Chapter Twelve: The Keeper’s Promise
953 Words
The laughter beneath the roots slowly faded away.
No one spoke.
Rowan stared at the pieces of crystal now strewn across the cold stone floor.
"Elias..." she breathed. "That wasn't a memory."
He slowly shook his head.
"No." His voice was distant. "It wasn't."
"You saw it too?"
"I did."
The ghost looked more disturbed than Rowan had ever seen him.
"It was... me."
"But different."
"He looked alive."
"And he spoke to us."
Mrs. Holloway gripped her lantern tighter.
"If the Heart showed you that..." she whispered, "then it wants to help."
---
"The Heart?" Rowan echoed.
Mrs. Holloway looked over at the shimmering silver tree.
"We call it the Heart of Ashmoor."
"It isn't a tree."
"What do you think it is?"
"No one really knows."
"The first Keepers thought it grew long before humans settled here."
"Is it feeds off memories?"
Mrs. Holloway nodded.
"And mine protects them."
"What happens if it dies?"
Mrs. Holloway's eyes grew sad.
"Then every spirit tied to Ashmoor vanishes."
Rowan looked over at Elias, who understood before she could finish.
"If the Heart dies..."
"So do I."
---
The gravity of his words hung in the air between them like a storm cloud.
For several long moments neither of them said anything.
Finally, Rowan walked closer.
"We'll figure out how to save it."
Elias gave her a small smile.
"You sound...very confident."
"I am."
"You've known me for what, a few days?"
"It doesn't matter."
"You believe that? It should."
"It doesn't."
She leaned forward and grabbed his hand instinctively.
This time...she was sure she could feel him.
Not cold. Not warm.
Alive.
Elias stared at their joined hands in disbelief.
"You can touch me anytime now."
"And you can touch me." She replied.
Neither did Mrs. Holloway smile quietly behind them.
---
Back upstairs, Rowan watched dawn stretch across the eastern horizon.
The house felt different. Lighter.
As if a weight had been lifted.
Rowan wandered into the kitchen just as Mrs. Holloway finished cooking breakfast.
"You knew this was going to happen."
Mrs. Holloway gave a slight nod.
"Eleanor did as well."
"My grandmother was a Keeper."
"Yes, she was."
"And now..." Rowan gestured to Elias' translucent form, "And now I am?"
"If you accept the responsibility."
"I have a choice?"
"There is always a choice."
Rowan stared toward the music room.
"If I leave...Elias just vanishes?"
"The Heart will wither away. In time."
"And what about me?"
"Living without the Heart is... difficult."
Mrs. Holloway didn't have to say anymore.
---
That afternoon Rowan headed back down to the library.
She pulled all of Eleanor's journals out and spread them across a large oak table.
Mostly she found accounts of the house.
Notes on hidden rooms.
Ghost encounters.
Some were almost mundane, like old family recipes tucked between the pages.
Until she found it.
A folded piece of paper. Carefully concealed inside one of the journals.
It wasn't a map of Ashmoor House.
Instead, it was a detailed map of the cliffs that surrounded the estate.
Three locations were circled in red ink.
The Bell Tower
The Family Mausoleum
And...
Moonfall Cove.
Written below the map were Eleanor's final words:
**The Second Key rests where the sea remembers.
---
"Moonfall Cove," Rowan read aloud.
Elias leaned against the windowsill beside her.
"I think I've heard that name before."
"Do you remember it?"
He frowned. He shook his head.
"Yes. I remember standing there."
"With Clara?"
"Who...what?" His face scrunched up in confusion.
"No." Rowan shook her head. "Never hear."
"Alone."
He sighed and closed his eyes.
"I was waiting for someone."
"Who?" Rowan asked, curiosity piqued.
Before Elias could answer, another memory flashed behind his eyes.
He stumbled backward, knocking over several books.
His figure flickered in and out of view like a candle in the wind.
"Elias!" Rowan exclaimed.
He fell to his knees, gripping his head in his hands.
"I remember now..."
His voice cracked. "There was someone with me that night."
"The man that killed you?"
"No." He shook his head firmly. "They were trying to stop him."
"Stop who?"
"Him. The ritual."
---
"The ritual?" Rowan questioned.
Elias nodded his head weakly.
"I remember incantations."
"Fire."
"And symbols. Shapes." He gritted his teeth. "The roots beneath the house."
"And someone saying..."
Elias locked eyes with Rowan.
"'If the Heart ever chooses another Keeper... everything will start over.'"
---
That night Rowan packed a flashlight, rope, Eleanor's map, and the raven-shaped brass key.
Mrs. Holloway waited for her by the front door.
"I'm leaving."
"To go where?"
Rowan handed her a worn compass.
"This belonged to your grandmother."
"It doesn't point north."
She looked down at the compass in her hands.
It didn't.
The needle was pointing directly at Ashmoor House.
"It will always point to the Heart," Mrs. Holloway said softly.
"In case a Keeper gets lost."
Lost?
Rowan had never thought of that before.
---
As Rowan and Elias followed the path toward the cliffs, thick fog rolled in from the ocean.
Far below, waves battered jagged rocks.
The closer they got to Moonfall Cove, the quieter everything became.
Eventually, not even the birds seemed to make a sound.
That's when Rowan spotted them.
Footprints.
Brightly etched into the mud beside the trail.
Leading down toward the beach.
She crouched beside them.
"They're too big to be mine."
Elias stared down at the water.
"And they're barefoot."
The imprints ended at the tide line.
No footsteps returned.
No rowboat waiting offshore.
Nothing.
Just the vast ocean.
Then, from somewhere beneath the surface...
A young girl's voice began to sing.
Rowan recognized the song immediately.
"...please don't cry...for me."
Elias turned deathly white.
"I know that song."
- Writer
