It had been about three weeks since that weird evening with Aunt Reina.

Lana hadn't really talked to Una since then. At first, Una thought she was just busy, but when her texts went unanswered and the few times they crossed paths at school Lana barely said more than a "hey," she knew something was wrong.

Una hated the quiet between them. They'd always talked about everything, school gossip, random crushes, random TikTok nonsense. Now, it was just awkward smiles and short replies. It didn't feel like them anymore.

So one afternoon, Una decided she was done waiting.

Lana was sitting on the bench behind the cafeteria, scrolling through her phone with her earphones in when Una walked up to her.

"Hey," Una said carefully. "You've been avoiding me."

Lana looked up, pulling one earphone out. "Avoiding you? No. Just... giving space."

"Why?" Una frowned. "Did I do something?"

Lana sighed, placing her phone down. "You really don't remember, do you?"

Una blinked. "Remember what?"

"That day," Lana said, "when you came to me talking about weird things happening around you. You literally said you were moving water and that your aunt was acting strange. We planned to talk to her, Una. And then, out of nowhere, you acted like I made the whole thing up."

Una stared at her, stunned. "Lana, I swear, I don't remember saying that. I thought you were mad about something else."

Lana scoffed softly. "Well, it made me feel like I was crazy for believing you."

"I'm sorry," Una said, her voice soft. "I really am. I don't even understand half the things happening to me lately. But I didn't mean to make you feel stupid."

Lana looked at her for a while before her lips curved into a small grin. "Alright, apology accepted. But next time you decide to start moving cups and water like Elsa, give me a heads-up."

Una laughed, shaking her head. "Promise."

It felt good to laugh again. The weirdness between them melted away just a little.

But as their laughter died down, Una hesitated, then asked quietly, "Can you... Tell me what actually happened that day? From the start? Because I can't remember a thing. It's blank."

Lana tilted her head. "You really want to know?"

Una nodded. "Everything."

"Okay," Lana said, sitting up. "We got to your house. Your aunt smiled at us like she always does, and told us to sit down. Then she offered us food, that stew she makes with all those herbs. You even joked about how it smells like she's cooking an entire garden."

Una frowned slightly. "Yeah... I kind of remember that."

"Well," Lana continued, "after we started eating, she went upstairs. Then, a few minutes later, she started humming. You know, that soft tune she hums sometimes? I even teased her. I said, 'Okay, go Shakira!'" Lana chuckled, then her tone softened. "But then something changed. You froze for a bit. Just listening. Then you started humming along too."

Una blinked, startled. "I... what?"

"Yeah. You were literally humming the same song. At first, I thought it was just cute, but then you looked far away. Like, your eyes were open, but you weren't there. It freaked me out."

Una's skin prickled. "Lana, that's... really creepy."

"I know," she said. "And then when we were done eating, I told you, 'Okay, let's talk to your aunt now,' and you turned to me, totally blank, and said, 'What conversation?' Just like that."

Una exhaled, her voice trembling. "That's impossible."

"It happened, Una. I remember it like it was yesterday."

There was a pause before Lana continued. "I know it sounds crazy, but maybe your aunt... did something."

Una swallowed hard. "You mean like magic?"

"I mean something," Lana said. "I started doing my own research after that day. Because, honestly, the way you were humming and then forgot everything? It screamed creepy vibes. I went online and found stories about siren songs, you know, how they can control or erase memories. Like Bianca in the Wednesday series..."

Una's breath hitched. "Now you're the one allowing freak characters to get to you. You think Aunt Reina used one on me?"

"I don't know. But it fits." Lana leaned in. "And that's not all. Remember that creepy book? You dropped it that day before you ran out. I kept it. I looked through it. Googled some of the symbols. I even went to the library to ask that weird librarian. He nearly chased me out."

"What did he say?" Una asked quickly.

"Nothing. Just told me I shouldn't be messing with things I do not understand and are clearly not my business. Which, honestly, only made me dig deeper," Lana said, pulling out her phone. "And I found this."

She scrolled for a second and then turned her screen toward Una.

It was a photo of a wide, mist-covered campus with old stone buildings surrounded by tall pines and a thin fog rolling over the ground. Under it was a name in faded gold letters:

"University of Ardenvale."

"What's this?" Una asked softly.

