She stepped from the silence like she belonged to it. Not a sound. Not a breath. Just eyes that had seen more than we could guess.
The forest didn't feel the same after we left the Stillward Pool.
The air was colder. Thinner. Like the trees were holding their breath.
We followed the trail back in near silence, none of us ready to speak first. I kept the Aurumglass wrapped in my scarf and buried in my backpack — but I could still feel it humming, softly, like a heartbeat against my spine. It had shown me something I didn't even know I'd forgotten. A truth about myself I wasn't ready to look at too long.
And I had a feeling… that was only the beginning.
"We need to figure out what's next," Arisa said finally, brushing her hair back with trembling fingers. "The book said three stones. This was the first — the Stone of Self. The second one…"
James pulled out the journal again. Its cover was cracked, half-burned from where he'd yanked it out of the flames that day in the ruins. "The Stone of Mask. 'Mimicite,' right? The face we wear."
"Where's it supposed to be?" I asked.
He flipped a few pages, his brow furrowed. "It says: The Mirror Court, beneath a theatre, buried in ash and dust. Candles burn in reverse. Music plays only when you lie." He glanced up. "That doesn't sound creepy at all."
Arisa gave a short laugh. "Sounds cursed."
We were about to keep walking when I saw her.
Or — I thought I did.
A shape. A flicker. A figure standing between the trees up ahead. Pale clothing, long dark hair. Still as a statue.
Then gone.
I stopped cold.
"Did you see that?" I whispered.
Arisa turned. "See what?"
James squinted. "There was… someone?"
A crunch of leaves behind us made us all spin.
And there she was.
She looked around our age — maybe a little older. Her clothes were dusty and worn, like she'd been walking for days, and her boots were crusted with dried mud and ash. But it was her eyes that stopped me.
Wide, steady, unnerving.
Too calm.
Like she'd already seen what we hadn't yet.
"Don't go back that way," she said quietly. "There's nothing left in the clearing now."
I stepped forward, heart thudding. "You were at the Stillward Pool?"
She nodded. "I saw you. I waited until it was over."
Arisa glanced at me, then back at her. "Who are you?"
She hesitated for a second — just a second — before answering.
"Alice."
That was all she said.
She didn't ask to come with us. She just… started walking beside us like she was already part of it. Like she knew where we were going — maybe even better than we did.
And none of us stopped her.
The weird thing was, she didn't seem surprised by the book, or the stones, or the strange things we'd seen. When we told her about the Stillward Pool, she only nodded, almost sadly, like she'd been there before.
When James asked her how she found the forest, she said, "I followed the echoes."
"What echoes?" I asked.
She looked straight at me and replied, "The ones that don't come from sound."
That shut us up for a while.
We camped near the edge of the forest that night, just outside the ruins of an old train station half-swallowed by roots. The walls were still standing, barely, but the roof had caved in. Moss grew where tracks once ran. It felt safe enough — at least compared to everything else.
The fire we built flickered low, the flames dancing in strange shapes on the stone.
Alice sat across from me, her face half-lit, half-shadowed.
"You've seen it before, haven't you?" I asked. "The mirror. The one that doesn't reflect right."
Her gaze flicked toward me. "You mean the ones that do."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
She smiled, but not like it was funny. "Most mirrors lie. They show you what you want to see. But some? Some show you what you are."
My stomach twisted.
She knew more. I could feel it in the way she spoke — careful, measured, always with a thread of warning beneath her words. But no matter how many questions we asked, she never gave straight answers.
Like she was watching us more than helping.
Arisa noticed it too. Later that night, after Alice had gone to sit by herself on the edge of the firelight, she leaned toward me and whispered, "There's something off about her."
I nodded. "Yeah. But I think she's been through this before."
"Then why won't she just tell us?"
"I think…" I hesitated. "I think we're not ready for the truth yet."
Before we slept, I took the Aurumglass out of my bag one last time.
It was still warm.
I held it up and looked into it — not expecting anything.
But this time, it didn't show a memory.
It showed me.
Not just a reflection.
Not just a face.
It showed everything behind it.
My doubts. My fear. My anger. My guilt.
And the smile on my reflection's face slowly faded.
It whispered, just under the surface, "You will break before the end."
I dropped the stone like it burned.
And from the shadows behind me… I swore I heard Alice whisper:
"You already did."