Whispers of the Turning Seasons (part 15)

The moment the woman vanished between the trees, Rowan moved instantly.

“Alder—get Clarke on his feet. We’re retreating now.”

Alder nodded, slinging Clarke’s arm over his shoulder. Clarke groaned in pain, blood dripping steadily onto the snow.

Evelyn couldn’t move.

Her pulse hammered. Her breath came in sharp clouds of steam.
Her eyes stared into the woods where the woman had stood only seconds before.

That whisper still echoed.

Come home.

Home.

But Evelyn didn’t have a home in Vermont.
Evelyn didn’t have a home anywhere close.

So why did the word feel like a hand gripping her spine?

Rowan’s voice broke through the fog in her mind.

“Evelyn,” he said gently but urgently. “We need to go.”

She nodded, though her legs felt like they had turned to ice.

They moved quickly, Alder half-carrying Clarke, Rowan sweeping the area with his gun, and Evelyn staying between them. The wind cut across the clearing, swirling powdery snow into thin spirals.

Halfway down the trail back toward the road, Clarke’s breathing worsened.

“Stay with us,” Rowan urged him. “We’re almost there.”

Clarke managed to open his eyes for a moment, looking at Evelyn.

“She… she wasn’t alone,” he whispered again. “Two shadows… I saw two.”

Rowan tensed.
Alder cursed under his breath.

Evelyn felt nausea climb her throat.

Two.

There were two of them.

But who was the second?

A twin?
A follower?
A partner?

Or—
a reflection of something darker Evelyn herself didn’t want to remember?


---

The Road — 10:47 AM

Emergency vehicles waited at the road: an ambulance, another patrol car, and a search team on standby.

Clarke was rushed in quickly.
A medic turned to Rowan. “We’ll stabilize him. It looks like deep lacerations. More than one. Someone didn’t want him dead… just silenced.”

Evelyn’s stomach twisted.

Rowan put a hand on her shoulder.
“Let’s get you inside the car. You’re freezing.”

She didn’t argue.

Inside the heated patrol car, Evelyn held the note again, her fingers trembling as she traced the words.

If you keep him with you, he will die.

“Rowan,” she whispered, “what if she isn’t just threatening you? What if she knows something? Something I don’t?”

Rowan shook his head.
“You’re not responsible for what she does.”

But Evelyn stared out the window at the treeline.

“Then why does it feel like she’s following me… not us?”


---

Sheriff’s Office — 12:20 PM

The office buzzed with panic. Deputies moved briskly, phones rang nonstop, and Sheriff Ellis was giving orders with a growing edge in her voice.

When Rowan and Evelyn walked in, Ellis didn’t hide her shock.

“Clarke’s being prepped for surgery,” she said. “And we found the attacker’s trail branching off into deeper woods. Whatever she wants—it’s not over.”

Rowan exchanged a knowing look with Evelyn.

“It’s her,” he said. “The same woman. And she has an accomplice.”

Ellis’s eyes hardened.

“We need descriptions. Anything.”

Evelyn closed her eyes, remembering the face at the inn window.
The pale skin.
The sharp jaw.
The eyes—dark, hollowed, knowing her.

“She looks like she knows me,” Evelyn said softly.

Ellis frowned. “Knows you… how?”

“I don’t know,” Evelyn answered honestly. “But every time she appears, it feels like she recognizes me.”

Rowan stepped closer to Ellis. “And she’s escalating.”

Ellis nodded, then turned to Evelyn.

“Come with me.”

They entered an evidence room where Ellis placed two photos on the table.
They were old.
Blurry.
Taken from a cabin security camera years ago during an unresolved missing persons investigation.

“Three locals vanished in these mountains twelve years ago,” Ellis said. “One of our cameras caught a glimpse of someone watching one of the cabins beforehand.”

Evelyn leaned closer.

The figure in the photo was grainy… but the posture… the tilt of the head…
It was her.

The woman.

Evelyn felt her heart pounding so hard it hurt.

“She hasn’t aged,” Evelyn whispered.

Ellis swallowed.
“That’s what bothers me.”

Rowan crossed his arms. “What about the second person? Clarke said there were two.”

Ellis pulled out another photo.

This time Evelyn froze completely.

The second figure was only half-visible—
but the clothing… the outline…
it looked terrifyingly familiar.

Rowan saw her reaction.

“Evelyn? You know something?”

Her voice was barely audible.

“I think I recognize the second shadow.”

Ellis leaned forward. “Who is it?”

Evelyn’s hands shook.

“When I was ten… I used to have nightmares. Every night. And the same two figures would stand at my window. A woman… and a smaller shadow behind her. My mother said they weren’t real. Just night terrors.”

She looked at the photo again.
Her breath hitched.

“But I remember this shape. This silhouette. This height.”

Rowan felt cold sweep over him.
“You’re saying the second shadow is a child.”

Evelyn nodded slowly, a tear slipping down her cheek.

“She’s not alone,” Evelyn whispered. “She has a child with her. And he—he looks exactly like the boy from my nightmares.”

The room went silent.

Rowan’s stomach twisted. “Evelyn… what if your nightmares weren’t nightmares?”

Evelyn looked at the two photos.

The woman.
The child.

Two shadows haunting her since childhood.

Her voice cracked.

“I think they’ve been following me my entire life.”