Chapter 32: Shadows of the Past

Nighttime in Eldridge Falls had taken on a new quality since then heaviness, a density that clung to skin and weighted each breath. Emma jackknifed into a sitting position, dark, heart thumping hard in her chest, remnants of some dream fogging her mind. The room lay silent, while her pulse was racing, like she'd just run miles. She sat up slowly, careful not to jostle Nathaniel or the baby, and worked to calm her breathing. It felt so real, more real than almost anything she'd ever actually lived. She could still see it behind her eyelids, the figures in the woods shadowy, the chanting soft and unreachable, the feeling of something old and dark closing in around her. Emma rubbed her eyes and took a shaking breath. It wasn't the first night those kinds of dreams burrowed in like a chill and left her ill at ease. Since rebuilding started in this town, they'd seep into her sleep and leave her unsettled. Not that she knew whether it was stress or what, but the dreams felt like a warning of sorts-more hints of something buried just below the surface and just biding its time. She slipped out of bed and padded silently over to the window. Eldridge Falls lay palely bathed in moonlight, eerily aglow. The streets were silent, but the silence was unnatural, almost a threat. The coolness of the glass against her hand brought her thoughts roaming back. "Can't sleep? The voice of Nathaniel sliced through her trance. She turned to him. He was already sitting up in bed, regarding her with concern etched across his face. His hair was tousled from sleep; his eyes spoke volumes about exhaustion mixed with worry. "I had another dream," she whispered, her voice barely audible. Nathaniel swung his legs over the side of the bed and crossed the room to stand beside her. "Was it the same as before?" he asked, laying his hand softly on her shoulder. Emma nodded, staring out into the night. "The woods. The chanting. It's like they're calling me… like something's coming." Nathaniel's jaw set, and he pulled her into a shielding embrace. "We will get through it. Whatever it is, we will face it together." But Emma was not entirely convinced that was how it was supposed to go. It just seemed as though the dreams were too real, the details too specific, to completely disregard. Deep in her gut, she knew they had something to do with the strange occurrences that had plagued their town since this mystical benefactor suddenly showed up. There had been rumours of strange happenings: things that moved by themselves, signs in odd places, people reporting visions of dark figures lurking among the trees. And now this… This feeling of discomfort didn't leave Emma's heart all that morning. She had been listless all day, trying to force the dream from her mind, but it would not be begged to leave and tauntingly rattled her brain. Nathaniel was out, speaking with Mayor Garrison about Elias Thorne and the benefactor; it was left to Emma to her own devices to tend to their daughter and try to make something out of the weirdness going on around them. The afternoon found her at the library. The town library was one of those really old ones, where the shelves were dusty and lined with books that hadn't seen the light of day for several years. It was that type of place to hold secrets, and Emma was rather hoping it might also hold answers. She ran her fingers over the spines of the books, moving down the rows in search of anything that might be a clue to the weird dreams or the happenings lately in Eldridge Falls. Her eyes fell upon a section devoted to local history, and she tugged out a thick leather bound volume from its shelf. Flipping through its pages, one name leapt from the page and made her blood run cold: Nathaniel Blackwood. An entire section of the book concerned the Blackwoods: how they ran the town, deeply ingrained with the secret society that once thrived in Eldridge Falls. A feeling of foreboding began to settle over her as she continued to read until the sound of a voice cut into her thoughts. "You will not find what you're looking for within those pages." Emma jumped, so surprised the volume fell from her hand. Turning, she saw a man standing back in shadow at the end of the aisle, his features hidden beneath a wide-brimmed hat. He was clad in tattered and dusty clothes as if he had been travelling for years. "Who is that?" Emma asked as her heart began to pound. He leaned his head further, his eyes clouding into something unreadable. "My name is irrelevant," he said in a low voice. "I know things, however. Things about this town, about the Blackwood family, about the prophecy you're trying to unravel." Emma's breath hitched in her throat. "How do you know about the prophecy? A smile arced across the man's lips. "I've studied for years, far and wide, piecing it together. And now I'm here because you have to know what's coming." Emma's throat bobbed while her mind geared into motion. "What's coming? He cast a quick, furtive glance around him, as if fearful someone might overhear this. He leaned in closer still and said, "It's the prophecy one that says there comes the time when the old forces shall rise again. The symbols you've seen, the dreams-they are the signs. The secret society running this town never really broke up. They have been waiting. And now they are preparing to wake something very, very ancient. Emma felt a shiver run down her spine. "What do they want to wake up to?" Something clouded over the man's face. "Something that should've stayed buried. But they think that it holds the key to power beyond anything we can imagine. If they succeed, it will destroy everything." Emma's head began to reel. She didn't know if this man was the type to be trusted, but what he said sounded like pieces to a puzzle that fell in with all of the strangeness happening around town and her haunting dreams. