Chapter 121
Elara's POV
Mom took a deep breath. Her hand was still gripping mine so tight it hurt.
"It was autumn," she said. Her voice came out rough. Broken. "Lynette had just turned three."
I felt my chest tighten. Three years old. Just a baby.
"I took her to the woods outside town. To pick mushrooms." Mom's eyes went distant. Like she was seeing it all over again. "The weather was beautiful. She wore this little yellow dress. She loved that dress."
Dad's hand covered Mom's other hand. His knuckles went white.
"She kept running around. Laughing. Chasing butterflies." Mom's voice got quieter. "I told her not to go too far."
The room was so silent I could hear the kitchen clock ticking.
"I bent down to pick a mushroom. Just for a few seconds." Mom closed her eyes. "When I looked up, she was gone."
My stomach dropped.
"I called her name. Over and over." Mom's voice cracked. "No answer. The woods were so quiet. Too quiet. There weren't even any birds."
Ethan leaned forward. His jaw was tight.
"I used everything." Mom looked at Ethan. At me. "Every tracking method. Every sense. But there was nothing. It was like she just... vanished."
I felt cold. Because I knew what that meant.
For a werewolf to lose a scent trail completely? That wasn't natural.
Dad cleared his throat. "Emily ran home. Told me what happened. I gathered everyone in town who could help."
His voice was steady but I could see the pain in his eyes.
"We searched for three days. Three nights. Covered every inch of land within ten miles."
"And?" Ethan's voice was harsh.
"Nothing." Dad's hand tightened on Mom's. "No scent. No tracks. No sign she'd ever been there."
I stared at him. That was impossible. Completely impossible.
Unless someone had deliberately hidden her trail.
"The town mayor reported it to the county," Dad continued. "Investigators came. Put up police tape. Questioned everyone."
"What did they say?" I asked. My voice came out steadier than I felt.
Mom laughed. It was a bitter sound. "They said it was an accident. That maybe she got scared and ran. Or that a wild animal took her."
"They closed the case after six months," Dad said. "Filed it as unsolved."
I heard what they didn't say. In a town like Misty Creek, some things didn't get investigated too closely.
Mom was crying now. Silent tears running down her face.
"The first few years, I went to those woods every day," she whispered. "I thought if I just waited there, she'd come back. That I'd see her yellow dress between the trees."
My throat felt tight. I couldn't breathe right.
Dad's voice was rough when he spoke. "Then Jack Morrison found us. Said he specialized in finding missing children. That he had contacts. Resources."
"He gave us hope," Mom said. She looked at me. "We thought at least we were doing something. That we hadn't given up."
I thought of Jack in that alley. Broken and bleeding. All those years taking money from desperate parents.
Ninety thousand dollars of false hope.
Ethan stood up suddenly. "Why didn't you tell us?"
His voice wasn't angry. It was hurt.
Mom flinched. "You were four years old, Ethan. Elara was only two years old. I'd already lost one daughter."
She looked at both of us. Fresh tears spilling over.
"I couldn't let you grow up in that shadow. Couldn't let you spend your childhood grieving for a sister you never knew."
"We wanted to give you something normal," Dad added quietly. "Even if it was a lie."
Ethan sat back down. Slowly. Like his legs wouldn't hold him anymore.
Ethan was quiet for a long moment. Then he looked at me.
Our eyes met. I saw it in his face. The memory he'd told me about in the car. When he'd heard Mom and Dad talking about "another daughter."
He'd known something was wrong all along.
"I already suspected," Ethan said. He looked at Mom and Dad. "I told Elara. About the night I heard you two in the kitchen when I was little."
Mom's breath caught.
"I heard Mom crying. Heard Dad say 'We'll find her.'" Ethan's voice was flat. "I didn't know who you meant then. But I never forgot it."
He leaned back in his chair. "That's why when Elara mentioned a sister, I didn't think she was crazy. I knew there had to be something you weren't telling us."
Dad's face went gray.
Mom looked between us. "You two already talked about this?"
"In the car," I said quietly. "On the way home from Uncle Derrick's."
The silence was heavy. Suffocating.
I stood up. All three of them looked at me.
"I'll bring her back," I said.
My voice didn't shake. Didn't waver.
Ethan met my gaze, his own eyes burning with a silent, shared promise.
Mom made a sound. Half sob, half gasp.
I grabbed her hand. Squeezed it tight.
"Mom. Trust me."
Her eyes were red. Swollen. Full of desperate hope.
"This time it won't fail. I promise."
Dad was staring at me. Really staring. Like he was seeing something that shouldn't be there.
Something in my eyes that didn't belong to a seventeen-year-old girl.
He nodded slowly. "Be careful. If there's danger, come home immediately."
I looked at each of them. Mom. Dad. Ethan.
My family.
The family I'd died trying to reach in my first life.
The family I'd do anything to protect now.
I will bring Lynette home, I thought. Even if it kills me.
Again.