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The icy wind hit me like a sharp blow to the face, and I stared at the black Victorian iron railing that connected to the lighthouse.

The cloud castle of Blairville.

Disappointment spread through me.

I didn't know what had possessed me, what had made me believe that I could just come here and he would be there.

Slowly, I approached the railing and wrapped my hands around the cold iron. I clenched my fists around it until it hurt.

The town center lay shrouded in evening fog, black ravens circling in the distance around the old church tower, the towers of Vanderwood University, and the ghostly skeleton of the gigantic Ferris wheel of the old amusement park between the island's mountain slopes. The rest of the island was all swallowed by the fog.

The waves out at sea seemed higher than last time, the sky more overcast. Once again, storm clouds approached from the distance, but they were farther away than last time... when we had been here together.

Fresh snow covered the barely visible treetops in the distance behind the town center as well as the island's mountain slopes.

This town. It had been Mum's home. Now it was both of our prisons.

When I had come here, I never would have thought I would find such a dark town history, all these secrets, or even occultism. Families who loathed each other to death, driven by fear and the desire for power.

It had gotten colder, darker... The biting wind whipped against my face and it felt like I was being hit by ice shards.

Dazed, I felt a hot tear run down my cheek.

I had managed to survive all this madness so far... thanks to him.

Hastily, I fumbled for my phone and did what I had been trying to do for weeks. I pressed the green receiver and held my breath to listen.

The wind whistled, howling menacingly and lonely around me, stinging my sensitive skin.

Nothing.

Not even the voicemail.

I lowered the phone.

More tears streamed down my cheeks.

I couldn't remember ever crying like this over Larissa. We had known each other for so long, had grown up together, but somehow, I was used to her putting herself in danger and disappearing from time to time.

It was different with Julian. He was my first male best friend. And maybe that was why we had formed such a deep connection in such a short time.

Images flashed before my inner eye. Images of his smile, that idiotic grin that still made me laugh, memories I never wanted to let go of, like him holding those stupid sheets of paper up to his window to cheer me up, images of him just sitting there playing the piano, looking happy, maybe even being happy, memories of us talking that one night in my room, those dreams that had haunted him...

“Why didn't you tell me, Julian...” I sobbed loudly, but the wind swallowed my words. “We could always have talked...”

Even though I couldn't hear it, I could feel my voice breaking in my throat.

“Where are you...?”

My cheeks were numb by now, so I couldn't feel anything anymore.

I stumbled forward, pressing myself against the railing until it hurt.

At some point, I stopped thinking and just cried.

“Please, come back.”

I said it... I was sure I did, even though I couldn't hear my voice anymore.