The house screamed.

Not creaked.

Not groaned.

Screamed.

The sound came from beneath the floor, from inside the walls, from somewhere so deep that Mara felt it vibrating inside her bones.

Elias grabbed her wrist.

“Move!”

They ran.

Smoke filled the underground room as the photographs continued burning. Mara followed Elias up the stone staircase, clutching the strange photograph in one hand.

Behind them came the sound of footsteps.

Slow.

Heavy.

Deliberate.

Mara looked back.

The black-eyed woman stood at the bottom of the stairs.

She wasn’t chasing them.

She was smiling.

“Run, Mara.”

Her voice echoed through the passage.

“You always run.”

Mara turned away.

They reached the hidden door.

Elias pushed it open.

Cold rain blew into the hallway.

Mara stumbled through.

The moment Elias crossed the doorway, the hidden door slammed shut behind them.

Silence.

Mara leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

“What was that?”

Elias didn’t answer.

“What was that thing?”

“I don’t know.”

“You said you knew my mother.”

“I did.”

“You said she was alive.”

“I believe she is.”

Mara held up the photograph.

“Then explain this.”

Elias stared at it.

His expression changed.

“I’ve seen this before.”

“Where?”

“On the night your mother disappeared.”

Mara’s chest tightened.

“What happened that night?”

Elias looked toward the grandfather clock.

The clock was moving again.

Its hands showed 12:07.

Exactly where they had stopped.

“You deserve the truth.”

Mara waited.

Elias walked toward the living room.

“There was a storm that night too.”

Mara followed.

“Your mother called me at eleven forty-three.”

“What did she say?”

“She said she’d found the door.”

Mara frowned.

“The same door?”

“No. A different one.”

He stopped beside the fireplace.

“She said something was living beneath the house.”

Mara felt a chill.

“What?”

“She wouldn’t tell me over the phone.”

“Why?”

“She said the walls were listening.”

Mara looked around.

“She wasn’t wrong.”

Elias nodded.

“When I arrived, the house was empty.”

“Except for me.”

“Yes.”

Mara’s memory suddenly shifted.

A flash.

Her mother’s hand.

Rain.

A red coat.

Someone screaming.

Mara closed her eyes.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“I remember something.”

She pressed her fingers against her forehead.

“There was a basement.”

Elias went still.

“There was a basement door.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know.”

Mara opened her eyes.

“The kitchen.”

They hurried there.

The kitchen looked ordinary.

Old cabinets.

Stone counters.

A narrow window above the sink.

Elias examined the floor.

“Where?”

Mara pointed toward the corner.

“There.”

He moved a wooden cabinet.

Behind it was a small metal ring embedded in the floor.

Mara stared.

“That wasn’t there before.”

Elias pulled the ring.

A wooden panel lifted.

Cold air rose from below.

A staircase descended into darkness.

Mara’s heart began pounding.

“Another passage.”

Elias looked at her.

“This wasn’t on the plans.”

“Nothing here is.”

They descended.

The stairs were newer than the ones beneath the hidden room.

At the bottom was a concrete corridor.

Unlike the old stone passage, this place looked almost modern.

Electric cables ran along the ceiling.

Several doors lined the walls.

Each door had a number.

Mara stopped.

At the end of the corridor was a larger door.

17.

The same number from the room upstairs.

Elias whispered, “No.”

“What?”

“This shouldn’t exist.”

Mara walked toward it.

The door opened before she touched it.

A voice came from inside.

“Mara.”

She froze.

It was her mother’s voice.

But this time it sounded different.

Not threatening.

Not strange.

Terrified.

“Please.”

Mara looked at Elias.

“I think that’s really her.”

Elias shook his head.

“We don’t know that.”

The voice came again.

“Mara, I’m sorry.”

Mara stepped inside.

The room was empty.

There was only a chair in the middle.

A tape recorder sat on it.

Mara stared.

Elias entered behind her.

“Don’t touch it.”

But Mara had already pressed play.

Static filled the room.

Then a woman’s voice.

Her mother’s.

