The melody curled through the fog like a living thing.Closer now.Slower.
It didn't rush them — it coaxed. Like a tide pulling at the shore, patient and certain that eventually, they would give in.
Greaves was shaking his head in jerks, muttering under his breath. "It's just sound. It's just—"
Then his foot slid forward. Just one inch. Toward the black water.
Adrian grabbed his arm, yanking him back. "Eyes here, Greaves!" he barked, forcing the man to meet his gaze.
The woman from the tavern moved closer, her voice low and urgent. "You have to keep your thoughts loud," she said. "Talk to yourself. Shout if you have to. Don't leave any quiet in your head — that's where it gets in."
Another shadow passed just beneath the water's surface. It moved with impossible grace, trailing a ripple that shimmered faintly, even in the dim light. Adrian's grip tightened on his revolver, but the thought of firing into that darkness felt useless. Whatever was down there, bullets wouldn't stop it.
The song changed again. The voice — if it was a voice — softened, becoming something almost human. It sounded like someone Adrian once knew. Someone he'd lost.
His chest tightened. He couldn't place the memory, but it was there, heavy and familiar, tugging at him like a hand from the deep.
"Adrian."
He froze.
It had said his name.
"Adrian… you don't have to be alone."
The boards beneath his boots groaned as he stepped forward without realizing. The water's edge gleamed. He could almost see a figure down there, reaching for him.
The woman's voice cut through like a blade. "It lies!" she shouted, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him back so hard his shoulder wrenched.
The song faltered — just for a heartbeat — and in that instant, a shape surged from the water.
It wasn't human.
Its skin was slick and pale, stretched too tightly over long limbs. Its eyes were black pits, endless and empty. And from its open mouth came that same melody, more beautiful and more terrible than anything Adrian had ever heard.
Greaves screamed.
The woman shoved Adrian toward the dock's end. "Run!"
They sprinted, the boards rattling beneath them, but the creature moved with horrifying speed, slithering back into the water and keeping pace below.
Adrian's boots hit the shore just as another splash erupted behind them. He spun, revolver raised, but the fog swallowed everything — water, dock, creature, all gone as if they'd imagined it.
Only the echo of the song lingered, faint and far away.
Adrian's breath came hard. He turned to the woman. "What was that?"
She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she stared out at the fog and whispered, almost to herself:
"One of the Drowned. And now… it knows your name."