Chapter 17
Beatrice did not sleep.
The letter remained beside her bed.
If you are reading this, then I failed to keep you away.
She had read those words so many times that they no longer looked like words.
They looked like a warning.
Or a goodbye.
By morning, Beatrice had made her decision.
She was going back to the study.
Nathaniel was already waiting outside her room.
Elias stood beside him.
"You knew," Beatrice said.
Nathaniel nodded.
"You weren't sleeping either."
"No."
Elias gave her a tired smile.
"None of us were."
They returned to the study.
The room looked exactly as they had left it.
Except for one thing.
The hidden panel beneath the desk was open.
Beatrice approached.
Inside was the map.
She unfolded it carefully.
The symbol marked a location beyond Thornwood Forest.
But there was something else.
A handwritten route.
It began at Breedlove Manor, passed through the forest, crossed an old stone bridge, and ended at a place marked only with a single word.
EVERMORE.
Elias stared.
"Evermore?"
Nathaniel shook his head.
"I've never heard of it."
Beatrice touched the word.
The paper warmed.
Then the room changed.
The walls disappeared.
Beatrice stood in the study as it had been years before.
A woman stood at the desk.
Her mother.
Isadora.
Beatrice could not move.
"Mama?"
Isadora turned.
She looked younger.
Afraid.
She held the same black journal Beatrice had found.
Someone was standing behind her.
A woman.
Seraphine.
Beatrice watched silently.
"I found the Heart," Isadora whispered.
Seraphine shook her head.
"You found its chamber."
"Then tell me where it is."
"You already know."
Isadora's face tightened.
"No."
Seraphine stepped closer.
"The Heart chooses."
"I won't let it choose my daughter."
Beatrice's heart stopped.
Isadora looked toward the door.
"I have to get her away."
"You cannot outrun what remembers you."
"I can try."
Seraphine's expression softened.
"You don't understand."
"Then make me understand."
The vision trembled.
A sound came from somewhere below them.
Three knocks.
Isadora froze.
Seraphine whispered,
"It's awake."
The study door opened.
Something stood in the hallway.
Beatrice could not see its face.
Only its shadow.
Long.
Too long.
Isadora grabbed the journal.
"Go."
Seraphine stepped backward.
"What?"
"Take the journal."
"And you?"
"I'll hold it here."
Seraphine shook her head.
"Isadora—"
"Go!"
The vision shattered.
Beatrice gasped.
She was back in the study.
Nathaniel caught her shoulders.
"What happened?"
She could barely breathe.
"My mother."
Elias stepped closer.
"What did you see?"
Beatrice looked at the map.
"She found the chamber."
Nathaniel's face changed.
"The Heart?"
"The chamber."
She swallowed.
"She was trying to keep me away."
Elias looked toward the door.
"From what?"
Beatrice stared at the darkness beyond the study.
"I don't know."
A faint sound came from the hallway.
Three knocks.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Nathaniel reached for his sword.
Elias lifted the lantern.
Beatrice slowly folded the map.
"We need to leave."
Nathaniel looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because my mother told Seraphine to take the journal and go."
Elias frowned.
"And?"
Beatrice looked toward the corridor.
"She stayed."
Silence.
Then another sound.
A woman's voice.
Very faint.
"Beatrice."
Beatrice closed her eyes.
She knew that voice.
Her mother's.
"She's here."
Nathaniel stared at her.
"How do you know?"
Beatrice opened her eyes.
"Because the Manor just remembered her."
The study door slowly opened.
Beyond it was darkness.
But somewhere within that darkness came the sound of footsteps.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then a woman's voice whispered,
"Find me."
The door slammed shut.
The map in Beatrice's hand changed.
The route to Evermore disappeared.
A new path appeared.
It led downward.
Beneath Breedlove Manor.
Beatrice stared.
Her mother's voice came one final time.
"Before it remembers everything."
