The next morning, Lena didn't speak much. She barely touched her breakfast. David noticed, but didn't press. He'd learned that pushing her only made her retreat further.
But Lena wasn't just being moody - she was planning.
By noon, David had gone into town for supplies. As soon as his truck disappeared down the gravel road, Lena grabbed her flashlight, a backpack, and Milo - who insisted on following her - and headed back into the woods.
The trail seemed different now. The trees leaned in closer, the air heavier. But she didn't stop. She had to know what she'd awakened.
The house was still there, as if it had been waiting.
Inside, the book remained on the table, untouched. But Lena didn't go to it. She followed the pull - an invisible thread tugging her deeper into the house. Her flashlight flickered as she passed a collapsed hallway and found a door she hadn't noticed before.
It was hidden behind a torn curtain, its frame warped and blackened. The handle was ice cold.
She opened it.
A narrow staircase spiraled downward into darkness. The air smelled of rot and something older - something wrong. Milo hissed and refused to follow.
Lena descended alone.
The basement was a tomb.
Stone walls, damp and cracked. Shelves lined with jars of unidentifiable things. And in the center of the room, a skeleton - chained to the floor, its arms stretched wide in a grotesque parody of a crucifixion.
The bones were old, but the chains were not rusted. They gleamed, as if still in use.
Around the skeleton, symbols were carved into the stone. The same ones from the book. Lena knelt, brushing dust from the floor. Her fingers tingled as they touched the carvings.
A vision slammed into her mind.
A man - wild-eyed, chanting in a forgotten tongue. A ritual gone wrong. A shadow rising from the floor, screaming in fury. The man trying to bind it, to control it - but failing. The spirit turning on him, cursing him, trapping him in his own prison.
Lena gasped and fell back.
The whisper returned, louder now. Clearer.
"He bound me. He fed me. He died trying to own me. Free me."
Lena looked at the skeleton. The original owner. A dark magician who had tried to enslave something far beyond his understanding.
And now, that something was inside her head.