Her voice trembled. “And they did. They raised you. They gave you a life. But I have watched from afar. From a place where I could not reach you. I have waited for the day you would return to me.”
I shook my head slowly, trying to make sense of everything.
It was too much.
Too fast.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“I know,” she said softly. “Let me explain...”
But before she could finish, a sudden noise shattered the silence.
A man’s voice, far away, shouted my name.
“Lisa!”
Everything changed in an instant.
The forest began to fade.
The golden light flickered.
The scent of roses vanished.
“No,” I gasped. “Wait! What’s happening?”
Althea reached for me again, but her hands were becoming transparent.
“I’m not finished,” she said desperately. “There’s more I have to tell you. Yo
