✧

Then.

Six year old Mia runs through the London flat half an hour past her bedtime. An exhausted Isobel trails after her with her hands extended, hoping to catch her and finally acquire a moment of rest. It's been the longest months due to Mia claiming she's been seeing a shadow figure in the corner of her room just when the witching hour hits.

To ensure no stranger had entered their flat, Isobel slept in her room, but when no figure appeared, she knew it was all a figment of Mia's imagination. The shadow man was just a monster from her nightmares, but her daughter claimed it was a ghost.

At late hours of the night, Mia would head to her mother's room or sometimes sleep on the sofa to not disturb her. In her young mind, sleeping in another place meant the man would never find her. She would be safe as long as the shadow man didn't know her location, but as expected, she couldn't be more wrong.

"You need to go to bed, honey," Isobel finally catches her and carries her to her room.

"No. He's going to be there," little Mia buries her head into the crook of her neck, shutting her eyes tightly the closer they get. "The shadow man will watch me sleep."

"He won't," she tries reassuring her, but the six year old is extremely stubborn to believe her. "Remember when you said you were a big girl now? Well, big girls know what's real and what's not."

Frowning, Mia defeatedly lets her mother tuck her in. She sinks herself deeper into the bed and clutches onto the sheets as if they were her shield. The corner by the closet is significantly darker than the rest of the room and just seeing it brings shivers down her spine. "But he is real. Why don't you believe me?"

Isobel caresses her cheek and brushes her hair from her face, "I've spent the night here and I never saw him. Trust me, honey, if he were real, I would have handled it already."

"We should move out," Mia hastily suggests. "Maybe he will finally leave me alone."

"We never run away when we're scared. We face our fears head on and only then, the monsters will leave us alone."

Mia takes her words for consideration, "Will the shadow man stop coming if I face him?"

"Exactly," the Grey mother boops her nose, smiling gently. "Monsters feed on our fear, so when we stop being afraid, we take away their power."

And just like that, Isobel hums her favorite lullaby and waits until she falls asleep before leaving.

3:00 am finally comes and following her nightly routine, Mia awakens in a loud gasp. Out of instinct, her eyes wander to the corner. She raises the covers to her face, allowing her eyes to be the only part of her peeking out. Like always, the shadow man stands in his designated place.

His dark suit and small hat makes him appear taller, but something is off this time. Instead of facing her, his back is the only thing she sees. She waits for him to make a move, but he remains in place as if having become paralyzed. He's staring at the wall, almost as if he's lost interest in watching her sleep.

Mia remembers her mother's words and chooses to finally face the monster. She's afraid, but if Isobel is right, then that means confronting him will put an end to her nightmare. He will no longer have power over her, so quietly, she gets out of bed and slowly heads in his direction. Her racing heart pounds against her chest and her breathing becomes heavier the closer she gets, but she doesn't want to be afraid anymore. Like her mother said, she's a big girl now and big girls take care of things.

"I'm not scared of you," she tells him, but the shakiness of her voice gives out her dishonesty. "So you can leave me alone now. You won't get what you want."

The shadow man remains perfectly still. Not a single sound fills the emptiness except for her heavy breathing and pounding heart. She waits for him to disappear and finally set her free, but that's when she notices the way his fingers are moving slowly and tapping against his leg. His shoulders are rising up and down in a leisurely way and something about the perfect silence makes her realize that this had been a mistake.

Cautiously, Mia takes a couple steps back. Never once does she look away from him. The alarms in her head start ringing and in her little six year old mind, she hides under the covers in hopes they would protect her from the shadows.

Footsteps head her way much slower, almost purposeful as if to torture her. She shuts her eyes and sinks deeper into her bed, but it only prompts him to move faster. The floorboards creak loudly, echoing in the vacancy of the room, but no one comes to her aid. She's alone with the shadow man and confronting him made everything worse.

The faint moonlight manages to peek through the window and casts a light on her. Usually, the light is enough to make him disappear, but the shadow man defies the laws. If anything, the light gives him strength and the motivation to haunt her.

