CHAPTER 1 — Beneath the Red Wisteria
The rain had stopped only minutes ago.
Tiny droplets clung to the endless strands of red wisteria hanging above the ancient bridge. Whenever the moonlight touched them, they seemed to shimmer like hundreds of tiny rubies.
Amber pulled her cloak closer around herself.
She shouldn’t have been there.
Everyone in the village knew about the bridge.
They said that once every few years, someone would see a boy standing on the opposite side beneath the wisteria.
A boy with black hair.
A boy with red eyes.
And every person who tried to approach him was told the same thing afterward:
Don’t cross the bridge.
Amber had never believed the stories.
Until tonight.
She stepped out from behind an old stone wall and stared across the bridge.
Someone was there.
A tall figure stood beneath a flickering lantern.
Black hair fell across his eyes, and his dark coat moved slightly in the cold night breeze.
Amber stopped breathing for a moment.
Then he looked up.
Their eyes met.
His eyes were red.
Not bright like fire.
More like the deep crimson color of the wisteria surrounding them.
Amber’s heart began beating faster.
She had seen him before.
Not clearly.
Never this close.
Always at the edge of the forest.
Always disappearing before she could speak to him.
But tonight, he wasn’t running.
He simply watched her.
“You came back,” he said.
His voice was quiet.
Amber frowned.
“Back?”
The boy’s expression changed slightly.
“You don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
He looked away.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
The only sound was the gentle stream flowing underneath the bridge.
Amber finally stepped closer.
“My name is Amber.”
“I know.”
She immediately stopped.
“How do you know my name?”
The boy didn’t answer.
Instead, his eyes moved toward the silver pendant hanging around her neck.
Amber instinctively covered it with her hand.
It had belonged to her mother.
She had worn it for as long as she could remember.
“Why are you looking at that?”
The boy’s expression became serious.
“Where did you get it?”
“My mother gave it to me.”
He stared at her.
“Your mother?”
Amber nodded.
“Why?”
The boy slowly looked toward the red wisteria.
“Because she knew this day would come.”
Amber’s stomach twisted.
“What day?” She asked looking nervous.
He didn’t answer.
She stepped forward again.
“What do you mean?”
“Go home.”
Amber blinked.
“What?”
“Go home, Amber.”
His voice was firmer this time.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Then why are you?”
Silence.
Amber could see the surprise in his expression.
She continued.
“You’re standing on the bridge too.”
The boy almost smiled.
Almost.
“You ask too many questions.” He said firmly.
“And you don’t answer enough of them.”
For the first time, his expression softened.
Just slightly.
Then a cold wind swept across the bridge.
The red wisteria began to sway.
Amber looked upward.
There wasn’t any wind anymore.
Yet the flowers continued moving.
One strand slowly lowered between them.
A single red flower fell.
It landed directly on Amber’s pendant.
The pendant suddenly began glowing.
The boy’s eyes widened.
“Amber…”
She looked down.
A thin crimson light was spreading across the silver pendant.
“What is happening?”
The boy immediately walked toward her.
“Don’t touch it.”
Amber froze.
He stopped a few steps away from her.
For the first time, she noticed something in his expression that she had never expected to see.
Fear.
Not fear of her.
Fear for her.
“What is that?” she whispered.
The boy looked at the pendant.
“That belonged to your mother?” He asked
“Yes.”
He lowered his voice.
“Then she never told you the truth.”
Amber’s eyes widened.
“What truth?”
Before he could answer, a distant bell rang.
Once.
The boy turned toward the forest.
Twice.
His entire expression changed.
Three times.
Every lantern on the bridge went dark.
Amber couldn’t see anything.
“Where are you?”
No answer.
She reached forward cautiously.
Then she heard his voice directly in front of her.
“Stay where you are.”
Amber froze.
Something moved beneath the bridge.
A shadow passed across the water.
Then another.
The red wisteria began glowing faintly around them.
Amber’s pendant grew warmer in her hand.
“What is happening?” she whispered.
The boy didn’t answer.
Instead, he stepped between Amber and the edge of the bridge.
“Whatever you hear,” he said, “don’t look over the side.”
Amber swallowed.
“Why?”
“Because it wants you to.”
A strange whisper rose from beneath the bridge.
Amber couldn’t understand the words.
But she heard her name.
Amber.
She instinctively turned toward the sound.
The boy caught her attention immediately.
“Don’t.”
His red eyes met hers.
Her brown.Amber eyes.
“Trust me.”
Amber hesitated.
She didn’t know him.
She didn’t know his name.
She didn’t know why he knew her.
And she certainly didn’t know why the pendant her mother had given her was glowing.
But something inside her told her that he wasn’t lying.
So she stayed still.
The whisper disappeared.
The lanterns suddenly flickered back to life.
The boy looked relieved.
Then Amber noticed something strange.
A small red flower had appeared in his hand.
He stared at it as though he had seen it before.
“What’s your name?” Amber asked.
He looked at her.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he finally answered.
“Kai...”
Amber repeated the name quietly.
“Kai…”
His expression became unreadable.
“You need to forget tonight.”
Amber shook her head.
“That’s not happening.”
“Amber.”
“You know my name. You know my mother. You know this pendant. And apparently something under this bridge knows me too.”
She took another step toward him.
“So I’m not going anywhere until you explain.”
Kai stared at her.
Then, unexpectedly, he laughed softly.
It wasn’t a happy laugh.
It sounded almost like disbelief.
“You really are just like her.”
Amber’s expression changed.
“Like my mother?”
Kai looked away.
“Yes.”
Amber waited.
But he said nothing more.
Instead, he turned toward the opposite end of the bridge.
“Come back tomorrow night.”
Amber’s eyes widened.
“You’re telling me to come back after everything that just happened?”
“Yes I am...”
“Why?”
Kai looked over his shoulder.
“Because tomorrow, I’ll tell you everything.”
He paused.
“About your mother.”
Amber’s heart sank.
“And about me.” He said softly.
Then he disappeared into the darkness beyond the bridge.
Amber stood alone beneath the red wisteria.
She looked down at her pendant.
The crimson glow was gone.
But one tiny red flower remained resting against it.
Amber picked it up.
There was something written on the back of the pendant that she had never noticed before.
A single sentence.
When the red wisteria blooms, the forgotten will return.
Amber stared at the words.
Then she looked toward the path where Kai had disappeared.
For the first time, she wondered whether the stories about the bridge had never been stories at all.
Maybe they had been warnings.
And perhaps her mother had known exactly what would happen.
The red wisteria above her began to bloom.
One flower.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
And somewhere beyond the trees, a bell rang for the fourth time...
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