Chapter Eighteen
Beneath the Surface
The next morning, the sky was the color of steel.
Clouds pressed low over the town, heavy with unfallen rain. Trees leaned inward as if listening. And the lake... was still.
Too still.
Amelia stood in her room, staring at the pendant. It pulsed gently against her chest, like it had a heartbeat of its own. Like it was waiting.
Waiting for her.
Kaia sat cross-legged on the bed, fidgeting with her shoelace. "So. What exactly is the plan?"
Amelia zipped up her jacket. "I go into the lake."
"You say that like it's just a casual swim."
Amelia gave a weak smile. "It's not."
She turned to her friend. "There's something under there. Something... more than just Elvira. I think she left me a path. The pendant's the key."
Kaia stood. "Then I'm going with you."
Amelia shook her head. "If something happens, I need someone up here. To pull me out. Or—if I don't come back—to keep going without me."
Kaia opened her mouth to argue. But the look in Amelia's eyes silenced her.
Instead, she nodded. Once.
⸻
They made their way to the lake in silence.
The forest seemed quieter than usual. No birds. No wind. Just the crunch of their footsteps on dead leaves.
As they reached the shore, Amelia stepped out of her boots and jacket. The water shimmered faintly under the cloudy light.
The pendant burned against her skin.
"I'll give you five minutes," Kaia said, voice tight. "After that, I'm diving in after you, key or no key."
Amelia nodded, took a breath, and stepped into the water.
It was cold.
Not bone-chilling, not icy—but unnaturally cold. Like the water wasn't touching her skin at all, but seeping into her.
With every step, the pendant glowed brighter.
The lake accepted her.
She dove.
⸻
Underwater, the world changed.
The silence became a hum.
Light twisted like ribbon, casting flickering shapes around her. Shadows moved just beyond sight. The pendant guided her deeper, glowing like a lantern in the dark.
Then she saw it.
An arch.
Carved into a wall of stone beneath the lake, framed with runes that shimmered with the same pale glow. The doorway pulsed as she approached—and opened.
No water passed through.
Just light.
Amelia swam forward.
As she crossed the threshold, the cold disappeared—and she fell.
⸻
Down. Down. Down.
Until she landed gently, gasping, on stone.
But she wasn't wet.
She stood in a cavern of mirrors, each one showing a memory. Her first birthday. Her first scraped knee. Her mother brushing her hair, humming.
"Elvira?" she called, turning.
A voice answered—not from ahead, but from inside her own head.
Welcome, daughter.
Amelia turned.
There she stood.
Elvira.
Alive. Unchanged. More beautiful than any memory. But there was something in her eyes—a depth, a sadness, a power.
"Elvira," Amelia whispered. "You're real."
Elvira stepped forward and pulled her into a tight embrace.
"You were never meant to find this place," she murmured. "But I always knew... one day, you would."
Amelia looked up at her mother, heart pounding.
"Why did you leave?"
Elvira's expression darkened.
"Because I had to," she said. "Because the lake is not just a place, Amelia. It's a prison. A protector. And a weapon."
Amelia froze. "A weapon?"
Elvira nodded. "And now... it's waking up."
Amelia stared at her mother.
Her real, living, breathing mother.
She didn't look like someone who had been lost to water. She looked powerful. Serene. As if the lake itself bent around her will.
"What do you mean," Amelia asked slowly, "the lake is a weapon?"
Elvira didn't answer at first.
She walked across the glowing cavern, each step echoing through the stone. Mirrors lined the walls—images of people Amelia didn't recognize. Men. Women. Children. Some with glowing eyes. Some with none.
"They come here," Elvira whispered. "Those chosen by the water. Not all survive. Not all... remember. But the ones who do—they change."
"You changed," Amelia said.
"I didn't have a choice," Elvira murmured. "The lake found me when I was sixteen. Just like you. It showed me truths I wasn't ready for. Truths about who we are."
"We?" Amelia asked.
Elvira turned to her.
"You're not fully human, Amelia. Neither am I. There's an ancient bloodline in us, tied to the first people who drank from the Mirror Lake and saw everything."
Amelia took a step back. Her head spun.
"I—I don't understand."
"You will." Elvira reached out, her fingers brushing Amelia's cheek. "That pain you feel? The visions? The way your reflection sometimes moves when you don't? It's not a curse."
"It feels like one," Amelia whispered.
"It's a key. To something buried."
Elvira stepped aside, revealing the largest mirror in the chamber—shimmering black, framed in glowing silver.
Amelia moved closer.
This time, the reflection didn't show her.
It showed a gate. Buried in the heart of the lake. Sealed with seven glowing locks. Behind it—something moved. A shape, large and dark, coiled in silence.
"What is that?" she breathed.
"The truth," Elvira said. "Something ancient. Something dangerous. The lake was built to contain it. Our family—we're the keepers. You were born for this, Amelia. That's why the lake called you."
Amelia stared at the gate. "And if it wakes up?"
Elvira looked at her with haunted eyes.
"Then the world as you know it... ends."