Chapter One: It all came down crumbling

Lyra’s POV

Daddy said he wouldn’t be long.

He always said that. He would bend a little so his face was closer to mine and tap the tip of my nose with his finger. “Stay put, little princess. Guard the house for me.” And I would salute him because it made him laugh. Mommy would shake her head like we were both silly, then kiss my hair and tell me not to finish all the biscuits before dinner.

That day felt like any other day.

The trees around our house were very tall and very quiet. They always felt like they were listening. Our house sat in the middle of them like it was hiding. Daddy liked it that way. He said it kept us safe. I didn’t know from what. I never asked. I just liked that it was ours.

They left in the afternoon. I watched their car disappear down the narrow road that curled into the woods like a brown ribbon. I waited until I couldn’t hear the engine anymore.

Then the house became too quiet.

The first day, I wasn’t scared.

I ate the leftover cake in the fridge and sat on the floor with my crayons. I drew the three of us holding hands. I colored Daddy’s shirt the wrong blue and got upset about it. When night came, I turned on all the lights like Mommy always did when Daddy wasn’t home yet. I slept in their bed because it smelled like them.

The second day, I started counting hours.

I pressed my face to the window a lot. Every sound made my heart jump. I thought maybe they forgot something and would turn the car around. I tried not to eat too much because Mommy said snacks were for in between meals, not instead of them. But my stomach kept making sounds. I ate the chips anyway.

I told myself maybe the car was broken. Maybe Daddy was fixing it. He was good at fixing things.

By night, I didn’t turn off any lights.

The third day felt wrong from the start.

The sun looked too bright. The air felt too big. My stomach hurt, not just from hunger but from something else I couldn’t name. I sat on the kitchen floor with my back against the fridge. I tried to remember the last thing Mommy said before she left, I couldn’t.

At 3:10 in the afternoon, the phone rang.

It was loud.

It was the old landline in the hallway. It almost never rang. Daddy used it, I had watched him answer it before. He would say hello in a serious voice. I stared at it while it kept ringing. I thought maybe if I didn’t pick it up, it would stop.

But what if it was Daddy?

I walked slowly toward it. My feet felt cold on the floor. I reached up and grabbed the receiver the way I’d seen Daddy do. It felt heavier than I expected.

“Hello?” I whispered.

A woman’s voice came through.

“Hello, this is City Gate Mortuary calling to notify the family of Asher Wolfsbane and Valerie Darkrose that the individuals listed were found deceased after a car accident on the 22nd of May, two days ago.”

I didn’t understand everything.

But I heard my parents’ names.

And I heard dead.

Dead.

The word felt like someone had pushed me hard from inside my chest.

“No,” I said.

It didn’t come out loud. It came out small. Like I was trying not to wake someone up.

The woman kept talking.

I couldn’t hear her anymore.

My ears were ringing.

The hallway started spinning. I gripped the phone tighter.

“Are there any adults with you?” she asked. Her voice sounded softer now.

I opened my mouth but no sound came out.

“Mommy,” I whispered instead.

Then louder. “Daddy.”

The phone slipped a little in my hand because my fingers were shaking. My heart was beating too fast. I couldn’t breathe properly. It felt like I had swallowed something sharp.

The woman said something about claiming the bodies. She said it gently, like she was scared of her own words. Then the call ended.

The house was quiet again.

Too quiet.

I stood there holding the dead phone to my ear for a long time. Maybe if I stayed still, it would ring again and she would say she made a mistake. That she read the wrong names.

I put the phone back slowly.

Then I remembered Daddy carrying me on his back through the grass outside, pretending he was a horse and I was a princess too important to walk. I remembered Mommy laughing in the kitchen, feeding me small pieces of chicken before dinner was ready.

My knees gave up.

I slid down to the floor.

I cried in a way I didn’t know I could cry.

My chest hurt so much it felt like it would break open. I kept saying no, no, no like it was a spell that could fix things.

I ran outside suddenly.

Maybe they were coming back and this was all wrong.

The courtyard was big and green and empty. The wind moved the grass like waves.

“Mommy!” I shouted.

My voice sounded tiny against the trees.

I stopped running when I reached the edge of the road.

I didn’t know which way the city was.

Daddy always drove and I was always asleep on the way back home, my head on Mommy’s lap.

I didn’t know anything.

I went back inside. My stomach hurt again but I didn’t care. I grabbed my small backpack. I put in two shirts, socks, the last pack of biscuits, and the family picture from last Christmas. We were all smiling in it. Daddy’s arm was around Mommy and I was in the middle.

I stared at their faces until my vision blurred.

“I’m coming,” I told the picture.

I stepped outside and closed the door behind me.

The road into the woods looked longer than it ever had.

I walked first. Then I ran. My tears wouldn’t stop. They soaked into my pink top, the one Mommy bought me for my birthday. The trees seemed taller now. Darker. The air felt colder.

I kept thinking: Once I get to them, everything will be okay.

Even though a small part of me knew it wouldn’t.

After running for a long time, my legs hurt too much. I tripped on a stone and fell hard. My palms scraped against the ground. I didn’t even cry about it. I was too tired.

I sat by the side of the road, breathing loudly. My head felt light. My stomach felt empty.

Then I heard it.

A roar.

Loud.

Deep.

Not like anything I had heard before.

It came from inside the woods.

I froze.

The sound came again.

Closer.

Then men’s voices. Shouting.

Laughing.

Running.

More roars.

Then gunshots. Sharp and terrifying. I covered my ears. My heart felt like it was jumping inside my throat.

I had never heard gunshots before.

I wanted Mommy.

I wanted Daddy.

I tried to stand but my legs were shaking too much.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my wrist from behind.

I screamed and he turned me around.

A tall man stood there.

His clothes were torn.

His hair messy.

His eyes sharp but not cruel.

His grip was firm but not painful.

He looked down at me like I was something he didn’t expect to find.

His voice was deep when he spoke.

“What’s a young maiden like you doing in the woods?”