SARINA POV
We were sitting on the low wall near the park when it finally clicked into place.
The forgetting wasn't random.
And it wasn't new.
I looked at all three of them—Jordan pacing, Ethan staring at his phone like it might suddenly explain everything, Leo sitting too still.
"We've heard this before," I said quietly.
They all looked at me.
"That monster," I continued. "The one we fought weeks ago. The one that laughed."
Jordan stiffened. "The one that said the world wouldn't remember us."
"Yes." I nodded. "It didn't say it like a threat. It said it like a fact."
Lukas folded his arms. "So we find it."
Ethan frowned. "How? It vanished."
"It didn't vanish," I said. "It hid."
Silence settled.
Then I took a breath. "There's someone who can track it."
Jordan stopped pacing. "Someone… human?"
"Not exactly," I said. "An agent. She works alone. Off-record. She's helped me before."
Leo raised an eyebrow. "You trust her?"
I hesitated—just for a second. "She's my closest friend."
That surprised even them.
The place wasn't dramatic.
No secret base.
No glowing doors.
Just an old building at the edge of the city, squeezed between closed shops, with peeling paint and a flickering light above the entrance.
"This is it?" Ethan asked.
"She doesn't like attention," I replied.
Leo had been quiet the whole walk.
Too quiet.
Inside, the air smelled like coffee and dust. Papers were scattered everywhere—maps, photos, notes pinned to boards. Someone had been busy here.
A girl stood near the window, back turned to us.
"Clara," I said.
She turned.
For a second, no one spoke.
Because Leo had gone completely still.
His face drained of color.
"Clara…?" he said, barely audible.
Her eyes widened just slightly before her expression hardened.
"…Leo."
The air shifted.
Jordan glanced between them. "Uh. You two know each other?"
Leo didn't answer.
Clara crossed her arms. "Didn't expect to see you here."
"You disappeared," Leo said quietly. "No message. Nothing."
Clara laughed once—sharp, humorless. "Funny. That's rich, coming from someone who forgot why we ended."
That hit harder than any monster ever had.
I stepped forward quickly. "Clara, we need your help."
She looked at me then—really looked—and her expression changed.
"You're fading," she said.
My heart dropped. "You can see that?"
"Yes," Clara replied. "And I know exactly who did it."
Everyone froze.
She turned to the board and tapped a photo pinned at the center.
A blurred image.
A familiar silhouette.
"The same monster," she said. "It doesn't kill."
She looked back at us.
"It erases."
And then, quietly—
"And it always starts with the ones who matter most."
Clara didn't look at Leo when she spoke.
"You still think I cheated, don't you?"
Leo's jaw tightened. "I saw you, Clara. Late nights. Secret calls. Disappearing for days."
She laughed softly, but there was no humor in it. "And you think I didn't notice you hiding things too?"
That made him look up.
"You were never where you said you were," Clara continued. "You'd come back exhausted, hurt, lying about everything. I thought…" She stopped herself. "I thought you were ashamed of me."
Leo swallowed. "I wasn't."
"Then why didn't you tell me the truth?" she asked.
Because I couldn't.
The words stayed stuck in his throat.
Because how do you tell someone you love that you can bend the air?
That storms answer you?
That your life isn't safe?
And Clara—she had her own silence.
"I couldn't tell you either," she said quietly. "Not who I worked for. Not what I tracked. Not what I hunted."
They stared at each other then, realization settling in slowly.
"You thought I was hiding someone," Clara said.
Leo nodded. "And you thought I was hiding… something else."
They both were right.
And wrong.
Jordan exhaled slowly. "So you broke up because you both kept secrets you weren't allowed to tell."
"Yes," Clara said. "And because we both assumed the worst."
The room felt heavy after that.
Not with anger.
With what could've been said—but wasn't.
Clara turned back to Sarina. "The monster you're looking for feeds on that kind of silence. Secrets. Gaps. Misunderstandings."
Sarina stiffened. "That's why it chose us."
Clara nodded. "And why it started erasing you."
Leo finally spoke again, voice low. "Then we finish what it started."
Clara met his eyes.
"No," she said. "This time… we finish it."
Clara walked to the board and pulled down a map, spreading it across the table. It was worn, folded too many times, with circles and notes scribbled in the margins.
She tapped a spot far from the city.
"The mountains," she said.
Everyone went quiet.
Jordan frowned. "That's… hours away."
"Yes," Clara replied. "And mostly empty. No records. No cameras. No people who stay long enough to notice things going missing."
Sarina felt a chill crawl up her spine. "So that's where it hides."
Clara nodded. "That monster doesn't like noise or crowds. It likes isolation. High places. Thin air."
She glanced briefly at Leo, then back to the map. "Places where disappearing feels natural."
Leo's voice was tight. "You're sure?"
"I've been tracking patterns," Clara said. "Disappearances. Forgotten hikers. Missing names in old village records. They all point there."
Ethan swallowed. "So people didn't just go missing…"
"They were erased," Clara finished.
Sarina closed her eyes for a second. The mountains made sense. Quiet. Watching. Waiting.
"When do we go?" Lukas asked.
Clara didn't hesitate. "Soon. The longer it stays untouched, the stronger it gets."
Jordan looked at Sarina. "And if it's already started…"
Sarina opened her eyes, steady now. "Then we don't wait until the world forgets us completely."
Clara folded the map. "Good. Because once it reaches the final stage—"
She paused.
"No one remembers the fight ever happened."
The room went silent.
Outside, the city hummed like nothing was wrong.
And somewhere beyond it, in the stillness of the mountains, something already knew they were coming.