Lilly gasped, jolting awake as if yanked off a nightmare. Around her, the apartment dimmed into darkness, but it was safer than the twisted reality she had just passed through. Her chest was heaving in and out with fast breathing, her heart racing like she had just finished some sort of marathon. Sheets were damp with sweat, and her muscles ached as if she had been there in person through that ritual. She put a shaking hand to her forehead in a vain effort to stem the whirling masses inside her skull. Different, this vision had been more real, more immediate. She hadn't seen the past; she'd felt it, lived it. Worst of all, she'd heard the voice of the entity: cold and unrelenting, speaking across time directly into her mind.
"You can't stop what's already been started. The dead are mine."
The words echoed in her mind, an omen she would not be rid of. This wasn't about the past anymore. The entity made it clear-it knew her, and it was coming for her. Lilly kicked her legs over the side of the bed and stood, her knees wobbly from the intensity of the vision. The room spun for a moment and she had to steady herself on the edge of her desk to keep from falling. Her body felt weak, and drained, as if the vision had taken something from her.
She was staring around her small apartment; the dim light issuing from the street outside cast shadows on the walls. It was well after midnight, but sleep was out of the question now-not after what she had just seen. She couldn't sit here and do nothing while it got stronger, while those in West Wood Cemetery got more restless.
She needed answers, real answers, and there was only one person who could give them to her.
Silas.
Lilly's heart just clenched with the thought of him. He had been hiding things from her, she knew that now. Being part of the Grey family`s rituals, he maybe hadn`t wanted that, but he knew about them. Still, he hadn`t told her the whole truth. Maybe he couldn`t.
Either the trauma of his death clouded his memory, or some sort of lingering residue of whatever entity had been hanging on to him, not wanting him to speak freely. Whatever the reason, she had to confront him-she had to know it all if she was going to stand any chance against stopping this.
She snatched her jacket from the back of the chair as she didn't bother with any more time wastage. The pull of the cemetery was undeniable now, and she couldn't resist it anymore. She just had to go back, had to face Silas, and demand the truth.
It was about three in the morning when Lilly arrived at West Wood Cemetery.
It had been hauntingly quiet on the streets, with an air of stillness that only occurs deep into the night. As she pushed open the wrought-iron gates of the cemetery, a familiar cold washed over her, sending a shiver down her spine.
It wasn't the actual chill of the autumn night, either; it was this unnatural cold that clung to the cemetery, the cold from the presence of the spirits that lingered there.
The moon was low in the sky, casting a vague pale light on gravestones. A sea of headstones stretched out before her, barely discernible in the very dim light. Lilly's heart pounded in her chest while she made her way down the sidewalk, deeper into the cemetery, her flashlight flickering with each move.
The silence was thick and heavy, and the overall weight of what she'd visioned still lingered on her, like a fog. Each step she took sounded to her like an echo: bumpy through the empty cemetery. Lilly didn't hesitate. She knew where she was going.
Silas's grave.
As she drew closer to the older part of the graveyard, where Silas's gravestone stood beneath the more ancient, worn tombstones, she could sense him before she laid eyes on him. The air cooled and stilled, and the now-familiar tingle along the back of her neck told her she was not alone.
And indeed, there he was as she turned the corner: Silas, leaning against his gravestone, expression inscrutable in the moonlight; his dark hair stirred by the breeze; his old-fashioned clothes ghostly but as solid as ever.
You're back, Silas whispered, the quiet of the night carrying his voice. His eyes were calm, yet a flicker danced across them, showing something troubled him.
Lilly jerked her arms across her chest, tight, her jaw clenched. "I didn't have much of a choice."
Silas straightened, his brow furrowing as he studied her. "What happened?"
Lilly swallowed hard, the fear and frustration boiling inside her threatening to spill over. She wasn't here to play games. She was here for answers.
I had another dream," she said, her voice sharper than perhaps she intended. "A proper one, this time. I saw your family. I saw the ritual. And I saw the entity.
Silas's face darkened, and he looked away as if he didn't want to meet her eyes. Lilly felt her ire rise.
You didn't tell me everything, Silas, she accused, stepping closer to him. You knew. You knew how dangerous this was, and you didn't warn me.
"I tried," Silas replied, his tone quiet yet unwavering. "I told you this place was dangerous. That this whole ritual business of the Grey family was hooked into something bad. But there are things even I don't remember outwardly. Not clearly." Lilly's heart pounded within her chest, frustration welling over. "That's not good enough. I saw them. I heard that thing speaking to me. It's getting stronger, isn't it? That entity… it's feeding on the spirits in this cemetery, and it's not going to stop until it destroys everything.
Silas didn't say anything right away; instead, his eyes danced with something that Lilly just couldn't quite put her finger on regret, maybe? Guilt? Then, when he spoke, the weight of those years was found within his words.
"It was never supposed to be part of the ritual," he said after some time, his voice low. "Thomas-my brother-he thought he could control it. He wanted power, and control over life and death. But it was more than any of us expected. Once summoned, it could not be banished. Not by us."
Lilly took a step closer, desperation in her voice. "There has to be a way to stop it. There's gotta be something we can do.".
Silas shook his head slowly, and his eyes seemed to cloud over with a film of sadness. "I do not know. The ritual was unfinished, the entity is not wholly bound in this world, and yet it is strong enough to feed on the spirits trapped. And every soul that it consumes strengthens it. I've been trying to hold it at bay, but I can only do so much.
Lilly's stomach growled. She had known it, but to have it confirmed made the danger all the more real somehow. "Why didn't you tell me this before?
Silas held her stare, his eyes softening. "Because I didn't want you to end up like me." The words hung heavy in the air, congested with meaning. Lilly's heart clenched; she had known all her life that Silas was a victim of the dark magic of the Grey family. But standing here now, she truly grasped the depth of that pain: he was not merely a ghost caught between worlds, but a prisoner, imprisoned by the very thing threatening to destroy everything. Yet, she couldn't walk away. Not now.
"I won't go, Silas," she said, her voice sure and steady, even as gut-tightening, bone-deep anxiety wrestled in her stomach. "I can't. This thing… it's reaching out to me. It's trying to scare me away, but I won't let it win. We have to find a way to stop it."
Silas's gaze searched hers for a long time as if trying to gauge just how serious she was. Then, with slow movements, he nodded. "There is one way," he whispered. "But it won't be easy. And it won't be safe."
Lilly's pulse quickened. "What is it?"
Silas was quiet, his eyes darting to the trees in the distance, on the edge of the graveyard. "There's an artifact," he said finally. "Something the Greys used in their rituals. It's buried here, in the graveyard. If we can find it, it might be enough to weaken the entity. Perhaps break its hold on this place altogether."
Lilly's mind was racing. An artifact? It was the first real lead she'd had in days. "Where is it?" she asked, her voice breathless with urgency.
Silas's face darkened. "That's just it. I don't know exactly. But I can help you search for it."
Lilly nodded and felt the weight of resolution settle deep in her chest. She wasn't afraid anymore. The visions, the spirits, the entity — they were all part of something bigger than her, and she could no longer turn a deaf ear to it. Now, with Silas by her side, whatever was next was waiting for her.
"Then let's find it," she said resolutely.
Silas nodded, and together they turned inward, toward the heart of the cemetery, ready to expose the last pieces of the Grey family's dark legacy.