Chapter Six
What the Water Remembers
The sky was bleeding pink by the time Amelia got home.
She slipped through the front door quietly, hoping Edward was still at work. But of course, he was sitting in the living room, reading a book he probably wasn't really reading.
The moment she stepped inside, he looked up.
"You're late."
Amelia froze.
For once, he didn't sound angry. Just... cautious. Like he knew something had changed. And maybe he did.
"Got caught up at the library," she said, voice steady.
Edward set the book down slowly. "You went to Crescent Hollow."
Amelia's heart jumped. "How do you know?"
"I know everywhere you've ever been," he said, and for a second—just a second—his eyes looked colder than usual. "Especially when you're chasing ghosts."
She stepped forward, letting the backpack slide off her shoulder with a soft thud.
"Elvira's not a ghost," she said.
He didn't blink. "Amelia..."
"I saw her. In the water. In the mirror. And I found her diary. You lied to me."
He stood up.
For the first time in her life, Edward actually looked afraid.
"You've been touched by the lake," he said. "Haven't you?"
"Touched?" she scoffed. "It knows me. It remembers her."
"That's why I kept you away from it," he snapped. "That's why I buried everything! You think you're special now? You have no idea what you're waking up!"
Amelia felt her nails sharpen—like they did that first night. Her skin prickled with energy. "Then tell me! Tell me what I am!"
"You're my daughter."
"I'm hers too."
For a long, tense moment, silence stretched between them. Neither of them moved.
Then, Edward walked past her, stopped at the mantle, and picked up a tiny silver box. He opened it—and pulled out a crystal pendant on a frayed chain.
He held it out.
"This belonged to Elvira. She wore it the day she disappeared."
Amelia took it carefully, heart racing.
The moment her fingers touched the crystal, it glowed faintly—pale blue, like moonlight on water.
And behind her... the house began to shift.
Literally.
The lights flickered. Water dripped from the ceiling. The mirror in the hallway shattered—without being touched.
The magic inside her wasn't sleeping anymore.
And neither was the truth.
The moment the pendant lit up in her palm, Amelia felt it—
Power.
Not raw, not wild... but ancient. Purposeful. Like something deep inside her had been unlocked.
The air shifted.
Water dripped from the ceiling, though there were no leaks. The glass of picture frames warped, cracked. Her reflection in the hallway mirror had turned its back to her.
She wasn't just feeling the magic now.
She was the magic.
"Put it down," Edward said sharply.
"No," she breathed. "It's mine."
"You don't understand what you're inviting in."
Amelia took a step back, fingers curling around the crystal. "Then help me understand. Tell me what happened to her."
Edward looked like he was at war with himself—between a father and a man terrified of something older than both of them.
"Elvira thought the water was just a tool. She was wrong. It has a will. And once it knows your name, it never lets go."
"I'm not afraid of it," Amelia said.
"You should be," Edward snapped. "It already took her. I won't lose you too."
Then the floor shook—a low tremor, like thunder from under the earth. The windows rattled. The faucet in the kitchen turned itself on.
Amelia gasped as the pendant pulsed again, this time faster. The glow crept up her arm like liquid light, winding around her veins, soaking into her skin.
"Stop it!" Edward lunged forward.
But before he could reach her, the pendant flashed—bright blue and blinding.
And suddenly... everything froze.
The lights. The dripping water. Even Edward.
Amelia stood in the middle of a house that felt like it had fallen between seconds.
She turned—and behind her, in the hallway mirror, Elvira stood.
Smiling. Not quite solid. Not quite gone.
"Mom..." Amelia whispered.
Elvira raised her hand and pressed her palm to the glass.
The lake remembers. The time is near.
Then—she vanished. The lights flickered back on. The house exhaled. Edward stumbled backward, blinking like he'd lost time.
Amelia clutched the pendant to her chest, chest heaving.
There was no denying it now.
Elvira was alive.
The lake wanted her back.
And something inside Amelia was waking up to answer the call.