Elora's breath came in short, ragged gasps. The mirror reflected her, but she couldn't bring herself to look. Emmanuel's figure behind her his twisted, broken body, his mouth moving, the low whispers that filled the room it wasn't real.
It couldn't be.
She spun around, but the room was empty. The mirror still reflected Emmanuel. And Clara. The Clara she had last seen, alive.
And that's when the truth hit her. Hard.
The house. The mirror. The feeling she had always had like something was just off. Something was wrong with the house. Something was wrong with her.
The door behind her creaked open.
She turned, heart racing. Her throat tightened, and she could hardly breathe.
"Graves?" she whispered, hoping praying it was him.
But it wasn't.
The thing that stepped into the room wore her mother's face.
For a moment, Elora couldn't move. It was impossible.
"You were always meant to find the truth, darling."
It was her mother's voice. Soft. Calm. But it wasn't her mother.
Elora staggered back, her legs weak. She hit the wall, the truth clawing its way to the surface of her mind.
"No… no, no, no…"
"Oh yes, Elora. The house… it always knew. We let it in so long ago, and it's been with us ever since."
Her mother's skin stretched and warped as she spoke, the voice warping too, shifting into something deeper, something colder.
The thing smiled and Elora could see now. The eyes were black. Hollow. Empty.
"This whole time, I've been hiding the truth from you. But it's time you remember. It's time you know what you've done…"
Elora backed away, her mind racing. Her hand reached out for the door handle, but it wasn't a door anymore. The house was alive. The walls groaned, pulling in, pushing out, shifting around her like they were breathing.
The thing that wore her mother's face took a step forward, its smile growing wider.
"You wanted to save them, didn't you? Emmanuel. Clara. But you can't. You never could."
And then the truth broke.
Elora's mother had never been alive.
Not after the fire.
The house had claimed them all long ago her mother, her family. They were all gone, swallowed by the thing that had always been there, lurking in the dark, waiting for someone to unlock the door.
She was the last. The only one left.
She was never meant to save anyone. She had been chosen to bring them all back.
And the thing the presence had been whispering in her ear from the beginning.
"You invited me in, Elora. And now, you're going to join me."
She understood now. The thing she had been running from. The thing she had been trying to stop. It was never going to let her go. Not until the circle was complete.