — warm meeting warm — and something inside her quieted.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
His smile was small but sincere. “Anytime.”
---
After breakfast, while Ellie colored by the fire, Nova and Liam returned to the old leather-bound book. They sat on the floor beside the coffee table, the cabin quiet except for the crackling wood.
Nova opened the book to the page with the sketched girl.
“She told me to find the text,” Nova whispered. “As if this isn’t it.”
Liam leaned closer. “But this book feels more like a journal. Notes, maps… Maybe the text she meant is something else.”
Nova turned more pages — slow, careful, deliberate.
Strange symbols.
Drawings of constellations.
Rough sketches of the mountainside.
Then—
her fingers stopped.
A page with a thin slit along the binding.
Nova frowned and touched the edge. “What is this?”
Liam leaned in. “A pocket?”
She slid her fingers inside and felt something — stiff, old, delicate. With painstaking care, she pulled out a folded piece of paper, yellowed with age.
Liam exhaled slowly. “Nova…”
She unfolded it.
Inside was a single paragraph written in flowing script that shimmered faintly, just like the ink on the earlier page.
Nova read aloud:
“When the Watcher appears, the seeker must follow.
The mountain reveals its truth only to the one it calls.”
A chill crawled across her skin.
Liam rubbed his palms slowly against his jeans. “Seeker,” he murmured. “Is that supposed to be you?”
Nova shook her head. “I don’t know. But the vision… Ellie’s dreams… the sketches…” She swallowed. “It feels like the mountain did call me.”
Liam’s jaw tightened. “That scares me more than I want to admit.”
Nova looked at him, surprised by his honesty.
“I don’t want you tangled in something dangerous,” he said softly. “Especially alone.”
The sincerity in his voice wrapped like warmth around her chest.
“I’m not alone,” she whispered.
Liam’s eyes softened. “No. You’re not.”
---
The rest of the morning passed quietly.
Nova tried to distract herself by helping Ellie build a new blanket throne. Liam worked on reinforcing the firewood pile near the porch. But her mind kept drifting back to the book. The text. The vision. The Watcher.
As afternoon light slanted through the windows, Ellie curled up for a nap, and the cabin settled into a peaceful lull.
Nova wandered to the window.
Snow blanketed everything. Trees stood still and silent, as if waiting.
She whispered to herself, “What are you trying to tell me?”
A soft creak sounded behind her.
Liam stood a few feet away, watching her with a troubled expression.
“Nova,” he said gently, “you’ve been quiet.”
She turned toward him. “I’m trying to make sense of all this.”
He stepped closer, slow and careful. “Tell me.”
Nova hesitated. Then she exhaled.
“When I saw her—the Watcher… She didn’t feel like a threat. She felt… familiar. Like I’ve seen her somewhere before.” She rubbed her arms. “Or like she knew me.”
Liam’s brows furrowed. “And that message—‘the mountain reveals its truth only to the one it calls’…”
“It’s me,” Nova whispered. “It has to be.”
Silence stretched between them, warm and heavy with unspoken fear.
Liam reached out — almost instinctively — and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Then we’ll figure out why,” he said softly. “Together.”
Nova’s chest tightened.
Not from fear.
But from the way he said we like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Like he wasn’t letting her face any of this alone.
Outside, the wind shifted — a low, eerie hum drifting across the snow.
Nova and Liam turned toward the window.
A small figure stood far off in the distance, barely a silhouette against the endless white.
A child.
Still. Watching.
Nova’s blood ran cold.
“Liam…” she whispered.
He moved instinctively to her side.
The figure didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
Just watched.
And for the first time, Nova understood—
The vision wasn’t over.
The storm wasn’t done.
The mountain wasn’t finished calling her.
And whatever waited out there…
Was getting closer.
The child-shaped figure outside stood perfectly still, framed by falling snow. Nova’s breath caught.
“That’s her,” she whispered. “The girl from the vision.”
Liam moved in front of her. “Nova… that didn’t look human.”
Before either of them could react, the figure simply faded—dissolving into the white without taking a single step.
Nova backed into the table, trembling. “Liam, tell me I’m not imagining this.”
“You’re not.” His voice was steady, but his eyes betrayed fear. “I saw it too.”
He guided her to the couch, sitting beside her. The warmth of the fire suddenly felt weak against the cold settling in her chest.
“Why me?” Nova murmured. “Why is she following me?”
Liam hesitated, then spoke softly. “You’ve always sensed things other people don’t. Maybe this mountain recognizes that.”
Nova looked at him, surprised by the gentleness in his voice.
Before either of them could say more, Ellie padded into the room, bunny in hand.
“Nova?” she asked sleepily. “Did you see her again?”
Nova stiffened. “Ellie… how do you know that?”
Ellie climbed onto Liam’s lap. “Because she was talking louder this time. In my dreams.”
Liam hugged her closer. “Talking? What did she say?”
Ellie pressed her hand to her chest. “It felt like knocking. Like she wants Nova to hurry.”
“Hurry for what?” Nova asked gently.
Ellie shrugged. “She doesn’t tell me. She just watches. But she looks… sad.”
Nova’s heart tightened. “Sad?”
Ellie nodded. “Like she lost someone.”
She yawned and curled into Liam’s arms again. “Can we have hot chocolate later?”
Liam kissed her head. “Yes, sweetheart.”
Ellie fell back asleep almost instantly.
Nova stared at the fire, her voice low but steady. “We need to follow the text. Whatever this is… she’s trying to lead us somewhere.”
Liam nodded, holding Ellie protectively. “Then we face it together.”
Outside, the wind shifted—as if something on the mountain had heard them.
- Writer
