Chapter 13: The Ghost of Everhart Manor
—Narrated by Eli Whitmore
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The wind was cold that night. Not the kind that made you shiver, but the kind that made your bones feel heavy. Like the past was following you, step by step. And Thorne... he hadn't spoken since dinner. Not even when Felix made a joke about Ryker's flaming hair in the candlelight.
We had agreed to visit the old Everhart Manor—a place Thorne hadn't returned to in years. He said we needed answers. That something about his father's old study might have a clue. About the book that spoke to me. About the shadow that stirred in the Mirror Hall.
The path to the manor was long and mostly forgotten, swallowed by trees with twisted roots and glowing moss. Felix and Ryker walked ahead, whispering to each other. Luna walked beside me, close enough that I felt her warmth, her presence calming.
Thorne led the way.
His steps were careful.
His silence louder than any spell.
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The manor was a monument of sorrow. Windows cracked. Vines creeping up the stone. And above the archway, the Everhart family crest: a sword wrapped in mist.
"This place..." Felix murmured, "feels like it remembers pain."
Thorne didn't respond. He pushed open the great wooden doors. They groaned like old ghosts.
Inside, dust danced in the moonlight. Everything smelled like memories.
"His study is on the third floor," Thorne finally said. "Locked. But not to me."
We followed him up the spiral staircase. Every step creaked. Every portrait on the walls watched us.
And then, halfway up—
"Wait," Luna whispered. "Did you hear that?"
We all stopped.
There was a soft whisper.
Not in our ears.
In our minds.
"He has returned... the son of the binder..."
Ryker drew his blade. "What the hell was that?"
Thorne didn't flinch. "Ignore them. The manor remembers. It speaks sometimes."
When we reached the study, Thorne placed his palm on the door. It glowed faintly. A lock clicked.
Inside was a room untouched by time. Books stacked in strange patterns. Sealed scrolls. A mirror covered in black cloth.
Thorne walked to the desk and opened the drawer. He pulled out a single letter. The seal was broken.
"This was meant for me," he said quietly.
He read it aloud:
My son, if you are reading this, it means the darkness has found you. I never meant for this legacy to pass to you. I tried to seal it, to bury the truth. But the spirits whisper, and they do not forget. Seek the Vault beneath the Mirror Hall. There lies the truth. But beware—the Binder walks again. And he is not me.
We all looked at each other.
"The Binder?" Felix asked. "I thought your father was the Binder."
Thorne shook his head. "No. He took the title to protect me. But the real Binder... must still be alive."
Suddenly, the mirror in the corner rattled. The cloth flew off.
A figure stood within the glass.
He looked like Thorne.
But older. Worn. Hollow.
"You should not have come, child of the Everhart name."
The figure stepped forward. The mirror didn't break. He walked through it.
Luna gasped. Ryker raised his blade.
But Thorne stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The man smiled sadly. "I am the shadow your father tried to hide. The first Binder. The one who fed on the dead to control the living. I am your ancestor... and your curse."
He lifted his hand. Dark energy pulsed.
But Eli stepped forward. Without fear.
"You're not his future," I said. "You're just the past trying to survive through fear. But we're not afraid."
The light in my chest shimmered. The same one from the book.
The mirror cracked behind the man.
He screamed.
And shattered into a thousand shards.
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When it was over, Thorne sank to the floor.
"It's not over," he said. "The Vault beneath Mirror Hall... that's where the truth lives. Where the Binder's magic sleeps. We have to go there. Soon."
I nodded.
"Then we'll go. Together."
Even if it meant stepping into the very heart of darkness.
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To be continued...