"It's a university," Lana explained, "but it's got a department for mystical studies, mythology, and folklore. Apparently, some of the students there research old legends, strange abilities, stuff like that. I even found this article by a girl who said she used to have weird things happen to her like flickering eyes, things moving around her - kind of like you. She studied there for a few years and said she finally understood herself."

Una's fingers brushed the screen, her heartbeat thudding in her ears. "She... wrote that?"

"Yeah," Lana nodded. "She said Ardenvale helped her make sense of things. And, well, the place itself has a reputation. Some say it's haunted, others say it's just... different. The kind of place where weird things don't feel that weird anymore."

Una didn't answer. She couldn't.

Because as she stared at the photo on Lana's phone, her chest tightened.

Something inside her stirred - like the ground beneath her shifted. It was the same feeling she had when she picked that old book at the library.

Her fingers trembled. The edges of the photo seemed to blur for a second, and the faint sound of running water echoed faintly in her ears though there was no stream nearby. The air felt heavier.

And suddenly, she whispered, almost to herself,

"I know this place."

Lana blinked. "What?"

Una's voice was barely a breath. "I've been there... I've seen this before."

Lana blinked. "What do you mean you know it? You've never been there."

"I don't know," Una said, shaking her head. "I just... I've seen it before. Somewhere."

"Maybe in a dream?" Lana teased, trying to lighten the air. "Or one of those random YouTube documentaries you binge at 2 a.m.?"

But Una didn't laugh. Her fingers hovered over the phone, trembling slightly.

The image seemed to hum. Like the gate itself was calling her name.

"Lana," she said softly, not taking her eyes off the screen. "Something's not right about this place... and I think it's calling me."

A loud thunderclap just once but enough to make both girls freeze.

Lana gave a nervous laugh. "Okay, that was... weird timing."

But Una couldn't hear her. Her gaze was still fixed on the gate, her reflection warped against the phone screen. The air felt heavier, and the scent of sulfur and ancient wood smoke (like the trauma in her dreams) flooded her senses for a split second.

​

And somewhere, deep in the static silence that followed, she thought she heard a voice-faint, distant, and hauntingly familiar whisper the name.

"Nevera..."

Una lifted her head, her eyes bright and resolute. "I have to go there, Lana. Now."

​Lana's eyes widened. "Now? Una, school just started!"

​"I can't stay here knowing my life is a secret my aunt is actively hiding," Una stated, grabbing her friend's hands. "If that place is the only way I can make sense of these, then I am not taking chances. Help me apply, Lana. I am going to Ardenvale."

​That night, Una dreamed again.

​But this one felt different from the others. Everything around her was bright, almost too bright. The air shimmered with a soft golden glow, and strange, beautiful flowers, glowing faintly in the light, moved like they were breathing. The place was beautiful, and quiet.

​And then she saw him.

​He was standing a little way off, half in the shadow of a tree that glittered like silver. He was tall, with broad shoulders and strong arms, a body that looked carved, not built. His hair was dark, almost black, and fell carelessly over his forehead. Even from a distance, she could see the outline of his sharp and powerful jawline and the way he stood, calm but somehow... commanding.

​Her heart gave a strange, powerful pull.

​

When he turned, the air seemed to shift.

​She caught a glimpse of his face, or part of it. Because there was something covering it, like a faint shadow or mark, blurring his features. She could see his mouth, his strong nose, the curve of his cheekbone, but not his eyes. The one thing she wanted most to see was hidden from her.

​Still, she felt them. Even without seeing them, she could feel the weight of his gaze, the heat of it on her skin, like fire and ice both at once.

​"Who are you?" she asked softly.

​He didn't answer. He just looked at her, and his voice was deep, low, almost like thunder rumbling far away.

​"I am the one who completes you," he said.

​Una's brows furrowed in confusion. "What does that mean?" she asked.

​He smiled a little. It was faint, but it made her stomach twist.

​"I've been waiting," he said. "And soon, you won't need to ask."

​She took another step toward him. The closer she got, the stronger the pull became, like something invisible was tying her to him.

​But then, as she reached out a hand, something inside her screamed to stop. It wasn't fear, not exactly. It was more like her body knew a terrible truth her mind refused to accept.

​She was almost close enough to reach him when the mark on his face shifted like smoke twisting in the light and for a split second, she saw his eyes.

