Chapter 6: Cracks
The Dream House
Book One
The email arrived at 9:14 a.m.
Selena Purpose stared at the notification for nearly a minute before opening it.
She already knew.
Somewhere deep inside, she already knew.
People often sensed bad news before reading it.
Like hearing thunder before the storm reached you.
Her office overlooked downtown.
Glass towers stretched toward the clouds.
Cars crawled through traffic below.
The city looked successful.
Confident.
Unbreakable.
Selena looked successful too.
Anyone passing her office would have thought so.
Tailored suit.
Corner office.
Laptop.
Coffee.
Confidence.
The illusion was almost perfect.
Almost.
Her finger hovered over the email.
Then clicked.
The message opened.
Three paragraphs.
That was all.
Three paragraphs capable of destroying three years of work.
The investor was withdrawing.
Immediately.
No extension.
No negotiation.
No second chance.
The project would lose nearly sixty percent of its funding.
Selena reread the email.
Then again.
Then again.
As if the words might change.
They didn't.
The room felt strangely silent.
She expected panic.
Fear.
Anger.
Instead she felt numb.
A crack.
A small crack appearing somewhere inside her.
The kind nobody else could see.
The dangerous kind.
Because cracks grow.
Across the city, Maya stood outside the gallery.
The portfolio felt heavier than it should.
Paper and canvas shouldn't weigh this much.
Fear was adding extra pounds.
People entered and exited the building without hesitation.
Maya remained frozen.
A security guard held the door open for someone.
Then glanced toward her.
"You coming in?"
Maya blinked.
"What?"
"The gallery."
"Oh."
The word escaped awkwardly.
The guard smiled.
"Applications?"
Maya nodded.
He pointed toward the entrance.
"Can't win if you don't play."
Simple.
Ordinary.
Forgettable.
Yet somehow it struck harder than most motivational speeches.
Can't win if you don't play.
Maya tightened her grip on the portfolio.
Then stepped forward.
One step.
Then another.
Then another.
Sometimes courage looked exactly like walking through a door.
At the flower shop, Luna was rearranging roses when she found the envelope.
Again.
No stamp.
No address.
No explanation.
Just her name.
Luna.
Her stomach tightened.
The first message had disturbed her.
The second had frightened her.
The third made her angry.
Someone was watching.
Someone knew things they shouldn't know.
Someone wanted her attention.
Slowly she opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
An old photograph.
The edges were faded.
The colors slightly worn.
Three children stood beneath a large oak tree.
Two boys.
One girl.
Luna stared.
The girl looked exactly like her.
Not similar.
Not close.
Exactly.
She flipped the photograph over.
Five words were written on the back.
FIND THE TREE.
BEFORE MAYA DOES.
Luna's heart stopped.
Maya.
For the first time, one of the messages mentioned someone else.
The mystery was growing.
And somehow...
It already knew Maya's name.
That evening rain clouds gathered above the city.
Heavy.
Dark.
Waiting.
Maya returned home carrying an unfamiliar feeling.
Hope.
She wasn't sure what to do with it.
It had been absent for so long.
She placed her portfolio beside her desk.
The apartment looked exactly the same.
The bills were still overdue.
The fridge was still mostly empty.
The mysterious drawing still waited where she had left it.
Nothing had changed.
Yet everything felt different.
Because she had finally done something.
For the first time in months she had moved forward instead of standing still.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from Selena.
Three words.
WE NEED TO TALK.
Maya frowned.
Before she could reply, another message arrived.
This time from Luna.
ARE YOU HOME?
A strange feeling settled into Maya's chest.
Not fear.
Not exactly.
More like standing at the edge of a cliff and realizing the ground beneath you is beginning to shift.
Outside, thunder rolled across the sky.
Inside her apartment, the drawing slipped from the desk and landed on the floor.
Face up.
The woman in the flames stared toward the ceiling.
Watching.
Waiting.
Knowing.
And for the first time, Maya noticed something she had somehow missed before.
The woman wasn't alone.
Someone else was standing behind her.
Hidden in the fire.