Chapter 11: The First Breakthrough

They worked late into the night, the cabin lit by the flickering glow of the fireplace. Elena had spread the sketchbook and Eleanor's journal across the table, comparing the symbols side by side. Daniel sat across from her, his brow furrowed as he scribbled notes on a piece of paper.

"This one," he said, pointing to a symbol in the journal. "It's the same as the one in Mara's sketchbook. See? The circle with the jagged lines."

Elena leaned closer, her eyes narrowing. "Yeah, but what does it mean?"

Daniel flipped through the journal, his fingers tracing the lines of text. "Here," he said, stopping on a page near the middle. "Eleanor wrote about it. She called it the 'Mark of the Watcher.' Says it's a warning—a sign that something's watching you."

Elena's skin prickled. "Watching? Like… the thing in the house?"

Daniel nodded. "Maybe. Or maybe it's something else. Either way, it's not good."

Elena stared at the symbol, her mind racing. "So if Mara drew this… does that mean she knew she was being watched?"

"Probably," Daniel said. "But why? What did she see that made her draw it?"

Elena didn't have an answer. She flipped through the sketchbook, her eyes scanning the pages. The symbols were everywhere, woven into the drawings like a hidden language. And then, on one of the last pages, she saw it—a drawing of the cliffs, with the symbol repeated over and over, like a chant.

"Daniel," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Look at this."

He leaned over to see, his breath warm on her shoulder. "The cliffs," he murmured. "That's where it started. Where the Gathering happened."

Elena's heart raced. "You think that's where Mara went? That night she disappeared?"

Daniel didn't answer, but the look in his eyes said enough. Elena closed the sketchbook, her hands trembling. "We have to go there," she said. "We have to see what she saw."

Daniel hesitated, then nodded. "Tomorrow. First light."

Elena didn't argue. She wasn't sure she could wait that long, but the thought of going out there in the dark, with that thing still out there, made her stomach churn.

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