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Chapter 4 - CHAPTER FOUR: Shadows of the Past

(Izzy's POV) 

I woke up with my heart pounding, the cold sweat clinging to my skin. The vision from the mirror burned behind my eyelids — the gown soaked in blood, Elias's anguished face, my own whispered promise. 

It felt real. Too real. Like a memory trying to claw its way back. 

For a long moment, I lay still in my bed, afraid to move. The room was quiet except for the slow ticking of the old grandfather clock downstairs. Time was moving, but I wasn't sure if I was. 

The mirror in the closet had vanished. Or maybe it was never really there. 

I touched my wrist, looking for the cracked blue stone necklace Elias had shown me. Nothing. 

Was it a dream? A trick of my imagination? Or had Elias truly reached through time to show me something I needed to see? 

 *** 

At breakfast, Mom hummed quietly, unaware of the storm swirling in my mind. I stared out the window toward the woods, where shadows shifted like secrets. 

"I'm going back there," I said finally. 

She looked up, startled. "The woods? It's cold out. And you don't know what's there." 

"Neither do you." I pushed my chair back. "I have to understand." 

 ***

The path into the forest was slippery with fallen leaves and ice. Each step I took felt heavier, as if the woods themselves were weighing me down — warning me to turn back. 

But I kept going. 

Then I heard it — the humming again. Soft, haunting, like a lullaby sung by the trees. 

I followed the sound deeper until I reached a clearing I hadn't seen before. 

At its center stood a crumbling stone well, tangled in ivy and shadow. 

I stepped closer, the air around me growing colder with every breath. 

Suddenly, a voice whispered my name. 

"Izzy…" 

I spun around. 

Elias was there, leaning against a tree, eyes glowing faintly silver. 

"I told you not to follow me," he said, voice low but urgent. 

"Why do you keep appearing? What do you want from me?" I asked, trembling. 

"To remember," he said. "To finish what was left undone." 

I shook my head. "I don't understand." 

He stepped forward, and for the first time, the air between us felt less like a threat and more like a fragile thread connecting two lost souls. 

"You lived here before," he said. "Long ago, in another life." 

I stared at him, searching his face for a clue, a lie, anything. 

He reached out, brushing a strand of hair from my face, his touch cold but gentle. 

"You were taken from me," he whispered. "And I was powerless to save you." 

A shiver ran down my spine. 

"How?" I asked, voice barely audible. 

"There was someone else," he said, eyes darkening. "Someone jealous. Someone dangerous." 

Suddenly, the trees around us seemed to close in, shadows stretching like claws. 

"Who?" I demanded. 

Before he could answer, a cold wind swept through the clearing, snuffing out the light and plunging us into darkness. 

A voice — low, cruel, and mocking — echoed through the trees. 

"Still searching, Elias? Still chasing ghosts?" 

I gasped and took a step back. 

Out of the shadows stepped a figure cloaked in black, eyes glowing red like burning embers. 

"Stay away from her," Elias growled, stepping between me and the figure. 

The figure laughed, a sound like dry leaves scraping against stone. 

"You cannot protect her forever." 

I felt fear grip my chest, but also something else — a fierce determination. 

"I'm not afraid," I said, standing tall despite the trembling in my legs. 

The figure's eyes flickered with something almost like respect. 

"This is far from over, Isabel," it hissed, then vanished into the darkness. 

 *** 

Elias turned to me, breathing hard. 

"Who was that?" 

"My past. Our past." 

I looked up at him, feeling an ache I couldn't explain. 

"Why do I feel like I've known you forever?" 

"Because you have," he said softly. "In every life, in every time, I find you. And I lose you." 

Tears welled up in my eyes. 

"I don't want to lose you." 

"You won't," he promised, taking my hand. 

For a moment, everything else faded — the cold, the fear, the endless questions. 

There was only him. Only us. 

 *** 

When I got home, the house felt different — warmer somehow, like the shadows had receded for just a little while. 

But the closet door was open again. 

And this time, I didn't hesitate. 

I stepped inside. 

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