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The Cave of the Butterflies
Chapter VII - The Gray Stone

Chapter VII - The Gray Stone

Mary stood frozen on the porch, her heart pounding in her chest. Everything about this situation felt wrong. She had seen her grandfather back in the forest. She walked with him, talked to him. How could he be here now, standing on the porch, as if nothing had happened? The eerie stillness in the air made her skin crawl.

“How did you get here so fast?”

Mary’s voice trembled as she finally managed to speak. She couldn’t keep the fear from seeping into her words. The old man turned to face her, his expression unreadable, but there was something off about the way he looked at her—something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“I just got here from the town. I went to the hospital to pick you up, but they told me you left.”

He replied calmly, but the explanation did nothing to ease Mary’s growing unease.

“What do you mean grandpa? We just spent the night in the woods.”

Mary’s mind raced. How could he have been in town if she ran into him in the cabin. And where was the firewood he had claimed he needed to gather? The questions swirled in her head, each one more alarming than the last.

“I… I was in town dear”

“That’s impossible!” she exclaimed, her voice rising in panic as she stumbled backward, nearly losing her balance. The reality of the situation crashed over her like a tidal wave. If this was truly her grandfather standing before her, then who had she been with in the forest? The thought sent a shiver of terror down her spine.

Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground, clutching the wooden planks of the porch as if they could anchor her in this nightmare. The idea that someone—or something—else had been with her, pretending to be her grandfather, was more than she could bear.

The old man stepped closer, his expression softening as he knelt beside her.

“Mary, listen to me,” he said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. His touch felt warm, it was definitely her grandpa, the same comforting warmth she remembered from her childhood started to calm her down.

She recoiled from him, her eyes wide with fear and confusion.

“Who was it?” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

“Who was in the forest with me?”

He looked at her with an intensity she had never seen before, as if he were searching for something deep within her. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and serious.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, the weight of his words hanging heavily in the air.

“But whatever it was, it wasn’t me.”

Mary’s breath caught in her throat as the implications of his words sank in. If it wasn’t her grandfather, then who—or what—had she been walking with all that time? And why had it chosen to appear as her grandfather?

“What’s happening?” she asked, her voice breaking. Tears welled up in her eyes, a mixture of fear, confusion, and overwhelming disbelief.

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The old man ran into his room, and Mary’s heart skipped a beat. For a fleeting moment, she expected him to bring the box that held the strange gray stone. But when he came hand empty, a cold dread settled in her stomach.

“The stone,” he said, his voice trembling slightly.

“Did you see it? Was it with him?”

Mary nodded slowly, her eyes locked on his.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“He had it with him the whole time. He wouldn’t let go of it. I—I thought it was you.”

The old man’s face paled, and he took a deep, shaky breath. For a moment, he seemed lost in thought, his eyes staring off into the distance as if he were reliving some terrible memory. When he finally spoke, his voice was tight with fear and urgency.

“That stone…” he began, his words coming out in a rush.

“It’s not just any stone. It’s a crystal—an ancient artifact that has been in our family for generations. But it only looks like a stone when it’s outside the cave. Inside the cave, it reveals its true form.”

Mary’s mind spun as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. A crystal? A cave? None of this made any sense, and yet, as her grandfather spoke, a deep, primal fear began to take root in her heart.

“I found it when I was a young man,” he continued, his eyes narrowing as he recalled the memory.

“I was exploring the cave—a place I had been warned to stay away from. But curiosity got the better of me, and I went inside. That’s when I found the crystal. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, glowing with a light that seemed to come from within. I knew, even then, that it was something powerful, something dangerous.”

Mary listened in stunned silence, unable to tear her eyes away from her grandfather as he spoke. The fear in his voice was palpable, and it made her blood run cold.

“I took it with me,” he said, his voice growing more agitated.

“But the moment I brought it out of the cave, it turned into an ordinary stone—just a dull, gray rock. I didn’t understand what had happened, but I knew that the crystal was somehow connected to the cave. I kept it with me, hidden away, never telling anyone about it. But I always knew that one day, it would come back to haunt me.”

Mary’s heart raced again as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. The cave, the crystal, the strange figure that had accompanied her in the forest—it was all connected. But how? And what did it all mean?

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“Why did you keep this from me for so long?”

Her grandfather looked at her with haunted eyes, his face lined with regret.

“I thought I was protecting you,” he said quietly.

“I thought if I kept it hidden, if I never spoke of it, then the danger would never find us. But I was wrong. And now, it’s too late.”

Mary’s heart sank as she realized the gravity of their situation. Whatever had taken the form of her grandfather was after the crystal—and it had succeeded in stealing it.

“What happens now?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Her grandfather didn’t answer right away. Instead, he reached out and took her hand, his grip firm but comforting.

“Now,” he said, his voice filled with determination, “we have to get it back.”

“But how?” Mary asked, her mind racing.

“We don’t even know what it is or where it’s gone.”

“We’ll find it,” he said, his eyes filled with a steely resolve.

“We’ll go back to the cave, and we’ll take back what’s ours.”

Mary hesitated, fear gnawing at her insides. The thought of returning to that dark, foreboding forest—of confronting whatever had taken the crystal—was almost too much to bear. But when she looked into her grandfather’s eyes, she saw the same determination that had guided her through so many trials in her life. She knew she couldn’t turn back now.

“Okay,” she said, her voice steady despite the fear that gripped her heart.

“Let’s go…”

“No, we are not going now, we have to wait until the morning, you don’t want to be there at night”