Chapter 24 · Mom Is Under the Water

"You have to go in."

Daniel's voice came from behind me but I couldn't look away from the lake. The line running from my chest glowed red under my shirt, pulling taut like a leash.

"What happens if I don't?"

"The house keeps you anyway. This way you get to choose how it ends."

I turned. His face was pale, jaw set. "You knew. You knew it would be me."

"I knew it would be one of you. You or your mother. The house doesn't let go of bloodlines."

"She's dead."

"That's why it wants you."

The water behind me rippled. No wind. Just movement from below, something rising.

"Tell me what I'm walking into," I said.

"Your mother's last memory. The one she buried to get out. You find it, you can end the contract. Or you can leave it there and she stays trapped. Half alive. Forever."

"That's not a choice."

"It's the only one the house gives."

I looked back at the water. The line from my chest disappeared under the surface, glowing brighter the deeper it went. I could see shapes down there now. Pale.