28. Georgia

28

Georgia

Now

T he sound of a door slamming wakes me. I reach over, looking for Ian, but I'm met with nothing but the empty space where his body is supposed to be.

I sit up quickly, pulling the sheet to my bare chest as I search frantically for my phone.

Please don't let there be another "this was a mistake" note waiting for me.

I find my phone on the floor and see that it's past three in the morning. I have no texts from Ian. No missed calls.

Where is he?

I hit his number, hoping he has his phone with him as I search for my clothes. I let out a frustrated groan when the call goes straight to voicemail.

"Where are you, Ian?" I mutter to myself.

I grab a pair of black leggings from the drawer and throw on one of Ian's T-shirts that's hanging in the closet while trying my best to keep the impending heartbreak at bay.

How could he leave me here, forcing me to wake alone after we bared our souls to each other?

I thought we had finally gotten past this.

I thought we were finally moving forward, toward the future we were meant to have together before everything went to shit.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe he's simply downstairs grabbing a bite to eat. We did spend the last few hours wrapped up together. I'm sure that does something fierce to a person's appetite after burning all those calories off.

Deep breath in, Georgie girl. Don't let your mind run wild with theories before you know what's really going on with Ian.

I step out of the bedroom and decide to go look for him before I let myself fall apart over something that could simply just be a misunderstanding. The colorful lights illuminating from Auden's room are like a beacon calling to me from the dark hall.

I tap Ian's number again, the line ringing loudly in my ear as I peer into her room, but the only one in there is Horton, who is fast asleep on the duvet that's been pushed to the end of the bed.

He lifts his head and looks up at me as I step farther into the room.

"Where's Auden hiding, little buddy?" I ask Horton as if he can hunt her location down and give me directions. He lets out a low meow, then yawns and closes his eyes again.

Ian's phone goes straight to voicemail. I hit redial instead of leaving a message. I debate sending him a text when a chill creeps over my skin, making the small hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge.

Then I hear it.

That low, tortured moaning sound.

I pull the still-ringing phone away from my ear, listening hard for whatever is hiding in the shadows.

My eyes flick to the window in Auden's room, where the noise seems to be coming from, and I gasp, nearly dropping the phone.

She's back again.

My mother's ghost is standing at the window, her arm outstretched and pointing to something outside.

I step closer, and my body tries to resist with each step as I move toward my mother. I'm only a couple of feet away when I can finally make out the words she's trying to say.

"Don't trust, don't trust, protect."

Seeing my mother's ghost has always terrified me, but some part of me knows that she won't hurt me. Her ghost won't, at least. She may have tried to poison me when she was alive, but her spirit has never harmed me.

I inch closer, my heart pounding harder with each step.

"Mom?" I say her name quietly, barely a whisper.

Her body turns toward me, but her arm remains pointing out the window.

"Protect, protect, protect," she hisses out before turning her attention back toward some invisible force outside.

Her second arm comes up, pointing in the same direction.

I tear my gaze away from her twisted, heinous features, and my eyes follow down the length of her arm until I, too, am looking out of the window.

It's nearly a full moon tonight, which helps illuminate the property below us. I see the willow tree, its long fronds swaying in the night air. The lake just passed it, its water eerily still. My eyes move to the small dock that juts out over the lake—that's when I see them.

A dark figure is standing at the end of the dock. I can't make out clearly who it is. I can only make out the dark clothing they are wearing. Is it a man? A woman? I can't tell.

But what I can see, what I can make out clearly despite the lack of light, is the pattern of a nightgown.

A nightgown with glow-in-the-dark unicorns printed on it.

The glowing unicorns are like a beacon in the night against the dark fabric of the figure.

Whoever is standing at the end of the dock has my daughter hanging limply in their arms.

"Protect," my mother hisses next to me again. "Don't trust."

I tear my eyes away from Auden and the dark figure and stare at my mother's ghost.

"Is this what you keep trying to warn me about? Is someone trying to hurt my daughter?" My voice shakes with each word.

My mother's depthless gaze turns toward me, and her dark eyes look sad, if that's even possible.

"Yes," she whispers. "Protect."

My feet can't fly fast enough as I race out of my childhood bedroom, leaving my mother's ghost and her warnings behind me as I run as fast as my legs can go to save my daughter.

Crane Manor won't take her from me.

I hit Ian's number again as I'm racing down the stairs.

"Come on, come on, Ian, answer your damn phone!" I scream into the phone when it sends me straight to voicemail again.

"Ian! Auden is in trouble! I don't know where you are, but we need your help at the lake! The dock!" I yell into the phone as I slide into the kitchen.

I throw open the back door, and I hit the pavement outside with bare feet, running past the willow tree, the fronds whipping toward me furious, almost as if they are tentacles trying to pull me into their sinister grasp.

The usual sounds of wildlife are strangely absent, like they also know something terrible is in play right now. The only sound I can hear is the sound of my own stuttered breathing.

"AUDEN!" I scream, my voice breaking as I force my lungs to keep breathing. My chest feels like a molten blaze as I struggle for breath.

I reach the wooden dock and stop short, a strangled, surprised gasp escaping my lungs when the dark figure finally turns toward me and reveals their true identity.

"You?" I choke out.

The dark figure flashes me a small, sad smile as they shift Auden's weight beneath them.

"It's time for you to pay for what you did, Georgia."