Secrets of blooming estate book one

Chapter nine Elenor's legacy

Sophia stood alone in the Archive, her hands trembling as she held Eleanor Marlowe's journal. The weight of the Garden's ancient power and the revelations of her own family's legacy weighed heavily on her shoulders. The room around her, filled with relics and forgotten knowledge, seemed to hum with energy, as if the Garden's influence had seeped into every corner of Blooming Estate.

She turned the pages of the journal slowly, the faded ink revealing fragments of a life she knew nothing about—her ancestor, Eleanor Marlowe, whose legacy now rested on her shoulders. The first few entries were mundane, recounting daily life at Blooming Estate, Eleanor's curiosity about the Society, and her growing sense of unease as she began to suspect the truth about her family's secret ties to the Garden.

But soon the entries grew darker.

_"The Garden speaks to me,"_ one entry read, _"but not in words. It whispers in my dreams, showing me visions of things that should not be possible. I fear its power, yet I am drawn to it. It is beautiful and terrible all at once. The others say I am ready, but I feel the Garden testing me in ways they do not understand. I must go deeper."_

Sophia felt a chill as she read those words, her mind flashing back to her own encounter with the Garden. The way it had tested her, shown her glimpses of the past and the future—what more lay hidden in its depths?

As she read on, Eleanor's writings became more fragmented, as if she had been grappling with something she could barely comprehend. Her words spoke of visions, of seeing the rise and fall of civilizations, of witnessing events that had not yet come to pass. The Garden had revealed to her secrets about the world, about time itself, that defied reason.

_"The Garden is alive, yes,"_ Eleanor had written, _"but it is not merely a place. It is a doorway. A bridge between realities, between worlds. I have seen it—a place where time bends, where the boundaries of life and death blur. I have seen something on the other side. Something waiting."_

Sophia's breath caught in her throat. A bridge between worlds? What had Eleanor seen?

Flipping through more pages, Sophia found herself entranced by Eleanor's growing obsession with the Garden. The journal revealed that Eleanor had gone far deeper into its secrets than anyone had before. She described unlocking hidden chambers beneath Blooming Estate, places that even the Society did not know existed. But there was also fear in her words, a fear that began to overshadow her curiosity.

_"There are things in the Garden that should remain buried,"_ Eleanor had written in her later entries. _"I have gone too far. I can feel it watching me now, even when I am away from the Estate. The visions have grown darker. I am no longer certain what is real. There is something I have unleashed... something I cannot control."_

Sophia's heart raced as she read the final entry, dated the night before Eleanor's death.

_"I must seal it away. The power, the knowledge—I can no longer bear it. The Garden has shown me too much. It knows my mind, my fears. It will destroy me if I do not act. Tomorrow, I will enter the Garden one last time. I pray I am strong enough to do what must be done. If I fail, may those who come after me beware: the Garden is not what we believe it to be. Its purpose is far more sinister."_

The entry ended abruptly, the ink smudged as though Eleanor had been interrupted. Sophia closed the journal, her heart pounding. Eleanor had died the very next day, under mysterious circumstances, and the Society had never revealed the true nature of her death. Had she tried to seal away something within the Garden? And had she failed?

Sophia felt the weight of the journal in her hands, realizing that she had inherited not only Eleanor's power but also her unfinished mission. The Garden's power had grown stronger over the generations, and now, it was up to her to uncover the truth that Eleanor had been unable to confront.

She heard footsteps behind her. Turning, she saw Beatrice standing in the doorway, her expression grave.

"You've read it, haven't you?" Beatrice asked quietly.

Sophia nodded. "What did Eleanor mean? What was she trying to seal away?"

Beatrice stepped into the room, her eyes flickering toward the journal in Sophia's hands. "Eleanor was... one of the most gifted among us. She had a connection to the Garden unlike anyone before her. But it consumed her in the end. She believed the Garden held a darkness, something that even we, the Society, couldn't control. She tried to warn us, but by the time we realized the truth, it was too late."

"You mean... you don't know what she was talking about?" Sophia asked, her voice sharp with disbelief. "You're supposed to be the guardians of the Garden, and you don't even know what's inside it?"

Beatrice sighed, her face lined with the burden of knowledge. "The Garden is older than the Society, older than anything we know. We've studied it for centuries, but it's... unpredictable. What Eleanor discovered in her final days has been lost to us. We've tried to retrace her steps, but the Garden guards its secrets fiercely. And no one who has tried to go deeper has ever returned."

Sophia felt a cold dread creeping up her spine. "So, what now? If there's something in the Garden that Eleanor was afraid of, something she tried to seal away, shouldn't we be trying to stop it?"

Beatrice met her gaze, her eyes hard. "That's why we need you, Sophia. The Garden accepted you, and that means you have the potential to go further than any of us. But you must be careful. The power it offers is tempting, but it comes at a price. You've seen what it did to Eleanor."

Sophia shook her head. "But if I don't do something, whatever Eleanor was trying to stop could still be in there—growing, waiting."

Beatrice placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are not alone in this. The Society will help you. But we must proceed with caution. The Garden's power is dangerous, and if we make the wrong move, it could be catastrophic."

Sophia nodded, but the unease in her chest remained. She knew what Beatrice was saying was true, but the journal had sparked something inside her—an urgency, a need to uncover what Eleanor had found. If the Garden was more than just a source of power, if it truly was a doorway to something else, then Sophia couldn't just sit back and wait.

She had to go deeper.

But this time, she wouldn't be walking blindly into the Garden's traps. She would prepare, and she would make sure that whatever Eleanor had feared would be sealed away for good.

The darkness that Eleanor had faced wouldn't take her too.

She just hoped she wouldn't run out of time.