Aleya agrees.
She appears on land, dressed in a beautiful white saree, glowing faintly in the early dawn.
Mariam stares at the girl—something feels… wrong.
But she welcomes her anyway.
Yet strange things begin to happen in the house. Mirrors crack. Oil lamps flicker without wind. Arif's dreams are haunted by sea voices.
That night, a village elder visits.
He sees Aleya from afar and turns pale.
"Boy," he says, "that's no human. That's an Aleya. A ghost. A sea spirit that lures fishermen to their deaths."