Chapter Eleven
The Below
The red eye on the Gate didn't blink again.
It simply... stared.
Amelia clutched Kaia tighter as she stirred in her arms. Her glowing eyes dimmed to silver once more, her breathing ragged.
"She's okay," Marah whispered, kneeling beside them. "But something's shifted."
"You heard it, didn't you?" Amelia asked. "That voice—'she is close and so is it'..."
Marah nodded. "Something's coming. And it's not your mother."
The chamber suddenly groaned.
Stone cracked.
Water trickled from the ceiling.
And the Gate began to open.
No creaking. No drama. Just a clean, silent divide down the center, revealing a tunnel of glimmering black glass that curved downward—like a throat swallowing light.
Kaia sat up slowly. "That's the way to the Mirror Core. The place your mom's trapped."
Marah looked uneasy. "And maybe the place the lake's keeping its worst secrets."
"Then we have to go," Amelia said.
Together, the three stepped into the passage.
⸻
The world changed instantly.
The walls glowed a soft violet now, with shifting shapes dancing across the glassy surface—memories, maybe. Or warnings. Amelia saw flashes of herself as a child, alone in the woods, her dad holding her hand. She saw Kaia—young, submerged in water, crying with no sound. And Marah—walking away from a burning house.
They didn't speak.
The tunnel breathed.
The deeper they walked, the colder it got. Not icy—but hollow. Like walking into a place the world had forgotten.
Then they reached it.
The Below.
A wide, echoing cavern sat beneath the entire lake. In the center was a circular platform of obsidian, floating just above the surface of an inky pool that glowed from within. Around it stood tall mirror-like pillars, all reflecting twisted versions of themselves—Amelia with glowing scars, Kaia with empty eyes, Marah holding a blade.
And at the heart of the platform—
Chains.
Thick, glowing, snaking through the air like vines made of moonlight.
And tangled in their center was a woman.
Her hair black and flowing. Her body limp. Her hands bound. And her face—
"Mom..." Amelia's voice cracked.
Elvira was suspended midair, eyes closed, silver threads binding her like a spell not meant to break.
Kaia stepped forward, trembling. "This... this is where the lake stores what it doesn't want lost. Or found."
Amelia's chest ached. "How do we free her?"
Before Kaia could answer, a low growl echoed across the cavern.
From the dark pool beneath the platform, something began to rise.
Long, slender fingers. Scaled arms. Eyes. So many eyes.
It wasn't one being.
It was all of them.
Reflections. Rejected. Twisted. Alive.
They hissed in voices that sounded like Amelia's own.
"You shouldn't have come."
Marah pulled her staff. "They're the lake's Sentinels. Protectors of the Core."
Kaia's eyes flared. "We don't have much time."
Amelia stepped forward, heart thundering.
"I'm not leaving without her."
The reflections screamed.
And attacked.
The reflections lunged all at once—figures made of shadow and light, each one with Amelia's face twisted in agony. They moved like smoke, fast and flickering, their mouths open in silent screams.
Marah spun her staff, casting a wave of white energy that knocked several back. "Stick close!" she shouted.
Kaia raised her hands, eyes glowing silver again. Water lifted from the glowing pool and spun around her like a shield, lashing out at any Sentinel that got too close. "They don't want us to touch the chains!"
Amelia's gaze locked on Elvira—her mother's chest barely rising, strands of her hair floating like they were underwater.
One of the reflections lunged straight for Amelia. This one had glowing eyes and a tear-streaked face.
"You left me," it hissed in her voice.
Amelia didn't flinch. She stepped through it.
It shrieked and vanished like steam.
"She's rejecting them," Kaia said breathlessly. "The reflections are drawn to guilt. Regret. She's pushing past it."
Marah deflected a reflection with a blast of raw light. "Then we just have to hold them off long enough!"
Amelia ran toward the center, pendant pulsing faster with every step. Her mother's chains shivered—like they knew she was close.
She reached out.
The pendant blazed like fire, and the moment her fingers touched the lowest chain, a shockwave burst across the chamber.
Every reflection screamed in pain and froze mid-air.
Even Kaia and Marah stumbled back.
The chains around Elvira began to glow—not with light, but with memories. Amelia saw flashes:
• Elvira handing baby Amelia to Edward, whispering "Keep her away from the water..."
• A deal. Elvira speaking to a voice inside the lake. "Take me instead."
• Her eyes glowing as the water pulled her under.
Then—
Elvira opened her eyes.
Not fully—but enough.
Her voice echoed without moving her lips:
"You're not ready yet... but you're close."
Amelia gasped. "I came for you."
Elvira's eyes shimmered. "Then don't break the chains. Wear them. Only then will the lake know you're mine."
Kaia stepped forward. "Amelia, wait—"
But Amelia reached up—and touched the chain binding her mother's wrist.
The light shot up her arm.
Wrapped around her like ribbon.
And pulled her under.
⸻
Amelia didn't fall into the water.
She fell through a memory.
Her own—but not hers.
The lake. The deal. A promise.
And a voice, deep and endless, whispering:
"The Seer has returned."