The world had changed in an instant.
Finn's mother's revelation still echoed in Aria's mind, looping over and over like a song she couldn't shake. Celeste Evercrest was alive. Not a lingering spirit, not a memory bound to the past, but a living, breathing person trapped somewhere, waiting to be found.
Aria's hands trembled as she sat beside the fire, watching the flames flicker and dance, their glow casting shadows on the walls of the small safe house where they had been staying. Her friends were silent around her, each of them lost in their own thoughts, the weight of this truth pressing down on them like a storm cloud about to burst.
For so long, she had grieved her mother. She had carried that loss, worn it like armor, used it as a reason to push forward—to be strong. And now, that loss had been rewritten.
Her mother wasn't dead.
Her mother had been taken.
"Aria."
She looked up at Finn's voice. His face was pale, his usual easygoing demeanor absent. He sat across from her, his fingers tightening around a mug of cooling tea. "We need a plan."
"A plan?" she repeated, her voice hollow.
"To find her," Finn said, his gaze steady. "To find your mother."
It should have been obvious. It was what she wanted—what she had always wanted. And yet, now that the possibility was real, it felt overwhelming. Where did they even start?
"We have more than one person to find," Lyric reminded them, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "Your mother was part of a group, remember? A Seeker, a Scholar, a Warrior, a Healer… a team just like ours."
Kael nodded, his jaw tense. "We find them, and they lead us to Celeste."
Quinn, who had been quiet until now, exhaled deeply. "If they're still alive."
The words sent a shiver down Aria's spine. She turned to him, finding his expression unreadable. His violet eyes reflected the firelight, deep and intense.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You don't think it's strange?" Quinn tilted his head slightly, his voice calm but edged with something sharp. "A powerful group like that just… vanishing? Celeste was taken. What if the others were, too?"
Silence fell over them.
Finn's jaw clenched. "If that's true, then we have more people to save."
Aria's grip on her sleeves tightened. Quinn had a point. If her mother had been trapped somewhere all this time, what if the rest of her old companions had suffered the same fate?
"I need to see my father first," she said suddenly, standing up.
Lyric arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's a good idea? We don't know who might be watching."
"I don't care," Aria said, shaking her head. "I have to tell him."
She had been keeping secrets from her father for too long. If anyone deserved to know the truth, it was him.
---
The journey home felt longer than it should have. The town was quiet when she arrived, the streets mostly empty, save for a few lanterns flickering in the windows. The familiar scent of burning wood from the chimneys filled the air, reminding her of simpler times.
Her childhood home stood just as she had left it, nestled among the trees at the far end of the village. Warm light spilled through the windows. Her father was home.
She hesitated at the door, her hand hovering over the handle. What if this hurt him? What if telling him the truth only reopened wounds that had never fully healed?
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open.
Her father stood by the fireplace, a book in his hands. He turned at the sound of her entrance, his eyes widening in shock.
"Aria?"
Before she could speak, he was moving toward her, his arms wrapping around her in a tight embrace. She felt his breath hitch as he held her close, and she realized how much she had missed this—how much she had missed him.
"You're home," he whispered, pulling back just enough to look at her face.
Aria swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. "Dad… I need to tell you something."
His brow furrowed. "What is it?"
She took a deep breath. "Mom… she's alive."
Silence fell between them. The crackling fire was the only sound in the room.
Her father's face paled, his grip on her shoulders tightening. "What… what did you say?"
"Finn's mother told us," Aria explained, her voice thick with emotion. "Mom was taken. She's been alive all this time, but she's been trapped somewhere."
Her father stumbled back a step, his expression a mix of shock and something deeper—something almost like hope.
"I—I don't understand," he whispered. "After all these years… I thought…" He ran a hand through his graying hair, his body visibly shaking. "Why didn't she ever try to reach us?"
Aria exhaled shakily. "I don't know. I've had… encounters with her before. Visions. Moments where I swore she was there. But if she knew I could see her, why didn't she tell me she was alive?"
Her father exhaled sharply, rubbing his hands over his face. "I always suspected something was wrong. The way she disappeared—nothing ever made sense. But no matter how hard I searched, I could never find answers."
Tears pricked at Aria's eyes. He had been looking for her too. All this time, they had both been searching for the same person.
Then, as if remembering something, her father turned abruptly and walked toward the wooden chest at the corner of the room. He knelt down, rummaging through its contents before pulling out something wrapped in an old cloth.
"She left this behind," he said, handing it to her. "I never understood its meaning, but maybe you will."
Aria carefully unwrapped it, revealing a map.
But it wasn't just any map. It was old, its edges worn, and inked with symbols that pulsed faintly under the firelight.
The moment her fingers brushed against it, warmth shot up her arm, and a whisper filled her mind.
Find me.
Her breath caught.
Her father watched her carefully. "It's a clue, isn't it?"
Aria nodded, gripping the map tightly. "I think it is."
---
She returned to the group later that night, the map still clutched in her hands. Quinn was the first to notice.
"You're shaking," he said quietly.
Aria hadn't realized it until now. She looked down at her hands, at the faint tremor in her fingers. "I—"
"What happened?" Kael asked, stepping forward.
Aria sat down beside them, exhaling slowly. "My father always suspected something was wrong. He never stopped looking for answers either."
She hesitated before holding up the map. "And he gave me this. Something my mother left behind."
Quinn leaned in, his violet eyes narrowing. "That's not just a map. That's a trail."
"It reacted to me," Aria admitted. "I heard something. A voice."
Kael frowned. "What did it say?"
She met his gaze, her heart pounding. "It said, 'Find me.'"
A heavy silence settled over them.
Lyric was the first to speak. "That's it, then. This is our first real lead."
Finn nodded. "If your mom left this behind, she must have known you'd find it someday."
Aria's grip on the map tightened.
"We start with this," she said firmly. "We follow where it leads."
The fractured path before them was uncertain, but one thing was clear—Celeste Evercrest was out there.
And Aria was going to find her.