The spiral consumed her.
No flames, no screams—just silence, absolute and ancient. Amelia stood in a room that didn't exist, shaped like a memory and lit by nothing. It pulsed with the feeling of déjà vu, like she'd returned to a moment she'd never lived.
Then came the whispers.
Not words—fragments. Shards of thought, like radio signals picked up from a broken past.
"She knew the door."
"Not born—bound."
"Three awaken. One remembers. One denies. One becomes."
Amelia stumbled forward. The ground wasn't ground—just a suggestion of something solid. And then she saw her.
Not a reflection. Not a dream.
A woman with her face—but older. Worn. Dressed in clothes centuries out of time.
The woman turned. Her eyes were completely black.
She smiled.
"You're late," she said.
Amelia froze. "Who are you?"
The woman stepped closer. "I'm what you become if you don't stop it."
A spiral flared to life between them. The black-eyed woman pointed at it.
"This is not just a mark. It's a door. And the killer?"
She leaned in.
"The killer is trying to open it."
---
Back in the Archive Room
Alexis was pacing.
The spiral on the floor had faded, and so had Amelia—gone, like mist swallowed by night. The Archivist stood motionless beside the drawers, watching Alexis with something between boredom and dread.
"How long has she been gone?" Alexis snapped.
"There is no time inside memory."
"Well, I don't like that answer at all."
A sudden thump echoed from behind the shelves.
Alexis pulled her switchblade.
The Archivist didn't move.
More footsteps. But wrong—wet, dragging.
Something else was in the archive.
A figure rounded the corner. Too tall. Too thin. Wrapped in a coat made of stitched-together mouths.
Each one whispered something different.
Alexis backed up. "What the hell is that?"
The Archivist finally spoke.
"That is a Witness Eater. It hunts those who remember too much."
"Fantastic."
The creature hissed. The mouths twisted, speaking together:
"Memory thief. Spiral breaker. Mind bleeder."
Alexis threw her blade. It stuck in one of the mouths—but the creature didn't stop.
Then—just as its fingers stretched toward her—
A crack of light exploded in the room.
Amelia reappeared in the center of the spiral, eyes glowing faintly.
Her voice was low.
"Back. Off."
The creature hesitated.
Amelia stepped forward. "She said you fear those who remember too early."
The mouths screamed. The creature turned and fled into the shadows, vanishing like smoke.
Alexis rushed forward. "Okay, what just happened to you?"
Amelia looked at her.
"I saw myself. But not just me. Others like me. Bound to the spiral. Bound to stop it."
"Stop what?"
Amelia closed her notebook.
"The killer isn't just marking the dead. He's collecting access keys. He needs three. And he has two."
Alexis's smile faded.
"So if he gets the third…"
Amelia nodded grimly.
"He opens the door. And lets something through."