"You were using magic on her," Wells said. "We all saw it."
"My shadows were trying to calm her down. That thing appearing scared her, not me."
"Convenient excuse." Wells moved closer, club raised. "You're coming with us. Council can sort out which one's real after we've got you locked up."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Then we do this the hard way."
Maren's shadows exploded outward, not attacking, just creating barrier. Darkness filled the room, cold and absolute. She used the cover to reach the window, yanking it open despite the storm howling outside.
"Maren, don't—" Freya started.
"Keep Sage safe." Maren climbed onto the sill. "And tell Tristan I'm sorry."
She dropped into the alley below, landing hard in snow that cushioned impact but grabbed at her legs. Behind her, shouts erupted. The mob organizing, spreading out, hunting.
Let them hunt.
She was done hiding. Done letting the doppelgänger control the narrative while she cowered and hoped for mercy that would never come.
If it wanted to frame her, wanted to wear her face and destroy her life, it could do it in the open.
Maren ran toward Moonmirror Lake, her shadows spreading wide, making herself visible, obvious, impossible to miss. The storm battered her from all sides, snow and ice cutting exposed skin. Her lungs burned. Her legs ached.
She kept running.
Behind her, the mob gave chase. Voices calling her name, some angry, some frightened, all certain they were pursuing a threat instead of someone trying to protect them.
The forest appeared through white curtains. She plunged into bare branches, not bothering to hide tracks. Let them follow. Let them see.
When the doppelgänger came, when it showed itself for the construct it was, they'd have to believe. Would have to see the difference between shadow witch and shadow monster.
Or they wouldn't. And she'd die trying to prove something that should've been obvious from the start.
Either way, she was done running.
The lake emerged ahead, black ice visible beneath fresh snow. This was where her mother had hidden the locket, where the water remembered, where shadows slept beneath the surface. She knew it now.
This was where it ended.
Maren stopped at the shore, chest heaving, shadows spread wide in challenge. "I know you're here," she called into the storm. "I know you can feel me. So come on. Face me without hiding behind witnesses and fear. Just you and me. Let's finish this."
Wind howled. Snow fell. The lake sat silent and waiting.
Then the temperature dropped again, and darkness materialized across the ice.
The doppelgänger stood twenty feet away, solid and terrible and smiling with her stolen face.
"Finally," it said. "Finally you understand."
"I understand you're using my mother's locket to exist." Maren's voice stayed steady despite everything. "I understand you feed on fear and chaos. And I understand that destroying the locket destroys you."
"Good luck finding it." The construct opened its arms. "Your mother hid it well. Somewhere in this lake, yes. But where? How deep? Under what stone?" Its smile widened. "You'll never find it in time."
"Maybe not." Maren's shadows coiled tight, preparing. "But I can keep you busy while someone else looks."
The doppelgänger's expression flickered. "You can't fight me. Your magic feeds me."
