CHAPTER 10: THE GIRL WHO WAS DEAD
1139 Words
Lyra stopped breathing.
The underground room became completely silent except for the faint buzzing of the weak lamp overhead.
The girl sitting beneath it closed the old book slowly.
Smiled again.
And suddenly every terrifying rumor inside Blackthorne Academy felt real.
Evelyn Cross was supposed to be missing.
Supposed to be dead.
But she sat only a few feet away looking perfectly calm.
Perfectly alive.
“You look shocked,” Evelyn said softly.
Lyra’s voice barely worked.
“You’re… Evelyn.”
“Good. So they still remember me.”
The way she said it made Lyra’s skin crawl.
Evelyn stood slowly from the chair.
She wore an old Blackthorne Academy uniform beneath a dark oversized sweater. Her long black hair fell loosely around pale shoulders, and her eyes looked strangely tired.
Like someone who had not slept properly in a very long time.
Lyra instinctively stepped backward.
“How are you here?”
Evelyn tilted her head slightly.
“That’s a dangerous question at Blackthorne.”
Lyra’s heartbeat slammed painfully against her chest.
No.
This made no sense.
Everyone said Evelyn disappeared last year.
The police searched for her.
Students mourned her.
And now she stood underground like some ghost beneath the academy.
“You’re supposed to be missing,” Lyra whispered.
Evelyn laughed softly.
“Missing is just a prettier word for hidden.”
A cold silence followed.
Lyra studied her carefully.
Evelyn did not look injured.
Or trapped.
If anything, she looked like she belonged underground.
That terrified Lyra even more.
“How did you get down here?” Lyra asked.
Evelyn’s dark eyes sharpened slightly.
“The same way you did.”
“The tunnels?”
“No.”
Evelyn stepped closer slowly.
“The Circle.”
The weak lamp flickered above them.
Lyra crossed her arms tightly.
“What is The Circle?”
Evelyn smiled faintly.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether you want the pretty lie… or the ugly truth.”
Lyra immediately answered.
“The truth.”
Evelyn’s smile disappeared.
“The Circle chooses students.”
A chill moved down Lyra’s spine.
“For what?”
“To shape them.”
“That sounds creepy.”
“It is creepy.”
Evelyn walked toward one of the dusty shelves nearby.
Old photographs covered the wall behind it.
Dozens of them.
Students.
Classes.
Groups.
All from different years.
Lyra noticed something horrifying.
Several faces had been scratched out in black ink.
The missing students.
Evelyn noticed her staring.
“Once The Circle chooses you, your life stops belonging to you.”
Lyra frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Evelyn picked up one old photograph carefully.
Then handed it to Lyra.
Her breath caught instantly.
The picture showed her mother standing inside the same underground room years ago.
Beside her stood Kael Mercer.
And behind them…
A symbol painted across the wall.
The eye inside the circle.
Lyra looked up sharply.
“My mother knew about this place.”
Evelyn’s expression darkened slightly.
“She knew everything.”
“What does that mean?”
Before Evelyn could answer, distant shouting echoed faintly through the tunnels.
Security guards.
Searching.
Evelyn immediately looked toward the doorway.
“They’re tracking you.”
Lyra stiffened.
“How?”
Evelyn looked at her hoodie pocket.
“The key.”
Lyra pulled the silver key out quickly.
Evelyn sighed softly.
“That’s not a key.”
Confusion flashed across Lyra’s face.
“Yes it is.”
“No,” Evelyn said quietly.
“It’s a tracker.”
Lyra’s stomach dropped.
Almost instantly, red light blinked faintly near the bottom of the silver metal.
“Oh my God.”
Evelyn took the key carefully and placed it inside an old metal drawer.
The blinking light disappeared.
Silence returned.
“How do you know all this?” Lyra asked carefully.
Evelyn looked at her for a long moment.
Then quietly answered:
“Because they did it to me first.”
The underground room suddenly felt colder.
Lyra remembered the yearbook.
The rumors.
The disappearance.
“You mean The Circle?”
Evelyn nodded once.
“They watch students. Manipulate them. Test them.”
“For what?”
Evelyn’s expression became unreadable.
“To create powerful people.”
“That’s insane.”
“You think rich families become powerful by accident?”
Lyra had no answer.
Evelyn stepped closer again.
“Blackthorne Academy isn’t really a school.”
“Then what is it?”
“A factory.”
The word echoed heavily through the room.
“A factory for what?”
Evelyn’s dark eyes locked onto hers.
“Control.”
Silence filled the underground room again.
Then suddenly—
A loud crash echoed from somewhere nearby.
Both girls turned instantly.
Voices shouted faintly through the tunnels.
“They’re close,” Evelyn whispered.
Lyra’s pulse quickened again.
“Come with me,” she said quickly.
Evelyn smiled sadly.
“I can’t leave.”
“Why not?”
“They won’t let me.”
Lyra frowned sharply.
“Who?”
But before Evelyn could answer—
A distorted voice suddenly echoed through hidden speakers inside the room.
“SUBJECT E HAS BEEN LOCATED.”
Evelyn’s face lost color instantly.
No.
Not fear.
Resignation.
Like she already knew what would happen next.
The voice continued.
“RETURN TO YOUR ASSIGNED LEVEL.”
Lyra stared around the room in horror.
“What assigned level?!”
Evelyn grabbed Lyra’s wrist suddenly.
“You need to listen carefully.”
“What—”
“Your mother didn’t disappear.”
Everything inside Lyra stopped.
“What?”
Evelyn’s grip tightened.
“She stayed.”
The room spun slightly around Lyra.
“No… that’s impossible.”
“She chose The Circle over you.”
Pain flashed briefly across Evelyn’s face.
“And now they want you to make the same choice.”
Lyra shook her head immediately.
“No.”
Evelyn leaned closer.
“You need to leave Blackthorne before they fully remember who you are.”
Before Lyra could respond—
Heavy footsteps thundered toward the room outside.
Flashlights swept across the tunnel walls.
Security guards.
Evelyn pushed Lyra toward a hidden doorway behind the shelves.
“Go!”
“I’m not leaving you here!”
“You don’t have a choice.”
The hidden speakers crackled again.
“SUBJECT E WILL BE DISCIPLINED.”
Evelyn shut her eyes briefly.
Like she had heard those words before.
Too many times.
The footsteps grew louder.
Almost at the room now.
Evelyn looked back at Lyra one last time.
Then whispered:
“Don’t trust Caius.”
The room door burst open.
Guards flooded inside.
And Lyra saw something that made her blood freeze.
The guards weren’t human security officers.
Under the flashing red lights…
They wore white masks with black circles painted over the eyes.
- Writer
