(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.