Forcing herself, Mia opens her eyes to take a peek. The silhouette of his bony hand is seen past the sheets, slowly getting closer and reaching for the edge. He's about to have her in his grasp and nothing or no one will be able to save her.

As if ice had been injected into her system, she's now fully surrounded by a ghostly winter. A sudden pain is felt around her throat, like someone or something is cutting her oxygen off. The piercing pain in her abdomen is suddenly felt and it's such a foreign feeling that she can't prevent from reaching down. When she looks down, there's blood seeping through her shirt as if a faucet had been opened.

The shadow man moves closer and begins reaching for the covers. Slowly, he uncovers her hiding spot and despite not wanting to see him, Mia glances up. His gray eyes are such an unnerving color, bright yet dark like the empty night with hidden specters. Just like his hands, his features are slim and remind her of the grim reaper.

She tries moving, but her entire body is now failing her. All she can do is stare at him and memorize his features, imprinting them into her mind and placing them into her cages. The shadow man hovers over her and slowly gets closer to the point she can feel his breath on her face, but just when the slightest beacon of hope resurfaces, the most gut wrenching shriek emits from him.

All hell breaks loose at his scream, its agonizing sound perforating her eardrums and introducing her to a state of paranoia. As if death were at her doorstep, she hysterically screams and pleads to the shadow man to leave her alone once and for all.

The second her mother enters, the shadow man disappears as a way to taunt her by making her look crazy. If no one believes her, his visits could continue. As long as she's frightened, the hauntings will persist in an everlasting loop.

"He was right here!" Mia points to the corner, her voice hysterical and trembling. She grips onto her mother as if she were her lifeline, burying her face into the crook of her neck and avoiding glancing at the home of the shadow man. "I was hiding, but he saw me. He was going to take me."

Isobel holds onto her tightly as she looks around for any evidence of the shadow's presence. There's nothing strange in the room, but she knows better than to dismiss this. Something clearly frightened her daughter and instead of ignoring it, she will ensure nothing or no one brings her anymore harm.

"I tried not to be afraid like you told me, but I couldn't do it."

"It's okay, honey," Isobel reassures her, holding onto her tightly. "You were brave and that's all that matters."

But Mia didn't feel brave. If anything, she felt like a coward, like a frail girl that needs protection for everything. She wanted to rid herself of the shadow man by herself, but he's much stronger than she will ever be.

Confronting him had been the worst mistake she could have made and while Isobel's advice usually worked on others, it failed her from sparing her from the misery of her demons. Facing her fears didn't bring anything beneficial, but something strange happened after that night. As the days turned to weeks, the weeks turned to months, and the months turned to years, he never visited her again.

But the shadow man didn't abandon her. He watched over her as she blossomed into the gifted woman she is now. From the shadows, in the back of her reflection, in the darkest paths in the alleyways, he was with her without her knowledge.

Until he made his appearance again.

When Mia first saw him that cold winter day, she then realized her father had been the ghost that haunted her as a young girl. Dimitri Grey made her feel like the weakest link and after eleven years, the story is repeating itself.

The grip on her throat and the piercing pain on her abdomen, they were warnings of his attack that would occur years later. She had been haunted by the knowledge of how she would die. All this time, the future had been in her hold.

The shadow man will be her end and her beginning. It's just a matter of when both paths would tragically cross.

Now

"Mia?" Jackson calls from the docks, his brows furrowed and a slight frown appearing. He stands still by the edge, the water underneath him pretending to be calm despite the imminent storm about to fall upon.

Mia looks away from the still waters and lets her gaze wander to him. She's unsure of how long she's been in her thoughts, but from his impatient expression, she guesses it must have been minutes. In all honesty, she's not even aware of when she got here. All she remembers is having left Emily's house and-

As if a replay button had been pressed, she recalls having looked into the forest and seeing the silhouette of her father again. Everything was telling her to ignore him, but she refused to give him more power, so she started heading into the trees.

But how did she end up here?

How did she arrive at the docks?

