Chapter 10 - The Voice from the Sea
491 Words
For a moment, neither of them moved. The air in the library felt too heavy to breathe, the silence thick enough to choke on.
Elara's hand trembled in Raven's grip as she stared toward the doorway. The soft glow from the hall flickered, casting long shadows across the room.
"Papa?" she whispered, her voice barely a breath.
There was no answer just the distant hum of the sea beyond the walls.
Then it came again.Low. Familiar."Leave this place, Elara."
The sound wasn't coming from the stairs anymore. It was closer inside the room.
Raven stepped in front of her instinctively, scanning the corners. "Who's there?"
No response. Only the faint rustling of old paper, as though the books themselves were turning their own pages.
Elara's heart pounded. She took a shaky step forward, her eyes landing on the journal that lay open on the table. Its pages were moving, flipping wildly as if caught in a storm only it could feel.
When they finally stopped, a new page was revealed, one that hadn't been there before. The ink was fresh, glistening under the light.
'The sea remembers every vow.It waits for what was taken.It waits beneath the mango tree.'
Elara's breath caught in her throat. "The mango tree..."
Raven frowned. "What does it mean?"
"It's where he disappeared," she said, barely above a whisper. "The night the sea went silent... the night my father vanished, the tree was whispering."
Before Raven could reply, the walls groaned the same deep, aching sound the shore made before a storm. A sudden gust of wind burst through the windows, scattering papers into the air.
"Elara!" Raven grabbed her arm as the lights flickered.
But through the chaos, a voice rose above the wind, deeper now, echoing with sorrow and warning.
"Do not seek what the sea has claimed."
The wind died as suddenly as it had begun. Papers settled on the floor. The room fell silent again except for the soft, rhythmic crashing of waves outside.
Elara bent down to pick up one of the fallen sheets. On it, she saw something drawn in charcoal, a locket. Her father's locket.
And beneath it, a line of words written in the same shaky hand:
'Buried where the roots meet the sea.'
She looked up at Raven, her voice trembling but sure. "The mango tree stands on the edge of the shore. That's where we'll find him."
"Elara, you heard what the voice said."
"I don't care," she interrupted, her eyes wet but burning. "If my father's there... if the truth is there, I have to know."
Raven stared at her for a long moment, torn between fear and something deeper. Finally, he nodded. "Then we'll go together."
Outside, the wind began to rise again, carrying with it the faintest sound a whisper so soft it could've been mistaken for the sea.
"Come home..."
And somewhere beneath the old mango tree, the earth began to stir.
- Writer
