The town woke to a sound it had not heard in generations.
Not the cry of gulls or the crash of waves, but something deeper—something remembered .
A low hum drifted through the streets like mist curling between rooftops. It wasn't loud enough to startle, but it was present, threading itself into the quiet spaces behind doors and beneath floorboards. Windows rattled faintly when it passed. Curtains stirred without wind.
Sela stood at the edge of the cliffs, barefoot in the damp grass, her silver pendant warm against her skin. She could feel it—the resonance of the final song settling into the bones of the town. Like ink soaking into parchment. Like firelight returning to cold stone.
She had sung the Rememberers' last verse.
And now, the echoes were coming back.
At the gallery, Luna was arranging a new set of paintings when the first one changed.
It showed a woman standing beneath the lighthouse, her face blurred by time. But as Luna watched, the image sharpened. The woman's features became clear—sharp cheekbones, dark eyes, a locket around her neck that glinted even in the dim light.
Luna gasped.
She hadn't painted this version.
Behind her, Elias stepped inside, holding a stack of old maps.
"She's back," he said quietly.
Luna turned to him. "You saw her too?"
He nodded toward the painting. "That's Clara Veyne. She vanished in the early nineteen hundreds. No body. No note. Just… gone."
Luna swallowed hard. "How is she here now?"
Elias looked out the window toward the cliffs. "Because Sela sang the final verse. And the past is remembering itself."
By midday, the town was abuzz.
People spoke in hushed voices over coffee and bread, describing strange things they'd seen—familiar faces reflected in shop windows that didn't belong to anyone living, whispers from empty rooms, scents of perfumes and foods no one had made in decades.
Children played near the shore and returned with stories of people walking just beyond the tide line—figures who smiled but never spoke.
Marina sat on the porch of the old house, watching the sea roll in with knowing eyes.
"They're waking up," she murmured.
Sela joined her, clutching the brush she had carried since inheriting Elira's gift. "Are they lost?"
Marina shook her head. "No. They're just… finding their way home."
Sela frowned. "But how do we know which ones are real and which ones aren't?"
Marina placed a hand on her granddaughter's shoulder. "You'll learn to tell the difference. Some memories return gently. Others come with unfinished business."
Sela looked down at the brush in her hands. "Like ghosts?"
"Not ghosts," Marina corrected softly. "Echoes. Pieces of lives that refused to be forgotten."
Sela thought about the gate beneath the sea. About the figures waiting on the other side. About the voice that had called her name.
She wasn't afraid anymore.
She was ready.
That evening, she returned to the tide pool chamber alone.
The pools shimmered more brightly than before, their reflections no longer just memories—but moments . A man reading by candlelight. A girl writing letters to someone who would never read them. An old woman singing a lullaby to an empty room.
Sela knelt beside one of the pools and dipped her fingers into the water.
The moment her skin touched the surface, the vision shifted.
Now, the reflection showed her own face.
But not as she was.
As she might become.
Her hair was longer, streaked with silver. Her eyes held the weight of years. She wore robes woven with threads of moonlight, a lantern glowing softly in her hand.
Standing behind her were others.
Rememberers.
Songkeepers.
Painters.
Writers.
Guardians of memory.
They watched her with pride.
With trust.
With hope.
Sela pulled her hand from the water.
The reflection faded.
But the feeling remained.
She stood.
And for the first time, she understood what her role truly was.
She wasn't just preserving history.
She was guiding it.
She was healing it.
She was becoming what the town needed most.
A bridge between past and present.
An anchor for those who had been lost.
A keeper of the forgotten.
Back at the house, Luna waited by the fire.
"You were gone a long time," she said gently.
Sela nodded. "I saw myself."
Luna tilted her head. "In the pools?"
"In the future."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Luna asked, "What did you see?"
Sela met her mother's gaze.
"I saw who I'm going to become."
Luna smiled faintly. "And what happens then?"
Sela took her mother's hand.
"I help them find peace."
Outside, the sea whispered again.
But this time, it wasn't calling her away.
It was welcoming her home.