The house didn't sleep after the echo vanished.
Arav sat on his bed with his knees pulled to his chest, staring at the window as if the flickering silhouette might return at any moment. Sharanya stayed beside him, gently stroking his hair. Isha eventually fell asleep in her lap, clutching both frogs like emotional support pillows.
Aaryan stood near the doorway, arms folded, gaze fixed outward. Not tense. Not fearful.
Calculating.
Meghala dropped through the window frame like a silver comet, landing with almost too much noise.
"Alright," she announced. "We have a problem."
Sharanya sighed. "Please phrase it gently."
"No." Meghala jabbed a finger toward the forest. "Something was chasing that echo. I felt the remnants on the treeline."
Arav's breath caught. "What kind of something?"
Meghala blew out a sharp breath. "Not corrupted, not beast, not clan, not Council. Something else."
Aaryan spoke without turning.
"Describe the residue."
Meghala frowned deeply. "Cold. Thin. Like reality was stretched tighter for a moment. And the threads… were frayed."
Sharanya's eyes widened.
"Frayed?"
Meghala nodded grimly. "Like something was unraveling the aether behind it."
Arav hugged himself tighter.
Aaryan finally turned toward them.
"Whatever chased that child is not entering our estate. Not tonight. Not ever."
Arav whispered, "But if it catches the echo…"
Sharanya's voice softened. "It will return tonight or tomorrow. Lost things always seek the last place they felt safe."
Arav didn't feel reassured.
He felt helpless.
---
Morning came with a thick fog resting on the estate. Not the usual dawn haze—this fog felt heavy, clinging, uncertain. Aaryan, Sharanya, and Meghala were already outside when Arav stepped into the courtyard.
Meghala was pacing.
Sharanya was studying the ward formations.
Aaryan was silent.
"What's happening?" Arav asked quietly.
The fog carried aether in it.
Too much.
Too concentrated.
Sharanya lifted a palm slowly, letting droplets gather on her skin. They shimmered faintly.
"This fog isn't natural."
Arav felt his flame press against his chest, reacting to the density. "Is the echo inside the fog?"
Meghala stopped pacing. "No. Something else is."
Aaryan stepped forward, placing his hand on the lower barrier stone. A faint glow surged upward across the estate's boundary.
The fog responded.
It recoiled.
Arav gasped. "It's alive?"
Meghala muttered, "Or controlled."
Sharanya whispered, "It's looking for something."
Aaryan didn't speak for a moment.
Then—
"It's looking for the echo."
Arav's breath caught.
"It's close…?"
Aaryan nodded. "Near the forest. But not approaching."
Sharanya tightened her shawl. "Then we should bring Arav inside—"
"No." Meghala cut in sharply. "Inside is worse."
Arav blinked. "Worse?"
Meghala pointed at the fog. "This thing is tracking fluctuations. If you suddenly disappear into a tighter ward, the spike will be enormous. You'd basically wave a flag that screams 'Here I am!'"
Arav felt sick. "So… what do we do?"
Aaryan stepped beside him.
"You stay with us. And you stay calm."
Arav tried. He really did.
But the fog pressed against the boundary again—this time with intention.
It didn't push through.
It didn't attack.
It just… searched.
Softly.
Slowly.
Like fingers feeling around a doorframe.
Arav's flame fluttered.
Sharanya knelt to meet his eyes. "Your emotions shape your aether. If you panic, the flame leaks. If it leaks, the fog will know."
Arav swallowed hard. "How do I stop panicking?"
Meghala dropped a heavy hand on his head. "Simple. Think of soup."
Arav stared. "Soup?"
"YES," she insisted. "Soup solves everything."
Sharanya pinched the bridge of her nose.
Aaryan did not comment, which was somehow worse.
But Arav's chest did loosen a little.
Then—
a shift.
A pulse.
A trembling thread.
Arav felt it immediately.
"The echo… it's back!"
A faint ripple formed near the treeline, barely visible through the fog.
Weak.
Shaking.
Shattered in places.
The fog moved too.
It answered the ripple.
It turned toward it.
"No—!" Arav blurted. "It's scared!"
Aaryan stepped forward instantly, aura flaring just enough to push the fog away from the boundary.
But the echo, fragile and confused, drifted closer—
flickering
breaking
desperate.
Sharanya whispered, "It's trying to reach us."
Meghala clenched her fists. "And that fog-thing is hunting it."
Arav took a step forward before anyone could stop him.
"Arav—!" Sharanya reached out.
But he didn't move out of fear.
He moved out of recognition.
The echo wasn't looking at the estate.
It was looking at him.
Its flickering form pulsed with something like a heartbeat.
Arav whispered, voice cracking,
"You're not alone."
The echo stilled.
Then something terrifying happened.
The fog shuddered—
as if sensing Arav's voice—
and surged forward.
Not at the boundary.
At the echo.
The child-shaped ripple recoiled violently, destabilizing so fast its outline tore apart.
Arav screamed, "STOP!"
His flame burst outward instinctively—
a soft pulse, not an attack—
but the echo caught it, clung to it, and stabilized just enough to pull itself fully into view—
a small silhouette wrapped in trembling aether threads—
before collapsing to the ground inside the boundary.
Sharanya gasped. "It crossed through?!"
Aaryan's aura exploded outward and slammed the boundary shut behind it.
The fog collided with the barrier—
and shrieked.
Not a sound.
A vibration.
A raw, violent distortion that made Arav flinch and Meghala reflexively summon fire.
But the boundary held.
The fog recoiled.
It retreated.
Slowly.
Reluctantly.
The forest grew still again.
Arav rushed forward—Sharanya only just catching him before he barreled into the fallen echo.
The small figure lay trembling on the ground inside the estate.
Barely holding together.
Flickering like a dying ember.
Arav knelt beside it, eyes wide with fear and hope.
"Hey…" he whispered, voice shaking. "You're safe now."
The echo's trembling slowed.
Aether threads coiled weakly toward Arav's flame.
Then—
A whisper, faint and broken:
…warm…
And it faded into unconsciousness.
Not gone.
Just asleep.
Meghala let out a breath she'd been holding.
Sharanya's eyes shone with emotion.
Aaryan's expression was unreadable—but his aura wrapped the courtyard like an unbreakable wall.
Arav looked up at them.
"What do we do now?"
Aaryan answered quietly.
"We protect it."
Sharanya added softly:
"And we find out who broke it."
Meghala cracked her knuckles.
"And then we break them."
The echo slept on the ground between them—
a fragile mystery
a wounded child
and a door to a danger none of them were ready for.