Rain still fell when the police finally let Lira go.
They asked too many questions.
Where had she come from?
Why was she alone in the road?
Why were there no witnesses who remembered seeing her before the car almost hit her?
She answered what she could.
"I got lost."
"I don't remember."
"I must have wandered."
They didn't believe her.
But they had nothing else to go on.
People rarely did.
——
By the time she reached the apartment building, the storm had softened to a thin, steady drizzle. Water dripped from the fire escape ladders and pooled in cracks along the pavement. The streetlights buzzed faintly, casting everything in a tired yellow glow.
Home.
Or something close to it.
The building was old. The kind that smelled permanently of dust, detergent, and faint mildew no amount of cleaning could erase.
Paint peeled in thin curls along the hallway walls, revealing layers of color from decades past.
Lira climbed the stairs slowly, exhaustion weighing down every step.
Second floor.
Door 2B.
A strip of warm light shone beneath it.
Relief loosened something tight in her chest.
She knocked once, then pushed the door open.
"Mara? I'm back."
The small apartment was exactly as she had left it.
Cramped but tidy, every surface carefully maintained as if order itself were a shield against chaos.
A pot simmered on the stove, filling the air with the comforting smell of vegetable soup.
Mara stood at the counter, her back to the door.
For a moment, she didn't turn around.
"Mara?"
Slowly, the woman faced her.
And froze.
Not in surprise.
Not in relief.
In shock.
Her dark eyes widened, draining of color as they scanned Lira from head to toe, soaked clothes, trembling hands, rain-slick hair plastered to her face.
"You're…"Mara's voice cracked. "You're home."
Something about the way she said it made Lira's stomach twist.
"Yeah,"Lira said cautiously. "Where else would I be?"
Mara crossed the room in two quick strides and grabbed her shoulders, fingers digging in hard enough to hurt.
Her hands were shaking.
"Where were you?"
The question came out too sharp.
Too desperate.
"I told the police—I got lost—"
"Lost?" Mara repeated, voice rising. "For three hours?"
Three hours?
Lira's mind reeled. It had felt like minutes.
"I—I don't know—"
Mara pulled her into a tight embrace so sudden it stole the air from her lungs. The woman's heart hammered wildly against Lira's cheek.
"You can't do that,"she whispered fiercely. "You can't disappear like that. Not now."
Not now.
The words lodged in Lira's mind like a splinter.
"Why?" she asked quietly.
Mara didn't answer.
——
Later, wrapped in dry clothes and clutching a steaming mug of soup, Lira sat at the small kitchen table while Mara hovered nearby, pretending to wipe already-clean counters.
She kept glancing over.
Watching.
As if afraid Lira might vanish again if she looked away too long.
The silence stretched until it became unbearable.
"Mara," Lira said finally, "something happened tonight."
The cloth in Mara's hand stopped moving.
"Something strange."
Silence.
Lira hesitated. "On the bus… everyone just froze. And the windows went black and—"
"Enough."
The word snapped through the air like a whip.
Lira flinched.
Mara's back was still turned, shoulders rigid, knuckles white around the edge of the counter.
"You were tired,"she said tightly. "You imagined it."
"I didn't imagine it."
"You did."
"Mara—"
"I said enough."
The finality in her voice left no room for argument.
But it didn't erase the fear.
Or the suspicion.
——
That night, Lira couldn't sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the creature pressing against the bus window.
Heard that whisper echoing inside her skull.
Found you.
She rolled onto her side, staring at the faint glow of streetlight leaking through the curtains.
Something moved in the hallway.
Soft footsteps.
She held her breath.
The apartment was small...
There was nowhere to go without being heard.
A sliver of light appeared beneath her bedroom door.
Then shadows shifted.
Someone was standing there.
"Mara?" she called softly.
No answer.
The doorknob didn't turn.
The shadow didn't move.
It just stood there.
Watching.
Her pulse pounded louder and louder until she was sure it would give her away.
