Echoes of the lost

storted voice still echoed in her ears: "What you should be worried about is who's looking for you." Who was it? Who had been following Celia all those years ago-and were they now after

eave it alone." "I'm afraid I can't do that," Eliza replied. "I've uncovered some new information. Things people need to know." The receptionist sighed heavily, clearly reluctant. "Records like those aren't supposed to be accessed by just anyone. But... I suppose there's no harm in looking at public archives." She waved a hand dismissively toward a door behind her. "Down the hall, second door on the left." Eliza gave a polite nod and made her way to the back of the building. The musty smell intensified as she reached the archive room, the fluorescent lights flickering dimly overhead. The walls were lined with rows of filing cabinets and shelves packed with binders, each labeled with decades of Grey Hollow's history. She dug through several drawers of dusty records-old deeds, permits, and newspaper clippings-before finally finding the box marked "1970–1980." Pulling it down, she sat at one of the tables and began leafing through the faded documents, scanning for anything connected to the Moreau family. Most of the papers were routine-land transfers, local events, nothing remarkable. And then she found it. A name she hadn't been expecting. Isabelle Moreau. The name jumped off the page, attached to a court record from 1977. Isabelle Moreau had been involved in a legal dispute with the town. The specifics of the case were vague, but one thing was clear: it had been about property-property the Moreau family had tried to hold on to, but which had been seize

er into a sitting room and gestured for her to sit on an antique sofa. "I haven't heard Isabelle's name spoken in many years," Adeline said, settling into an armchair. "She was Celia's grandmother, though few people remember her now. After what happened with the property, she... disappeared. Left town, or so they said." Eliza leaned forward. "What happened with the property? Why did the town fight so hard to take it from the Moreaus?" Adeline's lips thinned into a tight line. "That land... it's old. Older than this town, older than most know. There's a history there, buried beneath the surface. Isabelle knew it. That's why she fought. But the town wanted it for other reasons." "What reasons?" Eliza pressed. Adeline glanced toward the window, her gaze distant. "There's a place, deep in those woods. A place people don't go. It's where the town founders first settled. They say something happened there, long before the Moreaus ever built their house. Something... unnatural." A chill ran down Eliza's spine. "What do you mean, unnatural?" "There are stories," Adeline said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "Stori