After a LOT of failed experiments.
The two teenagers decided to leave the pendant. Samantha made her way home with disappointment radiating around her.
That night, Samantha couldn't sleep... again. the pendant was on her desk, beside her lamp, like a silent sentinel watching her toss and turn. The house was quiet-mom already asleep, dad on a business trip. The windows were locked this time around.
She got up, padded over to the desk, and sat down. The moment her fingers brushed the pendant again, it flared just slightly with heat.
Her breath hitched.
She grabbed it and held it tightly.
The symbols simmered, barely vibisle-but there.
She closed her eyes.
A sound. Low and soft, like wind through trees, humming at the edge of hearing.
She opened her eyes quickly.
It had stopped.
******
The next day at school, she met Ron behind the gym building.
"I think I figured something out. I think maybe it reacts to me? I don't know. But last night, i touched it, and it ....did something."
He squinted. "Define 'something'"
"It pulsed. I heard a sound, too. Faint, like someone whispering from very far away."
He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay...so it's haunted jewellery. "
"I'm serious,"
"I know. That's what makes it even scarier. "
They spent lunch hidden in the library's back table. I'm trying again. This time, Ron brought a small magnet, a compass, and a tuning fork.
Samantha wondered where on earth he found all those tools he kept bringing.
They tested everything. Still nothing consistent.
"Ron rubbed his temples tiredly. "Maybe it's mood activated. You gotta cry on it or think sad thoughts. Quick! Go back to 'grumpy sam' mode."
"I'll smack you." She deadpanned.
"You see me shaking?"
She sighed and leaned back. Her fingers grazed the pendant again-and again, that warmth returned.
She focused. Closed her eyes. This time, she wanted to hear it.
Nothing.
Wait.
A whisper. Not words. Not sounds.
An image!
It flashed through her mind like lightning-brief and bright.
A tree. Gnarled and tall, standing alone in a misty field. Beneath-a crack in the earth. A seam glowing faintly gold, like molten glass.
Samantha's eyes flew open. She gasped.
"What. Are we in trouble?" Ron asked, sitting upright.
"I saw something," she whispered. Voice is still a little shaky. "A tree....and a crack. Like the ground was splitting open."
Her expression turned grave. "Think it's real?"
"I don't know. But it didn't feel like a memory. It felt like a warning."
*******
The school day came to an end, and they both walked home in silence, minds full of questions, and neither knew how to ask out loud.
At the street corner where their paths spilt, Ron stopped. "Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm in. Whatever this is. You don't have to figure it out alone. You've got me."
She nodded. Clutching the pendant.
"Thanks, sidekick," she murmured.
"I prefer 'co-investigstor' actually.
She smiled, faint and real.
Behind her, across the street-under the orange glare of a flickering lamppost- the hooded figure stood again.
Watching.
This time, Samantha didn't flinch. Didn't run. Didn't question it.
She just watched him back.