Finally, she forced herself out of bed and crossed the room on shaking legs.
She reached for the knob—
The shadow vanished.
The hallway light was off.
The apartment silent.
She opened the door slowly.
Empty.
"Mara?"she whispered.
From the other room came the faint sound of something sliding shut.
A drawer.
Or a box.
——
Mara's bedroom door was slightly open.
Light spilled through the crack.
Lira pushed it wider.
"Mara, are you—"
She stopped.
Mara stood beside her bed, facing the wall, holding something small and rectangular in both hands.
A photograph.
The woman didn't turn around.
Didn't acknowledge her.
Instead, she spoke in a voice Lira had never heard before.
Soft.
Broken.
"You weren't supposed to find her."
Lira's skin prickled. "Find who?"
Mara spun around, eyes wide, as if she had forgotten Lira was there.
"Nothing."
"What did you mean—"
"I said nothing."
But the photograph trembled violently in her hands.
Lira stepped closer. "Mara… what's going on?"
For a long moment, the older woman just stared at her.
Fear warred with something else in her expression.
Guilt.
Finally, she sighed and sat heavily on the edge of the bed.
"You know I adopted you," she said quietly.
Lira nodded. "Yeah."
"You were… found."
"Where?"
Mara hesitated.
"In a park," she said at last. "Wrapped in a blanket. No note. No name. Just you."
She forced a small smile. "Luckiest day of my life."
But her eyes didn't match the smile.
Lira's gaze drifted to the photograph.
"Can I see?"
Mara's grip tightened reflexively.
Then, slowly, she handed it over.
It showed a younger Mara standing beside a hospital bed, looking exhausted but fiercely protective.
In her arms was a tiny newborn wrapped in pale fabric.
Lira.
Except…
Something was wrong.
The blanket in the photo wasn't plain.
It was embroidered with intricate silver patterns, swirling shapes that almost seemed to move when she looked at them too long.
And around the baby's neck…
The same thorn-and-star pendant she wore now.
"This was the day I brought you home,"Mara said.
Lira frowned. "But you said I was found in a park."
"I did."
"Then why is this in a hospital?"
Mara's face went pale.
Silence stretched.
Ticked.
Pressed.
"I… must have remembered wrong," she said finally.
The lie was obvious.
Painfully obvious.
Lira set the photo down carefully.
"Who am I, Mara?"
The question hung between them like a blade.
Mara's eyes filled with tears she refused to let fall.
"You're my daughter," she said hoarsely.
"That's not what I asked."
The woman looked at her as if memorizing her face.
As if time were running out.
"You're the girl I chose,"she whispered.
Before Lira could respond, a loud crash echoed from the living room.
Both of them jerked toward the sound.
Glass shattered.
Wind roared through the apartment as if a storm had burst inside.
The lights flickered violently.
Lira's necklace burned against her skin.
Mara's expression transformed instantly, fear replaced by something sharper.
Decision.
"Go to your room,"she said.
"What? No—"
"NOW."
The command carried a force Lira had never heard before.
From the living room came a heavy thud.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Something was inside their home.
Mara grabbed Lira's shoulders, eyes blazing.
"No matter what you hear,"she said urgently, "you do not come out. Do you understand me?"
"Mara—"
"Promise me."
The desperation in her voice made Lira's throat tighten.
"…I promise."
Mara cupped her face briefly, pressing a trembling kiss to her forehead.
"I'm sorry,"she whispered.
Then she turned and walked toward the living room.
Toward the intruder.
Toward whatever had followed Lira home.
The hallway lights went out.
Darkness swallowed everything.
And from the other room came a voice that did not sound human at all.
"Give her back."
Lira's heart stopped.
Back?
Back where?
Something slammed into the wall hard enough to rattle the entire apartment.
Mara cried out.
Lira clapped both hands over her mouth to keep from screaming.
Furniture splintered.
Glass exploded.
And through it all, that same terrible voice echoed again.
"You cannot hide the Crown forever."
——