Chapter 7 - THE WATER’S PRICE
The house shook violently as a massive blast of wind struck the exterior walls. Outside, the sound of tearing metal echoed as a portion of their roof shingles was ripped away by the storm.
Claire immediately pulled Lily behind her back, shielding her with her own body. "What do you mean, take her?! You stay away from my daughter!"
Rebecca didn't move any closer. She stayed three steps down, looking up at them with her dark, sorrowful eyes.
"Our family... our bloodline," Rebecca explained, her voice sounding far older than a six-year-old’s. "Every generation, when the great flood comes, the river demands a soul from the house on the hill. My great-grandfather gave his son. My father tried to cheat the river. He didn't give me to the water—he locked me away to hide me from it. But the river never forgets a debt."
Ethan looked up, horror gripping his chest. "That’s why the house across the street was sealed... He wasn't hiding a crime from the police. He was hiding you from the entity in the river!"
"And because he cheated the river," Rebecca continued, "the debt doubled. It waited thirty years. It waited for the next great flood. It waited until Ethan had a child of his own."
Claire felt the room spin. "No. No! This is insane nonsense! This is folklore! This is magic!"
"Look at the water, Mommy," Lily whispered from behind Claire.
Claire turned her flashlight toward the flooded ground floor.
captured in the beam of light, the brown, murky floodwater had stopped looking like ordinary rain run-off. Small, dark tendrils—like black ink flowing through water—were swirling up from the bottom of the stairs. The water was rising at an impossible speed now, pouring through the floorboards, creeping up the staircase step by step.
One step.Two steps.Three steps.
The dark water was rising towards Lily’s feet.
"It wants Lily," Ethan realized, his eyes wide with absolute terror. "The entity in the river didn't send Rebecca to haunt us... Rebecca came to warn us!"
Rebecca nodded. "If the water touches her ankles before the sun rises, she will belong to the dark. Just like me."
"How do we stop it?!" Claire screamed, tears streaming down her face as she lifted Lily into her arms, backing up toward the top of the stairs. "Tell me how to save my baby!"
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Rebecca looked down at the stuffed rabbit in her hands, then looked at the matching rabbit in Lily’s small hands.
"The debt must be paid," Rebecca said quietly. "Or the balance must be restored. Someone of the bloodline must willingly step into the dark."
