Chapter Eighteen: The Choice He Never Made
1012 Words
The walls around them trembled.
Stone crashed into the ground. Dust billowed into the air.
"Rowan!" Mrs. Holloway screamed.
"We have to go!"
Rowan felt rooted to the spot.
She looked up at Elias.
"You chose to die?"
His gray eyes flooded with sorrow.
"I remember pulling the trigger."
"But that's the last thing I remember," she replied.
"There has to be more."
"I hope there is," Elias said.
---
The last of them squeezed through the entrance just before it slammed shut.
The tombstone crowbar sank back into place like nothing had occurred.
Save for the spiderweb-like cracks now split across the ground before them.
Silence returned to the cemetery.
Even the wind had ceased.
Rowan placed the stack of blue-ribboned letters safely inside her satchel.
She hadn’t forgotten. That was the one thing she could promise.
It felt… Important.
Somehow...
She knew they were important to him.
---
By the time they returned to Ashmoor House, the storm had finally broken.
Warm sunlight poured through the mansion’s tall windows.
For the first time since Rowan arrived, Ashmoor didn’t feel haunted.
Sad.
That’s how it felt.
Mrs. Holloway bustled off towards the kitchen, leaving Elias and Rowan alone amongst the dusty library shelves.
They said nothing for several long minutes.
Eventually Rowan untied the worn blue ribbon.
The letters were yellowed with age.
Nearly all were addressed in meticulous handwriting.
_To My Dearest Clara_
“They’re yours,” Rowan whispered.
Elias simply nodded.
“I know.”
---
The first letter was written just two weeks before Elias was killed.
Rowan began to read.
> Dear Clara,
If anything happens to me, don’t blame yourself. Things are lurking in Ashmoor House that neither of us understands. If they can’t control my actions, they’ll change my memories.
If I become someone you don’t recognize… don’t believe your eyes. Remember what you know to be true about me.
I would never abandon you willingly.
-Elias
Rowan wiped away tears.
“He didn’t want to die.”
Elias stared at her in shock.
“I wrote that letter.”
“You knew enough to warn her.”
He pressed his hand against his forehead.
“But why can’t I remember anything else?”
---
Rowan reached for the next letter hesitantly.
The envelope was different.
Unlike the others, it wasn’t addressed to Clara.
It was addressed to…
The Next Keeper
Her fingers shook. She carefully opened the letter.
Elias’s elegant script filled the page.
> If you are reading this, then the prison has begun to break again.
>
> My name is Elias Thorne.
>
> Everything you have heard about me is a lie.
>
> I did pull the trigger on Malachai… but only after someone else had already decided for me.
>
> There is one thing you must promise me.
>
> Do not allow the Heart to forgive the First Keeper.
The letter stopped abruptly there.
Half of the page had been burned away.
---
Just then a violent gust of wind whipped through the room.
Pages from Eleanor’s journals flew everywhere.
One book fell open on a sketch Rowan didn’t recognize.
It depicted seven circles surrounding Ashmoor’s Heart.
Three glowed with light.
Four remained dark.
Beneath the sketch, Eleanor had scribbled:
_Each key remembers a piece of the prison… and a piece of your past. _
“So, your memories return with each key,” Rowan murmured.
Elias inclined his head.
“And someone is going out of their way to keep me from finding them.”
---
That night, Rowan climbed onto the roof of the mansion.
She needed fresh air.
The ocean lay below, glittering in orange and violet hues.
Elias joined her several footsteps away.
Neither of them said a word.
Instead, they watched the sunset in comfortable silence.
Eventually, Elias turned to her.
“I’m scared.”
“What’s there to be scared of?”
“What if I remember everything?”
Rowan smiled softly.
“You won’t have to face it by yourself.”
He looked into her eyes.
“You only met me… less than two weeks ago.”
“It feels like more than that.”
“It does?”
He paused for a moment.
“When I’m with you…” Elias started.
“I don’t feel like a ghost.”
Her heart stuttered.
Instead of pulling away, Rowan reached for his hand.
Miraculously this time his fingers curled around hers without resistance.
Warm.
Solid.
Almost like they used to be.
“I don’t understand how that’s possible,” Rowan whispered.
“I don’t either.”
Slowly...
Elias reached up with his other hand and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
The contact was fragile. Too light to truly be there.
His thumb brushed beneath Rowan’s chin.
They looked into each other’s eyes.
And for a moment... Nothing else existed.
Just before Rowan closed the gap between them…
A voice suddenly rang out across the roof.
“You’re breaking the rules.”
They both whirled around.
Thomas leaned casually against the stone chimney.
Face still devoid of emotion.
“If the Keeper falls in love with the Bound…”
He locked eyes with Elias.
“…the prison will only forgive one of you.”
Heart pounding.
Rowan’s stomach dropped onto her feet.
“What does that mean?” she managed to ask.
Thomas leaped gracefully onto the roof.
For once, fear crept into his eyes.
“It means…”
Swallowing audibly.
“When the seventh key is rediscovered…”
“One of you will survive.”
“And one of you will be forever lost.”
A bright flash split the night.
Lightning had struck Ashmoor House’s tallest tower.
The sound of a bell ringing echoed through the halls.
Not from the wind.
Not from lightning.
Someone...
Or something...
The tower bell was ringing.
Thomas slowly turned to the sound behind him.
White as a ghost.
“He’s awake.”
“What?” Rowan hissed.
One word escaped his lips.
**Malachai. **
The ground shook violently beneath them.
- Writer