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked softly. He didn't say anything more for quite a long time. "Because you are the only one who can stop it. The prophecy speaks of someone of the Blackwood line- somebody who can seal the darkness forever or unleash it. That's why they're after you. And that's why you need to be careful." The heart beating in Emma's chest seemed to come to a standstill. "M-me?" The man nodded seriously. "You and your family are the hub to this. But there is more than what you know. There's a diary, somewhere here in this city, written by one of the founding members of that secret society. That is the key to stopping them. If you find that diary, you may have a chance. Though there were lots of questions in her mind, explanations needed to remain for later; he turned and disappeared instantly into the dark, leaving her between fear and determination. That night, nightmares returned with a vengeance to Emma. It seemed she was standing in the woods, with tall trees looming over her; each second of silence inches in a little nearer towards her. The air was heavy with fog. Some chanting sounds, from a distance, softly reached a louder decibel by the minute. As she walked deeper into the forest, the chanting grew louder in some sort of ancient tongue with which she was unfamiliar. Then, she saw a circle of figures in dark robes, faces hidden beneath hoods, and in the middle, something was carved out on the ground, glowing faintly in the moonlight. It was the same symbol that had surfaced around town, the same one haunting her dreams. The dark energy pulsed, and as Emma continued to stare at it-an omen of bad things to come washed over her. Then, in a fraction of a second, one of the hooded figures turned toward her-and Emma's blood ran cold: It was Elias Thorne. A gleam of evil flashed in his eyes as he spoke, the low voice booming through the woods, "You cannot stop what has already begun." Emma gasped and all but fell backwards, racing heart. Turning to run, she saw the hooded figures closing in upon her, chanting louder and louder until there was a din within her mind that drowned out everything else. It burst in an instant, and Emma was bolt upright in bed, clammy with cold sweat. Though the room was dark, her heart raced against her ribs as if the dream invaded the real world. Nathaniel stirred at her side, one brow furrowed in concern. "Another dream?" Emma nodded, shaking, her hands pressed against her face. "It's getting worse. I saw Elias… and the symbol… it's everywhere. We have to find that diary. It's the only way." Nathaniel's face turned grave as he reached for her hand. "We'll find it. But we need to be very careful. Whoever's behind this… they won't stop until they get what they want." She took a deep breath once more, willing her heart to stop racing. Yet, here at her home, the sanctity concept of running out of time filtered into her mind. Morning the next day, Emma and Nathaniel were off in search of the hidden diary. They looked in the library amidst the old town records, even in abandoned buildings around the outskirts of Eldridge Falls. It was nowhere to be found. It wasn't until they turned over an old farmhouse on the outskirts of the town later that afternoon that they found it, tucked away beneath a loose floorboard in the attic. The diary in and of itself was tattered and fragile, its pages yellowed with age, yet to Emma-instantly-it was like the key they had been searching for. She opened the first page with deliberation; her breath caught in her throat. The handwriting was spidery, and faded, t the words were clear: *The time is near. The darkness stirs.* Emma turned to Nathaniel, her heart racing against her chest. "It's here," she breathed. "It's here-what we've been searching for." Nathaniel nodded grimly. "We've got to read every word carefully. There might just be something in here that can help us stop whatever they're planning." Her hands were trembling while she was turning the pages; soft to the touch, they were. All of it was written in just riddles: Ancient rituals, cryptic signs, malevolent beings that haunted Eldridge Falls. The deeper she read, the more connected the town's history had been to the prophecy. It was halfway through the diary when she came upon the entry which chilled her to her bones: It's one of the Blackwood lineages that is going to seal our fate. The power to seal the darkness is within, but only if the heart is pure. Some secret society just waits in the dark for this moment to strike when the time presents itself. Beware of the false prophet, for he walks among us, hidden in plain sight. Emma swallowed hard. "The One from the Blackwood line… That's me, isn't it? I'm the one they've been waiting for." Nathaniel laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It sounds like it. But it also says you have the power to stop them." Emma shook her head, her voice barely above a whisper. "What if I fail? What if I fail? Nathaniel's grip on the young one strengthened as he reassured him, "You shall never fall. You are much stronger than you would imagine, and you shall never be all alone. I'm with you, all the way.". As they continued, they reached the final pages, with something even more astounding: an extremely detailed view of that symbol that had appeared in town, including instructions on how to make use of it in a ritual capable of sealing the darkness forever or unleashing it. Emma stared at the page, her mind racing. "This is what they are after. They need the symbol to complete the ritual. If we can get to it first, then we can stop them." Nathaniel nodded, eyes narrowing with determination. "Then we need to move fast. The diary says the ritual can only be performed during the next full moon and that's in three days." With each passing moment, it was growing inside Emma that the enemy was drawing closer and