PYROKINESIS

Broken Trust

The next day at school, Pyra and Lena walked side by side through the hallway.

Students moved around them, chatting and laughing, but Pyra suddenly slowed down.

Ahead of them, Nathaniel was walking alone.

Pyra’s eyes immediately shifted away.

“Lena,” she whispered quickly, “I think we should go the other way.”

Lena looked confused but nodded.

They were just about to turn when a voice called out.

“Pyra!”

Nathaniel jogged quickly toward them and stepped in front of their path.

Pyra stopped, clearly annoyed.

“What is it?” she asked coldly.

Nathaniel looked nervous.

“Pyra… yesterday wasn’t what it looked like. Madeline tricked me. We’re not even together anymore.”

Lena glanced between them, curious.

But Pyra folded her arms.

“Um… I don’t need to know your love story,” she said sharply. “Please don’t disturb my life.”

Nathaniel opened his mouth to speak again, but she cut him off.

“I said thank you for the party,” she continued. “And also… never invite me again.”

She turned.

“Come on, Lena.”

Nathaniel tried to call after her.

“Pyra, wait—”

But she grabbed Lena’s hand and walked away without looking back.

Nathaniel stood there, frustrated.

A few seconds later his friends walked up to him.

One of them chuckled.

“Well… that’s a very hard fish to catch.”

Another friend shook his head.

“She’s hurt, man. That means she probably likes you… but you hurt her.”

Nathaniel stared in the direction Pyra had gone.

Then he sighed.

“I have to fix this.”

---

Later that afternoon, Pyra and Lena sat quietly in the school garden.

For once, neither of them spoke.

The silence stretched longer than usual.

Then suddenly Lena blurted something out.

“I have a secret.”

Pyra turned to her.

Lena took a deep breath.

“I’m Lord Fedrah’s daughter.”

Silence fell instantly.

The name alone sent a shock through Pyra’s body.

Her eyes widened.

“What?!”

She stood up immediately.

“You mean the man who killed my father… and now has our kingdom under siege… is your father?!”

Lena nodded slowly.

“Yes.”

“I thought… if I knew your secret, then you should know mine too,” Lena said softly. “Because we’re best friends.”

Pyra laughed bitterly.

“Best friends?”

She shook her head.

“Come on, Lena. Your father wants the throne. And the only way he gets it is by cutting my throat and putting you there.”

Lena’s face fell.

“I can’t possibly trust you,” Pyra continued.

Lena looked hurt.

“I thought if we told each other—”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Pyra interrupted.

Her voice was colder now.

“We’re different, Lena. I can’t trust you anymore.”

She stepped back.

“Your father betrayed my father.”

Pyra’s eyes hardened.

“How am I supposed to believe you won’t betray me too?”

With that, Pyra turned and walked away.

Lena remained standing in the garden.

Alone.

---

The next few days felt strange.

Uneasy.

Pyra and Lena no longer walked together.

Whenever Lena approached, Pyra ignored her.

Instead, Pyra spent more time with Derek. They talked, laughed, and sometimes walked around the school together.

But deep inside, something still felt wrong.

---

One afternoon after lunch, Pyra walked alone through the garden path.

“Pyra! Pyra!”

She turned.

Lena was running toward her.

Lena grabbed her arm.

Pyra snapped.

“What?”

Lena looked at her with tired eyes.

“Was it wrong… to tell you the truth about me?”

Pyra said nothing.

Lena continued quietly.

“Even when I knew the truth about you… I still stayed your best friend.”

Pyra crossed her arms.

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “But your truth is different.”

Lena frowned.

“How?”

“Your father is a betrayer.”

Lena swallowed.

“So am I?”

Pyra shrugged.

“You might be. It’s your father’s blood.”

Lena went silent.

Then tears slowly filled her eyes.

“You know… I thought telling you my truth would make us closer.”

She sniffed.

“But it only made everything worse.”

Her voice began to shake.

“Do you know how many times my father and mother told me I was a mistake?”

Pyra blinked.

“I sat there every day hearing them say I wasn’t planned… that I shouldn’t have been born.”

Tears rolled down Lena’s face now.

“I cried every night.”

She wiped her cheeks but kept speaking.

“Then one day my father realized something.”

She laughed bitterly.

“He can’t enter the throne room… but his heir can.”

Pyra felt a chill run through her.

“So he placed me with foster parents… Marissa and the man you saw.”

Lena looked straight at Pyra.

“With one mission.”

Pyra whispered, “What mission?”

Lena’s voice broke.

“To kill you.”

Silence fell again.

“And if I didn’t,” Lena continued, “he said he would kill you himself… and kill me too for failing him.”

She laughed weakly.

“I was a mistake to him anyway.”

Tears streamed down her face again.

“Do you know how many chances I had to kill you?”

Pyra slowly shook her head.

“Many,” Lena said. “So many.”

She looked straight into Pyra’s eyes.

“But I didn’t.”

“Why?” Pyra asked quietly.

Lena’s voice cracked.

“Because I thought you were my best friend.”

She wiped her tears.

“But now I realize… you’re not.”

Pyra’s heart tightened.

“And you judged me because of my father’s betrayal,” Lena continued.

She took a step back.

“If you judge me… then everyone else will too.”

Her shoulders trembled.

“I guess I never had a place here.”

She looked at Pyra sadly.

“I always thought you were my closest friend.”

She shook her head.

“But I was wrong about you.”

She turned slowly.

“Have fun… making me look like my father.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“He’s going to kill me anyway… because I’m never touching a sword against you.”

She wiped her face again.

“I should never have been born.”

Then Lena walked away, sobbing.

---

Pyra stood there in the garden.

Frozen.

Her chest felt heavy.

Tears slowly filled her eyes.

She whispered softly to herself.

“What did I do…?”