Chapter 10: Ashes and Echoes

The lighthouse groaned like a wounded beast, its bones breaking under the force of the explosion. Smoke swallowed the stairwell, thick and cloying, turning the air into poison. The floor beneath Kaira's feet trembled.

Adrian's grip on her wrist tightened. "Kaira, we have to jump!"

But her eyes weren't on him.

They were locked on Alyssa.

Standing in the doorway, framed by flickering firelight, Alyssa's gun remained raised—this time, not at Adrian. Not at Kaira.

At the darkness behind them.

"Kaira, move!"

Alyssa's voice was raw, desperate.

And then—another gunshot.

The bullet whizzed past Kaira's ear. But it wasn't meant for her.

Behind her, something thudded to the ground. A shadow collapsed, swallowed by the smoke.

Adrian didn't hesitate. He yanked Kaira's arm and pulled her toward the railing. "Now, Kaira!"

She hesitated for a fraction of a second.

Alyssa wasn't shooting at her.

She was protecting her.

Then, the floor buckled beneath them.

No more time.

The ocean roared below like a beast waiting to consume them whole.

And Kaira fell.

The impact stole the air from her lungs.

The sea was unforgiving, cold fingers dragging her down into the abyss. She kicked, arms flailing, but the weight of everything—truths, betrayals, ghosts—pulled her deeper.

Memories crashed over her.

A room with whispered voices.

A hand, warm against her forehead.

A lullaby, unfinished.

A shadow standing at the edge of her hospital bed.

Watching.

Waiting.

Alyssa.

How long have you held my fate in your hands?

How many nights have you stood in silence,

knowing the truth would drown me?

The sea pressed against her, crushing, relentless.

Then—hands.

Adrian's arms wrapped around her, pulling her up, up, up—until the surface shattered around them, and Kaira gasped for air.

They drifted, the waves dragging them toward the rocky shoreline. Kaira's body ached, but adrenaline drove her forward. They weren't safe. Not yet.

She staggered onto the shore, coughing up saltwater, Adrian beside her.

And then she saw it.

A small, wooden box, half-buried in the wet sand.

Her pulse pounded as she reached for it.

The wood was scorched at the edges, as if it had barely survived the fire. With trembling fingers, she lifted the lid.

Inside, resting on black velvet, was a single, folded note.

She unfolded it, heart hammering.

He knew too much.

So do you.

Run.

And at the bottom, scrawled in ink:

Alyssa.

Kaira's breath came fast, uneven. The Alyssa she knew—the one who had just pointed a gun at her, who had stood in the shadows of her past—had left her a warning. Not a threat.

She turned to Adrian, but before she could speak, a twig snapped in the trees ahead.

Someone was there. Watching.

And just like that, the feeling returned—the suffocating sense that she was never truly alone.

Adrian reached for his knife. Kaira clenched the note tighter.

The lighthouse was gone. But the hunt had just begun.