Shattered reflection

Chapter 7: Whispers in the Dark

The night had fully descended by the time Mia and Jake found shelter in a dilapidated barn not far from the mansion. The air inside was damp and musty, filled with the scent of rotting wood and mildew. Mia shivered, pulling her jacket tighter around her body as she sat on a pile of old hay in the corner, her mind still reeling from everything that had happened.

Jake stood by the barn's entrance, his flashlight turned off as he peered through a crack in the door. His posture was tense, every muscle ready for action. They hadn't heard anything since leaving the mansion, but neither of them trusted the silence. Whoever had been in that house—whether it was Lucien or someone else—was still out there. Watching.

"We should stay here until morning," Jake said finally, turning to face her. "I don't think it's safe to move until we have more light."

Mia nodded, though the idea of staying in the barn overnight filled her with unease. Every creak of the old wood, every gust of wind through the broken windows, made her jumpy. But she knew Jake was right. The forest surrounding the estate was too dense and dangerous to navigate in the dark, especially with the possibility that they were being followed.

She pulled out her father's notebook, her fingers tracing the worn edges of the pages. It felt heavier now, almost as if it contained more than just words. It contained secrets—dark ones, ones that she wasn't sure she was ready to uncover.

Jake walked over and sat beside her, his expression grim. "What's going on in your head?" he asked quietly. "You've been distant ever since we left the mansion."

Mia sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "I don't know, Jake. There's just... too much. Everything I thought I knew about my father is unraveling. He knew about Lucien, about something bigger than just The Raven. And he kept it from me."

Jake nodded, his gaze softening. "I get it. It's a lot to process. But whatever he was hiding, he was doing it for a reason. Maybe he was trying to protect you."

Mia shook her head. "Protect me from what, though? From the truth about Lucien? About who—or what—he really is?"

Jake didn't have an answer. He stared at the ground, his brow furrowed in thought. "Whatever the truth is, we're going to find it. But we have to be smart about this. We can't just go barging back into that mansion without a plan."

Mia knew he was right, but the frustration was gnawing at her. They were so close to uncovering the answers, yet the danger was growing with every step they took. "I don't want to keep running, Jake. I need to know what my father was hiding from me. And I need to know why Lucien is so important."

Jake placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure it out. But first, we need rest. Tomorrow, we'll go back to the mansion with a clear head, and we'll find whatever it is your father wanted you to see."

Mia nodded, though the idea of going back filled her with dread. Still, she had no choice. Her father's journal had led her this far, and she wasn't about to turn back now. Not when the truth was so close.

As they sat in silence, Mia flipped through the pages of the journal, searching for anything she might have missed. The notes were chaotic, filled with scattered thoughts and hurried sketches. Her father had been desperate—desperate to find Lucien, to understand the dark secrets he carried.

But one passage caught her eye, something she hadn't noticed before. It was scrawled in the margins of one of the earlier entries, almost as if her father had added it as an afterthought:

The answers are in the past. Roanoke was just the beginning. Follow the trail, but be careful. The shadows are watching.

Mia's heart skipped a beat. Roanoke wasn't the end of their journey—it was just the first step. Her father had been leading her somewhere else, somewhere beyond the estate. But what did he mean by "the shadows are watching"? Was it just a metaphor, or had he encountered something far more sinister?

"I think there's more to this than just Lucien," Mia said quietly, showing the passage to Jake. "My father was following a trail, and Roanoke was only part of it. There's something else he found—something in the past."

Jake's brow furrowed as he read the passage. "The past... does he mean something to do with The Raven's history? Or something personal?"

Mia bit her lip, her mind racing. "It could be either. Or both. Maybe the answers we're looking for are tied to something that happened years ago—something that connects Lucien, my father, and The Raven."

Jake nodded thoughtfully. "If that's the case, we'll need to dig deeper. There's bound to be more information somewhere in that mansion—old documents, records, anything that can tell us what Lucien's connection to your father was."

Mia closed the journal, her determination renewed. "We'll go back tomorrow, and we'll find what we need. But we have to be careful. Whoever—or whatever—was in that mansion is still out there, and they won't stop until they get what they're after."

Jake met her gaze, his expression serious. "Then we'll be ready."

The barn fell into silence once more, the weight of the coming day pressing down on them both. Mia lay back against the hay, her mind whirling with thoughts of Lucien, her father, and the shadows that seemed to haunt every step they took. There was so much she didn't understand, but one thing was clear: they were far from the end of this journey.

As she drifted off to sleep, the last thing she heard was the distant howl of the wind, its mournful cry echoing through the night like a warning.