## **Chapter 10 — A Family in Hiding**

It wasn't easy to find the Sarnowskis. Officially, they lived in Skalin, but when they started checking addresses, one by one they turned out to be empty, abandoned, or rented out for years.

Klara combed maps online, Łukasz searched official documents, Piotr and Lena called neighbors who "remembered something."

After a few hours of searching, Lena practically shouted, "I've got them."

Everyone looked at her.

"Eight years ago, they moved to the outskirts, to a small house near the forest. No one knows why. Rumors say 'some family tragedy.'"

They drove there in silence. The road led further and further from the center until the apartment buildings, shops, and asphalt disappeared completely. Instead, only frozen fields and a dark forest.

The Sarnowskis' house was small, gray, and looked as if it hadn't been renovated in a long time. But someone was living there—a light was on in one of the windows.

Piotr knocked.

Silence.

He knocked harder.

"Police. We need to talk."

Finally, a woman appeared in the doorway. About forty years old, tired, pale, with a look that suggested she hadn't slept in a long time.

"What do you want?" she asked sharply.

"It's about the Sarnowski family," Piotr began.

"There's no family here," she snapped.

"Ma'am, we know who you are. It's very important," Marta added.

The woman looked at Zofia. And then something inside her snapped.

"Come in. But only you," she pointed at Zofia and Marta. "The rest of you stay outside."

Piotr started to protest, but Zofia stopped him.

"We'll be fine."

Inside, chaos reigned—stacks of boxes, taped-over windows, cut-out newspaper articles.

The woman sat down.

"My name is Agnieszka Sarnowska. And I know who you are."

Zofia swallowed.

"Who?"

Agnieszka looked her straight in the eye.

"Heirs."

Marta raised her eyebrows.

"What exactly?"

"A Circle. A Ritual. A Promise. What our families started."

Zofia felt her legs weaken.

"Please... tell us everything."

Agnieszka sighed heavily.

"I'll tell you one thing. What's happening... didn't start now. It was only a matter of time before the city woke up. We tried to hide, but it found us. All of us."

Zofia whispered:

"Why us?"

Agnieszka replied as quietly as possible:

"Because your blood belongs to it."

Suddenly, a SCREAM came from outside.

Piotr.

Zofia and Marta ran outside—and there stood Piotr, gun pointed, staring at the trees.

"Someone's watching us. Someone's in the forest."

The forest responded only with... silence.

But Zofia already knew.

It wasn't someone.

It was *something*.

--

### If you want a sequel, write **"Next"**

➡️ Chapter 11: **"The Watcher in the Trees"**