CHAPTER 11: THE WHITE MASKS
1056 Words
The guards moved like machines.
Silent.
Precise.
Terrifying.
White masks covered their faces completely while black circles painted around the eyes made them look less human and more like something from a nightmare.
Lyra froze behind the hidden doorway.
Her pulse hammered violently inside her chest.
One of the masked guards stepped toward Evelyn slowly.
“Subject E violated containment.”
Containment?
The word made Lyra sick instantly.
Evelyn stood still beneath the weak underground light, her expression unreadable now.
Almost emotionless.
Like she had practiced hiding fear.
“She assisted an unauthorized student,” another masked guard said.
Unauthorized student.
They meant Lyra.
The first guard tilted his head slightly.
“Where is she?”
Evelyn said nothing.
A third guard grabbed her arm roughly.
“Answer.”
Lyra’s body moved before her brain could stop it.
“Leave her alone!”
Every masked head turned instantly toward the hidden doorway.
Oh no.
Evelyn’s eyes widened slightly.
Not anger.
Disappointment.
Like Lyra had just failed a test.
“Run,” Evelyn whispered sharply.
Too late.
One masked guard lunged forward immediately.
Lyra sprinted.
The hidden tunnel behind the shelf twisted sharply downward into darkness while footsteps thundered after her.
Her breathing became ragged.
The underground air felt colder the deeper she ran.
Behind her, the masked guards never shouted.
Never spoke.
Only chased.
And somehow that silence terrified her more.
Lyra turned another corner too fast and slammed hard into someone.
Strong hands caught her before she fell.
Caius.
“What happened?” he demanded immediately.
Lyra grabbed his arm desperately.
“They found Evelyn!”
His entire expression changed.
“You saw her?”
“She’s alive!”
Shock flashed briefly across his face.
Real shock.
Then footsteps echoed closer behind them.
Caius looked toward the tunnel.
Masked figures appeared at the far end beneath flashing red lights.
His jaw tightened instantly.
“Move.”
He pulled Lyra through another narrow passage hidden behind cracked pipes while the guards rushed toward them.
“How many hidden tunnels does this school even have?” Lyra gasped while running.
“Too many.”
They sprinted through darkness together.
The tunnels beneath Blackthorne felt endless now.
Old pipes lined the ceilings while water dripped steadily from cracked stone walls.
Everything smelled damp and ancient.
And beneath it all—
Wrong.
Like the entire underground system hid something alive.
Caius suddenly shoved open another hidden door.
They stumbled into an abandoned classroom.
The door slammed shut behind them.
Silence.
Lyra bent forward trying to breathe properly again.
“What… are those things?”
“They’re called Watchers.”
Lyra looked up immediately.
“That’s not helping.”
Caius moved toward the dusty windows carefully checking outside.
“They work for The Circle.”
“They called Evelyn ‘Subject E.’”
His expression darkened.
“They assign letters to students involved in the program.”
Program.
Another disturbing word.
“What kind of program?”
Caius looked exhausted suddenly.
“The kind people don’t leave.”
Lightning flashed outside the old classroom windows.
Rain poured heavily across the academy grounds above them.
Lyra leaned against an old desk shakily.
“My mother was part of it.”
Not a question.
A realization.
Caius stayed silent too long.
“That’s why she disappeared, isn’t it?”
Still silence.
Lyra’s anger returned instantly.
“Would you stop doing that?!”
His eyes snapped toward her.
“Doing what?”
“Acting like half the truth is enough!”
Caius ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration.
“You think I’m trying to protect secrets?”
“Aren’t you?”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
Something in his voice made her chest tighten unexpectedly.
Real emotion.
Real fear.
Not manipulation.
Not arrogance.
Fear.
Lyra looked away first.
“That’s becoming a very suspicious sentence.”
Before Caius could answer, the old classroom speaker crackled suddenly.
Both of them froze.
Static buzzed softly.
Then a familiar distorted voice echoed through the room.
“Caius Mercer.”
His face hardened immediately.
“Return Subject L immediately.”
Subject L.
Lyra.
The speaker crackled again.
“You are interfering with Circle operations.”
Caius stepped toward the speaker angrily.
“She’s not part of this.”
A soft laugh echoed back.
“Oh, but she always was.”
Lyra’s stomach twisted painfully.
Always was.
The voice continued.
“She simply forgot.”
Static filled the speaker again before it suddenly shut off.
Silence returned.
Lyra stared at Caius carefully.
“What did they mean by that?”
His jaw tightened.
“Nothing.”
“There you go again.”
Before he could answer—
The classroom door suddenly opened.
Nova stumbled inside soaked from rainwater.
All three froze.
Nova blinked once.
“…Well this looks illegal.”
Lyra rushed toward her.
“How did you find us?”
Nova held up a small tracking device proudly.
“You’d be surprised what rich schools forget to encrypt.”
Caius looked unimpressed.
“You hacked the tunnels?”
“Obviously.”
Nova’s eyes shifted toward Lyra immediately.
“You okay?”
Lyra hesitated.
“No.”
“That sounds accurate.”
Nova noticed Caius’s expression then frowned slightly.
“What happened?”
Lyra looked between them.
Then quietly said:
“Evelyn Cross is alive.”
The room fell silent.
Even Nova looked shocked.
“…What?”
“She’s underground.”
Nova stared at Lyra for several long seconds.
Then laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was insane.
“I knew this school was hiding things,” she whispered.
Caius moved toward the window again.
“They’ll lock the academy down completely now.”
Nova crossed her arms.
“They already did.”
Both turned toward her.
“What?”
Nova tossed her phone onto the desk.
A live news report filled the screen.
BLACKTHORNE ACADEMY CLOSED AFTER STUDENT DEATH.
Police cars surrounded the academy gates outside.
Reporters crowded the entrance.
And then Lyra noticed something else.
The headline beneath the video.
MISSING STUDENT LINKED TO CULT ACTIVITY.
“Oh, that’s bad,” Nova muttered.
But Lyra barely heard her.
Because standing behind the reporters outside the academy gates…
Was Detective Ren Arclight.
And he was staring directly into the classroom window.
At her.
- Writer