​They were piercing; a deep storm-grey, flecked with silver. Wild. Beautiful. Sad. It was the most intense, overwhelming feeling she had ever known, and yet, deep beneath the pull, a chilling, primal terror whispered the same warning as the blood-filled dreams.

​Then his hand reached out. His fingers brushed hers lightly at first, teasing, and she gasped. It was like the air itself had weight, holding them together. She wanted to fall into him, but the whisper in her mind, the voice of her ancestor said no. This was wrong. This wasn't real. Yet every fiber of her body screamed yes.

​

The world around them shattered into fragments of gold and white. Wind rushed through her hair.

The ground vanished beneath her feet.

​He shouted something, but it was lost in the noise.

​Then Una woke up, gasping, clutching her chest.

​Her heart felt like it was still caught in that dream, still trying to reach for him.

​She sat there for a long time, staring into the dark, trying to make sense of it.

​She didn't know his name, or why it felt so real.

But deep inside her, she could still feel the echo of his voice, low, rough, and warm against her skin.

​"I've been waiting..."

The two weeks passed in a blur of nervous tension and quiet activity. Lana, a whirlwind of efficiency, had used every contact and every scrap of information she found online to expedite Una's application to Ardenvale's Mythology department. Getting transcripts transferred mid-semester was a logistical nightmare, but Lana somehow managed it. The final acceptance email arrived on a Tuesday, and Una felt less relief than a stark, cold certainty. She had a map now; all that was left was the journey.

​Una hadn't mentioned the acceptance to Aunt Reina. The air in the house had been eerily calm since the night of the siren song. Reina was quiet, almost too gentle, constantly offering Una her special herb tea. The silence felt less like peace and more like a carefully maintained prison.

​One Thursday afternoon, with Reina working a double shift at the hospital, Una finally gave into the deep, gnawing suspicion. She waited until the front door clicked shut and then walked straight to her aunt's room.

​

The room smelled of dry herbs and something sweet, like old incense. It was simple, dominated by a large wooden chest at the foot of the bed and a cluttered desk. Una didn't know what she was looking for, a photo, a letter, anything, until her gaze fell on a worn leather journal tucked beneath a pile of hospital paperwork.

​Her hands trembled as she opened it. It wasn't a diary of daily events; it was a journal of observations, written in Reina's careful, looping script. Una flipped through pages detailing plant names and brewing times until one entry, dated ten years prior, stopped her heart.

​"October 10th. The spark is growing stronger. She asked about the flickering streetlights again. I doubled the dosage of Valerian root and Willow, but it won't be enough for long. She is almost twelve-the age the others began to show. I must find a way to bind the core, or the Legacy will tear through the constraints. Forgive me, Nevera. I cannot let her walk that path. It is for her protection. I pray that they never find her."

​Una's breath hitched. Legacy. Nevera. They? Who were they?

​She slammed the book shut, the faint leather scent mixing with the sudden rush of cold panic. Reina wasn't just worried; she was actively using herbs to suppress something powerful in Una, something tied to a long-ago murder and a clan Una had never heard of. Her whole life had been a lie, a chemical cage.

She ran back to her room, throwing the rest of her clothes into a duffel bag alongside the journal and the cryptic dark green book. She scribbled a note onto a torn piece of notebook paper.

​"Aunt Reina,

​I'm leaving. Don't try to find me or stop me. I know you think you are protecting me, but keeping the truth is slowly killing me. I am going to find the answers you tried to hide. I deserve to know what a Legacy is, and who Nevera was.

​I hope someday you can forgive me.

- Una"

​She placed the note on her bed, beside the journal so Aunt Reina would know she read every page, zipped her bags, and slipped out the back window.

​Lana was waiting in her beat-up car, parked two streets away. As Una slid into the passenger seat, Lana didn't ask any questions. She just looked at Una's trembling hands and the fierce, determined terror in her eyes.

​"Ardenvale is alot of miles away," Lana said, her voice steady. "You ready?"

​Una looked at the small house disappearing behind the shadows of the trees. The house where she had been loved, and where she had been utterly betrayed.

​Una nodded, clutching her backpack and the two books inside. "Drive," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "And don't stop until we get there."

​The car pulled away, leaving Salem and its secrets behind. Una was finally on the road to her destiny.