Mira gripped the bouquet with shaking hands. The petals were cold. Wet. Like they'd just been pulled from the lake. She dropped them and backed into the house, slamming the door.
"She remembers you now."
What did that mean?
She thought of the photo in her grandmother's house—the one on the dock. Was it possible she'd seen that woman before? Or… had they met the night her parents took her away from here?
Mira didn't sleep. She sat with her back to the wall, watching the windows, waiting for the whisper to return.
At dawn, Jin knocked.
"You got the lilies," he said quietly. Not a question.
"She left them," Mira said. "She knows who I am."
Jin glanced at the lake. "The full moon is tonight."
Mira's heart dropped. "What happens then?"
He looked at her, expression heavy. "That's when the lake chooses."
***
By sunset, clouds gathered. Wind tore through the trees. Mira found an old necklace in a wooden box—hers, from childhood. Her grandmother had carved a charm into it: a mirrored spiral, same as in the journal.
Protection, maybe.
Jin returned with a lantern and a plan.
"If she's marked you, you can't run. But maybe we can trap her."
"Trap a ghost?"
"She's not just a ghost. She's memory. Pain. Grief. The lake made her."
They stepped out onto the dock together. The moon rose—full, white, and cold.
The water stirred.
Then, rising slowly, came the woman—dripping, hollow-eyed, arms reaching.
But this time… she spoke.
"Mira…"
Mira's voice trembled. "Why me?"
"Because you forgot me."
The water surged—
And Mira remembered.
The day her aunt drowned. Her real aunt. Pulling Mira to safety. And Mira, only six, had run—never looked back.
The lake had been waiting ever since.
---