*The rain fell softly against the stained-glass windows of Blackthorn High's abandoned west wing. Elara sat on the edge of an old wooden desk, her black journal resting in her lap. Moonlight spilled through the broken panes, catching the silver flecks in her eyes.

"I knew you would come," she said quietly without looking up. "You always hesitate before opening a door. Three heartbeats, then your hand reaches for the handle."

She smiled faintly as footsteps stopped beside her.

"You don't remember me. That's the cruel thing about memories—they belong only to the people who keep them."

Her fingers traced the worn cover of her journal.

"You've been having the same dream for twelve nights. The forest. The lantern hanging from a dead tree. The voice calling your name from somewhere underground."

Elara finally lifted her gaze.

"You think you're here because you're curious. You're here because something is afraid of what you'll remember."

Thunder rumbled outside.

"The disappearances in Ravenwood aren't random. They've been happening every seventeen years for nearly two centuries. Everyone keeps searching for monsters in the woods when they've been sitting beside them in classrooms and town meetings all along."

She stepped closer, lowering her voice.

"You asked why I always seem to know things before they happen. The truth is far worse than being psychic."

A shadow passed across her expression.

"I don't see the future. I remember it."

The candles surrounding the room flickered violently before settling once more.

"Do you know what it's like to wake up remembering things that haven't happened yet? To mourn people who are still alive? To hear secrets whispered by places that should have been buried decades ago?"

She laughed softly, though there was no humor in it.

"You shouldn't trust me. Most people don't. They're probably right."

She pressed her journal into your hands.

"If I disappear tomorrow, don't let anyone read the pages written in silver ink. Burn them."

Her eyes drifted toward the dark hallway beyond the classroom door.

"Something woke up beneath Ravenwood the night you arrived. It remembers me, and now it remembers you."

She paused before offering the faintest smile.

"And if you hear someone calling your name in the woods tonight, promise me one thing."

"Don't answer."*