closer. It was only when the sun began to set that evening that Emma and Nathaniel finally made their way home, reeling with the things they'd learned from the diary. Yet even as they approached the house, a sense of unease settled strangely over Emma. The air was tight with tension, and the shadows reached farther than they rightly should have. It had silently wrapped itself around them, almost to the point of eeriness, the moment they stepped inside. Emma missed a heartbeat. Something was just not right. "Stay here," said Nathaniel in hush tones, looking around the room, "I will check the rest of the house." Emma didn't move; with every step Nathaniel made, peering room after room, her heartbeat grew. He returned in moments laced with tension, his face pale. "All seems well," he said, yet a shade higher in his voice. "Yet we must be wary." Emma looked around her. Truly, with all senses high, there was this feeling they were being watched. Later in the evening, as they sat together in the faint light of the living room, a knock came from the front door-sudden, sharp, cut like a blade through stillness. Nathaniel and Emma exchanged a look; he was already turned to the knife he kept on the side table. Getting up, he crossed the room cautiously and opened the door just a crack. Before him stood a dark-coated figure; the shadow of his hat obscured all of his face but his eyes, which shone with an unnatural intensity. "How did you do?" Nathaniel pressed, and his voice was low and level. The man smiled vaguely, and his voice came low and disconcerting. "I'm here to help." Emma stepped forward, her heart colliding with her chest. "Help? How do we know we can trust you?" The smile oozed across his features but never reached his eyes. "Because you have no choice. I know about the diary. I know what you're trying to stop. And I also know something you don't." Emma's breath hitched in her throat. "What are you talking about?" His voice fell to a whisper as he leaned closer. "There's someone close to you- someone you trust- who's working against you. A traitor, right under your nose." His eyes flashed. "You're lying." He was rewarded with a shake of the head. "No. I'm giving you a chance to stop it before it's too late. But if you want to find the truth, you'll have to come with me." Apprehensions and fears tumbled over in Emma's mind. Was this a trap? Could this man be telling the truth? Nathaniel stepped in front of her, his body tight with aggression. "We're not going anywhere with you." It was as if the voice of the man grasped the opportunity to ring with disappointment as he let out his sigh. "That is unfortunate. Nevertheless, my offer stands. When you are ready for the truth, you will know where to find me." Saying which, he turned and disappeared into the night until it swallowed him in its darkness. For a long time, there was silence between them; Emma and Nathaniel just stood while his words hung heavy between them as a boulder pressed between them. Finally, it was Emma who spoke, and her voice was a little louder than a whisper. "Do you think… Do you think he's telling the truth? About a traitor?" Nathaniel shook his head; his face was as hard as stone. "I don't know, but we can't trust anyone at the moment until we are sure." Emma nodded, but deep inside her, just then, a bud of doubt had sprouted. Really, could anybody close to them turn against them? And who? It was as if the feeling of doom overcame her the next morning. Emma prepared with Nathaniel all that day, trying to gather all the things that may be needed to impede the completion of the dark plan by the secret society. Yet, in her mind, the words of the stranger gnawed at her. The sun had dipped below Eldridge Falls, casting long shadows across the middle of town as Emma and Nathaniel hurried toward the old meeting house deep in the woods site of the ritual. Silent and urged on by their findings in the diary, they walked now with a new sense of urgency. It wasn't until they reached the meeting house that something finally caught Emma's attention. There, on the bark of the tree, was carved the symbol from her dreams-reddish but in its core glowing faintly, the light never so fast disappearing. The heartbeat of Emma ran with pace. "They're already here." The jaw of Nathaniel was clamped tight as he nodded. "We need to be careful." Cold air turned heavy with an omen when they approached, and in front of them, the meeting house stood dark, its windows opened like eyes to follow their every move. But in an instant, a rustling in the trees behind them whipped Emma around as her heart leapt into her throat. Out from behind the trees stepped quite the unlikely figure: Olivia. Her eyes were wide, her face pale, and in her hands, she clutched a small leather-bound book. "Olivia?" Emma whispered, with shock and bewilderment beyond anything. "What are you doing here?" Olivia hesitated, looking between Emma and Nathaniel before slowly offering the book. "I found this," Olivia said, her voice little more than a shaking whisper. "It's the missing pages of the diary… and there's something in here you need to hear." Emma's eyes widened and her heart fluttered with excitement as she took the book from Olivia's hands, but the moment she opened it, her blood ran cold. The first was a warning. Beware the false prophet, for they walk among you, the mask of friendship but their heart is with darkness." Emma's hands were trembling, her eyes darting upwards at Olivia as her mind started to race. Was this some kind of reality? But before a word could form in her throat, her peripheral vision had betrayed the shifting shadows in the figures emerging from behind the darkened screen. They were not alone. The secret society stepped forward, their hooded faces shutting out the flickering moonlight, and the chanting began. Emma's breath caught in her throat. Time was running out.