The next morning, Hollow Creek felt… wrong.
The sky was gray, but not with clouds — it was too still, like the town was holding its breath.
Lena, Dre, and Kai sat in the cafeteria, but the usual noise of students was gone. People whispered. No one looked at each other. A girl in the corner just stared out the window, not blinking.
"I don't like this," Dre muttered. "It's like everyone's sleepwalking."
Kai rubbed his forehead. "I can still feel him. The king. Like… he left something behind in me."
Lena pulled out the book. It was warm now — like it was breathing.
"I had a dream," she said.
Dre raised an eyebrow. "A normal one, or a 'weird ghost-witch trying to eat your soul' kind of dream?"
Lena didn't smile.
> "She was there. The witch. The one who gave him the curse."
---
The Dream
She had stood in a forest — thick, ancient, black trees taller than skyscrapers.
The witch wore no crown, no cloak — just a tattered dress and skin pale as ash. Her eyes glowed gold like fireflies in the dark.
She smiled without warmth.
> "You opened the gate, little one."
Lena asked her, "Are you the one who cursed him?"
The witch leaned forward, her breath cold as frost.
> "He begged for power. I gave him what he wanted."
> "What do you want, Lena of the broken line?"
Lena didn't answer.
The witch whispered:
> "You could end it. All of it. Burn the root. Burn the name. But everything comes with a price."
> "Even peace."
Then Lena woke up.
---
Now
"Was it real?" Kai asked.
Lena nodded. "Yeah. She's watching me. And the curse didn't die when we burned the root."
She opened the book. A new page had appeared, one they hadn't seen before.
At the top, in jagged black ink:
> THE NAME THAT CAN'T BE SPOKEN TWICE.
Underneath it, a single warning:
> Say it again… and he wakes fully.
Lena's hands shook.
Kai swallowed. "We need to find out his name. And then never say it out loud."
Dre frowned. "And if someone else does?"
The lights above them flickered.
A girl across the cafeteria stood up, eyes rolled back, mouth twitching.
Then she said it.
A name no one should know.
The walls of the school shook.
> He heard.