“If you’re hearing this, something went wrong.”

Mara’s eyes filled with tears.

Her mother continued.

“I don’t know how much time I have.”

Static.

“I need you to remember one thing.”

A pause.

“Never trust the voice that sounds like me.”

Mara looked at Elias.

The recording continued.

“The thing beneath this house doesn’t kill people.”

Mara swallowed.

“It copies them.”

The tape crackled.

“It copies their memories. Their voices. Their faces.”

Mara whispered, “The woman upstairs.”

Her mother continued.

“If it ever finds you, it will try to convince you that I’m calling you.”

The tape stopped.

Mara stared at the recorder.

Then it started again.

But the voice had changed.

It was no longer her mother’s.

It was Mara’s own voice.

“You’re too late.”

Mara dropped the recorder.

Elias stepped backward.

“What?”

The room lights turned on.

Mara looked around.

The walls were covered with mirrors.

Hundreds of them.

Each mirror showed a different version of the room.

But in every reflection, Mara was standing beside someone.

Her mother.

Elias.

The black-eyed woman.

The little girl.

And in one mirror, Mara saw herself lying on the floor.

Exactly like the photograph.

She walked toward it.

Elias grabbed her.

“Don’t.”

Mara pulled away.

“That’s me.”

“I know.”

“But how?”

“I don’t know.”

The mirror version of Mara suddenly opened her eyes.

Mara froze.

The reflection stood up.

It looked directly at her.

Then it smiled.

Elias whispered, “Don’t look at it.”

The reflection lifted its hand.

It pressed its palm against the inside of the mirror.

Mara slowly raised her own hand.

Their palms met through the glass.

A sharp pain exploded through her head.

Memories flooded into her mind.

Her mother running.

A hidden room.

A man screaming.

Elias standing beside a machine.

A little girl crying.

And then—

Mara saw herself.

Eight years old.

Standing in the basement.

Her mother was kneeling in front of her.

“Mara, listen to me.”

The child was crying.

“Mommy, I’m scared.”

“I know.”

Her mother placed the silver moon bracelet around the girl’s wrist.

“Whatever happens, remember this.”

“What?”

“Your real mother will always know the secret.”

“What secret?”

Her mother leaned closer.

“The moon has two sides.”

The memory changed.

The room filled with smoke.

A door opened.

Something came through.

Mara’s mother screamed.

Then she pushed young Mara behind a wall.

“Don’t come out!”

The child cried.

“Mommy!”

Her mother turned.

And Mara saw the black-eyed woman standing behind her.

It looked exactly like her mother.

The real mother whispered:

“Don’t let it hear you.”

The memory ended.

Mara collapsed.

Elias caught her.

“Mara!”

She opened her eyes.

Her head was pounding.

“I remember.”

“What?”

“My mother didn’t disappear.”

Elias said nothing.

“She locked me behind the wall.”

“Yes.”

“Then she fought that thing.”

“Yes.”

“And you came.”

Elias lowered his eyes.

“What happened to her?”

He didn’t answer.

Mara grabbed his coat.

“What happened?”

“I couldn’t save her.”

Mara’s voice broke.

“Where is she?”

Elias looked toward the mirrors.

“She’s still here.”

Mara turned.

Every mirror had changed.

Now they all showed the same image.

A woman sitting alone in a dark room.

Mara’s mother.

Alive.

Older.

Tired.

She looked directly at Mara.

Her lips moved.

Mara couldn’t hear her.

Then Elias whispered:

“She’s behind the basement wall.”

A loud bang shook the room.

The mirrors cracked.

One after another.

Mara stepped backward.

A voice came from behind them.

“Don’t believe him.”

Elias turned.

The black-eyed woman stood in the doorway.

But this time, she wasn’t wearing her mother’s face.

She wore Mara’s.

The creature smiled.

And spoke in Mara’s own voice.

“Because I’m the one who remembers everything.”

The lights went out.

A hand grabbed Mara from behind.

She screamed.

Then the basement door slammed shut.

End of Chapter 4