Page 41 of Shadowed By the Talos

Charlotte Bruno, loving daughter and bright light, snuffed out too soon.

The words mocked me from the grainy print. I scanned further, looking for any follow-up articles, any hint that Charlotte Bruno’s death was anything but real to the world.

Minutes turned into hours as I poured over record after record. Hayze checked in periodically, his eyes scanning my face for any sign of what I’d found.

“Anything?” he asked during one of his visits.

I shook my head. “It’s like she—like I—never existed beyond that point.”

He laid a hand on my shoulder—a brief touch that grounded me. “Keep looking.”

And so we continued our search through the labyrinth of records. The librarians cast curious glances our way, but said nothing. We were two people on a mission they couldn’t understand.

I searched every part of the library’s collection, while Hayze typed rapidly on his laptop. Yet despite our efforts, nothing contradicted the story crafted by those who had sent me into hiding.

As dusk painted the sky outside with strokes of pink and orange, Hayze approached with his laptop in hand. He set it down before me, his finger pointing at an article he’d found—an interview with a grief-stricken Gage Burno lamenting his daughter’s untimely passing.

“It’s convincing,” he admitted quietly.

“It has to be,” I replied, swallowing hard against the lump in my throat. “My family knows how to sell a lie.”

We packed up our things as the library announced its closing time. The weight of our findings—or lack thereof—settled heavily upon us as we stepped back into the night air.

Hayze glanced at me under the streetlights’ glow. “Are you alright?”

I managed a tight smile. “Yeah. It seems Charlotte Bruno really died that day.”

His hand found mine, squeezing gently in reassurance or perhaps solidarity as we walked back to our car parked beneath a sprawling oak tree. With each step, a piece of my old life fell away like leaves ready to join the autumn ground.

But even as Charlotte’s ghost seemed to rest in peace within those library walls and archived pages, Arlet Rune couldn’t shake off the chill of uncertainty that whispered new threats might wait just beyond the horizon.

I held the burner phone in my hand, its weight insignificant compared to the burden of uncertainty that had taken up residence in my chest. Hayze’s eyes watched me, a silent question lingering in their depths. We were miles away from the nearest town with the car parked on a dusty turnout. Around us, the country stretched vast and empty, only the sound of wind through grass to keep us company.

I pressed the number that I had memorized when I became Arlet Rune, the one I hoped never to use again. The phone rang, each tone a drumbeat against my nerves.

“Speak?” The voice on the other end was crisp, professional.

I gave the code that let them know who I was. My voice was steady despite the storm inside. “I need to report a threat.”

I explained everything—the article, the sense of being watched, the fear that my past was catching up with me. The agent listened without interruption, and when I finished, there was a pause.

“We’ll look into it immediately,” he assured me. “We’ll contact you within an hour.”

The line went dead. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and met Hayze’s gaze.

“They’re checking into it,” I said.

He nodded. “Good. Let’s not just stand here waiting.”

We found a walking trail nearby, its entrance marked by an old wooden sign that seemed to sway gently with our every movement. Hayze led the way as we stepped onto the path, gravel crunching beneath our boots. We walked side by side in silence, each lost in our own thoughts but together in our solitude.

The trail wound through fields of wildflowers and clusters of trees whose leaves whispered secrets as we passed. We kept our pace even and our eyes alert for any sign of another soul—though none appeared.

Time stretched on, and with each passing minute, my anxiety ebb away slightly, replaced by an odd sense of tranquility that seemed to emanate from the earth itself.

The phone vibrated against my thigh, startling me back to reality. I stopped in my tracks and glanced at Hayze before answering.

“Arlet Rune,” I said into the phone.

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