Things We Do In The Dark

The Book of Names pulsed gently in my arms as we left the ballroom behind.

It didn't glow anymore—not like it had when I wrote Anastasia's name—but it vibrated faintly. As if the truth I had remembered had stirred something awake inside it.

Or maybe… something awake inside me.

Theo walked beside me, quiet. Too quiet.

Julian trailed behind.

No one spoke until we reached the end of the long corridor, where the velvet banners gave way to cold stone and the faint hiss of wind through ancient cracks.

I turned to face them.

"They showed me everything."

Theo met my gaze. "The mirror?"

I nodded. "It's broken. But it still remembers."

Julian stepped closer, face unreadable. "So now you know what we were."

"Children," I said. "Used as pieces in a game none of us understood."

That hurt him. I saw it in the way his eyes flinched.

"I didn't choose this, Elena," he whispered. "Any more than you did."

"I know."

"But I need to know what you feel now," he said. "Not what the past wants you to remember."

Theo didn't look away.

He didn't interrupt.

He just stood there, eyes on mine, waiting to see if I would say what he already knew.

That I didn't have the answer.

That my heart was a fractured glass—part memory, part instinct, all chaos.

I turned from them both.

Walked alone down the hall and up the spiral stair toward the Keeper's Tower. I didn't hear footsteps behind me. I didn't look back.

Not until I reached the top.

And found Theo already waiting.

"How did you…" I started.

He tapped the iron railing. "There's more than one way into this place, remember?"

I'd forgotten.

Or maybe I'd never known.

I didn't speak.

He didn't press me.

We just stood in the tower's dim light, watching the wind tear through the distant flags, silence stretching long and warm between us.

After a while, he finally said:

"You're not ready to choose. I get that."

I turned to him.

"But I am," he continued. "And I'm choosing you."

The words sat heavy in the air.

Not like a demand.

Like a promise.

I swallowed. "You don't even know what I'm becoming."

"I don't care."

"You should."

"Then tell me," he said softly, stepping closer. "Tell me what's scaring you."

I could have lied.

Could have said it was the Book. Or the council. Or the Velvet Order reawakening beneath our feet.

But what truly scared me… was how much I wanted this.

His fingers brushed mine.

Carefully.

Slow.

Like I was made of glass and he wasn't sure if he was allowed to touch.

I didn't pull away.

"If I kiss you," he whispered, "will you still be able to lie to yourself about how you feel?"

My breath caught.

"Try me."

He kissed me.

Not like the movies. Not perfect. Not soft.

It was messy and desperate and electric in the way things are when you've waited too long and you're not sure if you're still allowed to feel this much.

But I kissed him back.

With every ache in my ribs.

With every broken memory.

With every ounce of fear I'd been carrying since the day I arrived.

When we finally pulled apart, the tower was silent again.

Except for the faint hum of the Book on the windowsill — glowing faintly gold.

Theo exhaled. "That thing's always watching, huh?"

I smiled faintly. "It's not watching. It's reacting."

"To what?"

"To the truth."

He reached out and ran a knuckle along my jaw.

Then stepped back.

"Get some sleep," he murmured. "Tomorrow, we hunt the next name."

I blinked. "You're helping me?"

He grinned. "You thought I kissed you just to leave?"

He left me with that smile.

And the taste of cinnamon on my lips.

And the smell of oil paint lingering on his coat.

And the terrifying, beautiful knowledge that someone had chosen me. Not because of what I'd forgotten. But because of what I was becoming.

The next morning, Ravencroft felt… different.

Not visibly. Not obviously.

But the halls were quieter.

The portraits watched more closely.

And the whispers behind the walls felt louder now — more desperate.

I opened the Book during breakfast. No one noticed. Or at least, they pretended not to.

Julian sat across from me.

He didn't say anything about last night. But he noticed.

His eyes flicked to my collarbone — where Theo's hoodie had left a faint smudge of paint.

His jaw tensed.

I turned the page.

And a new name appeared.

Callum Gray

Status: Second-tier Seer. Expelled quietly in 2008. Found dead in non-Ravencroft location. Erased posthumously.

Affiliated: Velvet Order – Outer Ring

Recovered Object: "The Listening Key"

Julian leaned in. "That's a name I haven't heard in years."

"You knew him?"

He hesitated. "I watched him get expelled. He tried to access the Mirror Room without permission. They called it treason."

Theo appeared beside me. "What's the Listening Key?"

Julian answered before I could.

"It opens the Listening Room. North Tower. Sealed since the Vale incident."

I closed the Book.

"We need that key."

By afternoon, we were breaking into Callum's old dorm.

It hadn't been used in years — locked, sealed, warded against entry.

But the Book pulsed against my palm, and the door clicked open like it had been waiting for me.

Inside: dust.

Cobwebs.

Silence.

And under the loose floorboard—

A single black key.

Etched with the word: "LISTEN."

We didn't speak until we reached the North Tower — a place so old, even the Headmistress had declared it "structurally unsafe."

Julian broke the final seal.

Theo turned the lock.

I opened the door.

And we stepped into a chamber filled with sound.

But not noise.

Whispers.

Layered.

Eternal.

Every conversation, confession, secret, and betrayal that had ever echoed through Ravencroft's halls — trapped here like ghosts.

The Listening Room wasn't a myth.

It was a memory bank.

And the voice that greeted us first…

Was Anastasia's.

"If you're hearing this, then I failed."

"And that means Elena is alive."

"Which means it's not too late to finish the work."

I dropped the Book.

Theo caught it before it hit the ground.

Julian turned in a slow circle, his face unreadable.

And Anastasia's voice went on:

"Trust only those who remember you without being told to. The rest were trained to forget."

"The walls will whisper. But only you can decide which truth deserves to be written."

And then the whispers returned. Louder.

So loud they made my vision spin.

So loud I had to fall to my knees, covering my ears.

"They took your name, Elena."

"They took your voice."

"They took your love."

"They're coming back for what you know."

I screamed.

And the world fractured again.

But when I opened my eyes, Julian was kneeling beside me.

Not Theo.

Just him.

He gripped my arms and whispered, voice shaking:

"You're not alone. You hear me? I'll remember for you this time. I swear it."

And for the first time since this all began… I believed him.