Chapter 20 – The Final Warning

Chapter 20

Maya arrived at the café early the next morning, hoping that work would distract her from the midnight phone call. She hadn’t slept well. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard that slow, deliberate breathing on the other end of the line.

But when she stepped inside the café, all thoughts of sleep vanished.

A plastic skull sat on the counter.

Its hollow eyes stared straight at her. Its jaw hung open in a silent scream. Someone had placed it carefully—deliberately—right where she would see it.

Maya froze. “No… no, no, no.”

The café had been locked. The windows were secure. There was no sign of forced entry. Yet the skull was here, waiting for her.

Eric arrived a few minutes later. He stopped in the doorway when he saw her expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Maya pointed at the counter.

Eric’s face drained of color. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a warning,” Maya whispered. “It has to be.”

Eric stepped closer, examining the skull. “This wasn’t here last night. I checked the counter before we closed.”

Maya swallowed. “Someone came inside. Someone who has a key… or someone who knows how to get in.”

Eric looked around the café, suddenly alert. “Stay here.”

He walked through the back rooms, checking every door and window. When he returned, he held something in his hand.

A folded note.

“It was under the skull,” he said quietly.

Maya took it with trembling fingers. The message was written in sharp, uneven letters:

Some secrets are buried for a reason.
Stop digging.

Her stomach twisted. “They know,” she whispered. “They know I found the cabin. They know I have the letter.”

Eric rubbed his forehead. “If we had stayed away from the forest—”

“—none of this would have happened,” Maya finished.

The truth hit her hard.
If she hadn’t followed the map…
If she hadn’t gone into the woods alone…
If she hadn’t taken the keeper’s letter…

They wouldn’t be in danger now.

But she had gone. She had found the truth. And someone wanted that truth buried again.

Eric looked toward the front windows, scanning the quiet street. “Whoever left that skull… they’re watching us.”

Maya felt a cold shiver run down her spine.

The warning was clear.
Stop searching—or face whatever came next.