It all feels like some kind of dream, like she's hopping through passages of time. She pinches herself in hopes of awakening, but she's brought back to reality when hearing thunder roaring from afar.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Mia vaguely asks, not bothering to pay much attention to his sudden concern.

"You just seemed like you were in a trance," he explains, noticing her mind going away again like earlier. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she quickly says, her voice dripping with venom at the irritating question everyone always seems to ask. "Can't anyone be original and ask something new for once?"

Jackson knows better than to respond to her remark, especially when he's been the culprit of snapping at people many times. "I thought you were going to leave me hanging, but I'm glad you're here."

"I was tempted to, but I..." she trails off, unsure if she should mention not knowing how she got here. The last thing she wants is for him to believe she's crazy. It's enough with her thinking it, but having anyone else think it as well, it's the worst imaginable thing. "I don't know. I just couldn't do that to you."

"You seem to be getting along with the pack," he gestures toward Emily's house standing not too far from them. "They're not always that open with everyone. They're more... restrictive."

"Apparently not much since they accepted you."

Pretending to wince in pain, he places his hand against his heart, "Ouch. Way to hurt me, Grey."

She softly smiles, "How did you end up here? I mean, Forks is basically just a drive-by town. No one in their right mind sees this place and decides to move here."

"Look who's talking. Didn't you move here as well?"

Mia's quiet for a second as she recalls the circumstances that brought her here. She wasn't fond of her entire life being turned upside down all for the sake of being safe. It took some time to accept this town would be her new home, but the months before her life became a mess, she was starting to love living here.

Now, this town has become her prison. It doesn't matter if she wants to head home to London, because Forks seems to be the place that's brought her mother joy, and who is she to ruin it for her?

The truth is, Mia can go anywhere, but just not home. She's trapped here and even if she's made friends along the way, she can't bring herself to love living here anymore. He ruined it for her and she hates him for having destroyed the home she was building.

"Not by choice," she reluctantly admits and places her hands into her jacket's pockets. "But you didn't answer my question. What brought you here?"

"So many things, Grey," Jackson looks up at the twilight sky and sighs loudly. "I never intended to move here, but things changed last December. I didn't really have much of a say, so all I could do was agree and come here."

Seems they have more in common than she thought. Just like her, she was forced to move across the world away from everything she's ever known. The thing is, it's not anything that makes her willing to want to create some type of friendship with him.

She's done with that. She's done with opening herself up to people since it only brings nothing but deception. There's nothing that will make her willing to trust anyone else, so why bother now?

"Why did you ask me here? I mean, we both could be doing something more productive than this," Mia paces away from the docks, not wanting to be any closer to the water than she has to.

A mixture of hesitance and worry becomes more apparent. His silence makes her afraid of the reasons for this gathering, especially with the way he keeps looking at her as if he were afraid she'd break at his expectant revelation.

She braces herself for the worst, already thinking there's nothing else that can bring more chaos to her life. Surely, anything that he says won't make everything worse, but a part of her is afraid that it will. Nothing in her life has ever gone great and when it has, it always ends, because nothing ever lasts forever.

"Can you stop with the dramatics and just say it? I need you to tell me, so can you please just-"

"It's a blood curse that they put on you," Jackson blurts out, stunning her into silence. "It's a way to weaken the enemy by taking their power away. The more they try using their magic, the quicker they lose it."

Mia stops breathing at his words and the distrustful part of her debates on whether or not to believe him. She's settled that she's lost her magic, but hearing it from someone makes her terrified that it's not just her suspicions, but it's the truth. It would mean it's not in her head, but it also signifies that her loss is her fault.

Instead of confiding in her mother about her suspicions, she kept it to herself. She did nothing to prevent the worst and look at what this brought her. Using her magic had been her fall and she so cowardly made her own bed, so now she has to lie in it.

"It's a curse that was recently created, so there's no known cure or a spell to reverse it."

The distrust and doubts within her make her question his so-called knowledge of this. She wants to believe people have a good heart in spite of everything, but it's getting harder maintaining the facade of being a half glass full kind of girl. She once had been faithful to those around her, but it never led to anything good.

