Chapter 44: The Stranger in Her Shadow

The reunion was supposed to bring relief.

But Mira’s gaze didn’t soften. Her fingers trembled as they reached for her grimoire, flipping through ancient pages lined with protective spells and soul-binding warnings. Ivy stood still in the centre of the room, her arms wrapped around Lyra, her eyes glassy but full of fragile calm.

Killian took a cautious step forward. “Mira… talk to me. What’s wrong?”

Mira didn’t answer. Instead, she traced a sigil in the air, whispering something beneath her breath. A golden mist shimmered around Ivy’s figure—and then it split.

Just for a second.

Just long enough.

A second figure flickered behind Ivy’s reflection. A silhouette, faint but there. Female. Pale eyes. Lips stretched into a haunting smirk.

And then it vanished.

“Get Lyra away from her,” Mira said sharply.

Killian stepped in. “Mira—”

“Now.”

Something in her tone made him obey. He pried Lyra gently from Ivy’s arms, lifting her into his. Ivy blinked, confused.

“Mira? What’s going on?”

Mira stepped closer. “Who came back with you?”

Ivy froze.

“What?”

“You crossed into the Womb of Echoes,” Mira said. “That place is sacred. It binds time and unravels spirits. No one was left untouched. You didn’t come back alone.”

Ivy opened her mouth to respond—but the lights flickered.

Every candle in the room went out at once.

And then Ivy laughed.

Not her voice. Not her laugh.

Deeper. Older. Unfamiliar.

“I told her she’d never survive alone,” said the voice now coming from Ivy’s mouth. “But she insisted on being the hero.”

Mira lunged into action, casting a binding circle of salt and bloodroot. Ivy screamed—her real voice this time—fighting the presence clawing inside her. She dropped to her knees, clawing at her chest as if trying to rip something out.

Killian placed Lyra down and grabbed one of Mira’s daggers.

“Hold her down!” Mira yelled.

The force inside Ivy fought back, slamming an invisible wave that sent Killian crashing into the wall. Ivy stood again—but her eyes weren’t her own. One was still the warm brown they knew. The other… pure white.

“She gave me a doorway,” said the voice inside her. “Now I’m staying.”

“Who are you?” Mira demanded.

“You know me,” the voice whispered.

And then Mira’s face turned pale. “No…”

Killian pushed up from the floor, blood trailing down the side of his forehead. “Who is it?”

Mira swallowed. “It’s Eris.”

Eris—the harbinger of fractured bonds. A spirit of betrayal, once a woman cast from her coven for trading souls like currency. She had been banished to the space between realms centuries ago. Nobody. No voice. Just echoes.

Until now.

“I didn’t want to bring her back,” Ivy whispered through gritted teeth. “I didn’t know. I—I just wanted Asher.”

“You created a crack,” Mira said grimly. “And she slithered through it.”

Eris smiled through Ivy’s body. “Ivy and I are sisters now. I know her fears. I feed off them.”

“You won’t last,” Mira snapped. “We’ll cast you out.”

“Try,” Eris purred. “But every second I’m here, I’m learning. And she’s breaking.”

That night, Ivy fell unconscious.

She was placed in a protective warded bed, her wrists wrapped in enchanted cloth, her pulse slow but steady.

Killian stood guard beside her, arms crossed, unable to take his eyes off her face. Her lips twitched. Her fingers curled.

Then—her breathing changed.

A whisper escaped her lips.

“Killian…”

He leaned in.

But her voice shifted.

“Asher…”

Killian’s breath caught.

“What about him?”

“He’s coming,” she whispered. “But not how we remember him.”

Her eyes fluttered open—and for a second, he could’ve sworn they weren’t Ivy’s eyes at all.

They were his brothers.

Mira worked in the sanctuary for hours, poring over texts older than any language spoken. She traced genealogies, realm maps, and spirit possession rituals until her eyes burned.

And then she found it.

“Killian,” she called, bursting into the room. “I need to show you something.”

He followed her to the main altar where she unrolled a scroll—one that mapped spiritual gateways.

“Look at this,” she pointed. “The Womb of Echoes. It’s a realm of mirrors… and duplication.”

“What are you saying?”

“I don’t think Ivy came back with a spirit alone.”

Killian frowned. “What else is there?”

Mira’s eyes locked on his. “She may have brought back another version of herself. A mirrored twin.”

Killian staggered back.

“You mean…?”

“Yes,” Mira said. “There might now be two Ivys in our world.”

Later that night, as Lyra slept, Killian sat beside Ivy—still unconscious, her breathing steady.

But he felt something off. Her skin was colder. Her energy was different.

He leaned closer.

And then the lights flickered again.

A figure stepped into the room from the shadows.

Identical to Ivy.

Same eyes. Same face.

But colder. Crueler.

“Hello, Killian,” the second Ivy said. “Miss me?”

He stood slowly, heart hammering. “You’re not her.”

“I’m part of her,” she said with a grin. “The part she buried deep. The part she was too ashamed to show. But the Womb brought me forward.”

He raised the dagger Mira had left him.

She laughed. “That won’t kill me. I’m as real as she is.”

“Where’s the real Ivy?” he asked.

She smirked. “That’s the thing, Killian. You don’t know which one’s which anymore.”

And then—she vanished.

Mira stood before the mirror altar, reading an incantation of truth.

Suddenly, both Ivys entered the room—one restrained by spell chains, the other walking free.

Lyra, confused, clung to Mira.

“Mama?” she whispered, looking between them.

Both Ivys looked at her.

Only one had tears in her eyes.

Mira narrowed hers. “One of you must die… or the world will.”

The chains rattled.

The free Ivy stepped forward. “Then make your choice.”