What if this is history repeating itself?

"And who told you this?" Mia's voice is lower than intended and can barely be counted as a whisper. "How do you know?"

Jackson's not a stranger to suspicions of him, but it still leaves a bitter taste behind. "I asked some friends from Ilvermorny-"

"Why would you ask? It doesn't even concern you," she refuses to believe a complete stranger would grow interest without having any intentions. It's in no one's nature to suddenly be helpful, especially over someone they barely met.

No one can be that good of a person.

It's impossible.

"I tend to have a habit of involving myself into things that don't involve me," he brushes off her suspicions, not bothering to feign any offense or appear vexed when she's totally in her right to doubt him. "It's why I ended up here, but believe me, I'm working on it."

The bitter taste of his previous words and the mess it's now brought, it's tilting her world on its axis. She's no longer believing her loss is just a suspicion, but now feels like it's a certainty. It makes sense as to why she started getting weaker after the attack and why she was struggling to cast spells. The more she tried using her powers, the more it hurt since she was quite literally losing a part of herself.

And it's all her fault.

"You're wrong," she protests, backtracking on her previous admittance. "There's no blood curse. There's nothing that I lost, so you're wrong. Your friends don't know anything."

Jackson takes a step closer as if to offer his comfort, but she staggers back as if he were a lethal venom. "You felt something changed since the attack, haven't you?"

Mia looks down at her hands as for the first time, she feels complete emptiness running through her veins. The adrenaline and completeness her magic brought is no longer there, and she's felt it since Halloween, but is just too afraid to actually believe it.

"Or haven't felt anything," Jackson's words echo through her mind, his sentence pounding against her head like bass drums. "I can't imagine how it feels, but it's better not to turn a blind eye to the truth. Maybe there's a way to fix this. Magic always has its loopholes."

"I have my magic," she insists, afraid of admitting everything is not in her head, but is actually real. "I'm just struggling with it, but it's- it's still there."

"Then prove me wrong," he tells her, his voice soft and full of sympathy.

Mia clenches her jaw as she prepares herself to cast the simplest of spells. Incendio is the one she casts, but as she wills her magic to resurface, nothing appears. She doesn't feel anything, almost like she's been abandoned again.

"Come on," she mutters to herself, focusing on the fire that's supposed to appear. "Incendio," she casts again, but everything remains in perfect condition, "Incendio." Nothing happens, proving that everything he's telling her is right, but she refuses to admit it. She can't admit it out loud, because that would mean everything that's made her worthy is now gone and she's become useless.

"Mia-"

"Incendio!" Mia exclaims one last time before kicking the rocks onto the water harshly. "Damn it! This- it doesn't mean anything. Witches struggle many times in casting spells, so this doesn't signify that I lost my magic."

Jackson says nothing and only lets her take in this revelation however she wants to. He can't imagine what he'd do if this were him in her place. If anything, she's handling it way better than he would.

"You're wrong," Mia insists with her entire being and turns around to leave, but that's when she sees him again – the shadow man. He's standing by the shore looking into her as if he could see her soul and read into her hidden chapters. She considers that maybe she's going crazy, because why would her father just stand in the shadows without hurting her?

"Mia? What are you-"

Not glancing away from the shore, she breathes shakily and asks, "Do you see him?"

Following her line of sight, Jackson tries figuring out who she's referring to. "I don't see anyone. It's just us here."

Mia turns back to him and when seeing the confusion and concern in his face, she then realizes that she's the only one that can see her father. She's being haunted again, but this time, she's certain the monster is real and has been waiting for the right moment to attack. Maybe she's officially starting to lose her mind. Maybe this is the first step into becoming the worst.

"I have to go."

"Wait!" Jackson runs after her, afraid of what she might do now that she knows about her curse. "Mia, wait!"

But she doesn't stop running.

She heads deeper into the forest with no means of stopping. It's already enough to have lost her magic, but now she's seeing her father everywhere as if she were trapped in a nightmare. She needs to wake up and maybe then, her nightmare will finally end and everything could go back to the way it was.