CHAPTER 17: ERASE BLACKTHORNE
1056 Words
Silence swallowed the stairwell.
Rain hammered through shattered windows while emergency lights flickered weakly overhead.
Lyra stared at Detective Ren Arclight.
“The Circle plans to erase Blackthorne tonight.”
Nova blinked slowly.
“…Erase as in shut down?”
The detective looked at her once.
“No.”
Nobody breathed.
Then Elowen whispered softly:
“Oh God.”
Lyra’s chest tightened painfully.
“What does that mean?”
Ren stepped farther into the stairwell shadows.
“It means everyone inside this academy becomes a liability.”
Caius immediately understood.
His face darkened instantly.
“They’re cleaning the system.”
The detective nodded once.
“The explosions already started.”
Another blast shook the academy violently as if proving his words.
The stairwell trembled.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Students screamed somewhere below.
Nova looked horrified.
“Okay, now I definitely want to leave.”
Lyra stared at Ren carefully.
“Why are you helping us?”
His sharp eyes met hers.
“Because I failed your mother once already.”
Silence.
Caius frowned immediately.
“You knew Iris personally?”
Ren hesitated briefly.
Then quietly answered:
“We worked together.”
Lyra’s mind spun.
Every adult connected to Blackthorne seemed tangled inside the same nightmare.
The detective looked toward the upper hallway where distant footsteps echoed.
“We don’t have much time.”
“Elian?” Elowen asked quietly.
Ren nodded.
“He’s activating the lower levels.”
A cold shiver moved through everyone.
“The chamber,” Caius muttered.
Lyra looked between them.
“What exactly is underground?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Ren said quietly:
“The truth.”
Another explosion thundered outside.
The stairwell lights died completely again before emergency backup lights flickered red across the walls.
Everything looked like blood.
Ren stepped closer to Lyra.
“You’re remembering faster than expected.”
“I don’t even know what I’m remembering.”
“You will soon.”
That somehow sounded worse.
Nova crossed her arms tightly.
“I hate mysterious people. Just saying.”
Ren ignored her.
“Your mother hid something before she disappeared.”
Lyra’s heartbeat quickened instantly.
“What?”
The detective reached slowly inside his coat pocket.
Caius tensed immediately.
But Ren only pulled out a small silver object.
A keycard.
Old.
Scratched.
The circle symbol marked one corner.
“Your mother gave me this sixteen years ago,” Ren said quietly.
Lyra stared at it.
“She said if Blackthorne ever reopened the chamber…”
His expression darkened.
“…I should give this to you.”
Caius looked stunned.
“She trusted you with that?”
Ren’s jaw tightened slightly.
“I didn’t deserve the trust.”
Lyra slowly took the keycard.
The moment her fingers touched it—
Another memory slammed violently into her mind.
A hidden elevator.
Her mother kneeling beside her.
Kael standing guard nearby.
Iris placing the same silver keycard into a little girl’s hand.
“If they ever wake the chamber again,” her mother whispered tearfully, “you must destroy it.”
The memory shattered instantly.
Lyra gasped sharply.
“She knew this would happen.”
Ren nodded once.
“She tried to stop it.”
“Then why leave?”
Pain flickered briefly across his face.
“Because Blackthorne gave her a choice.”
“What choice?”
The detective looked away briefly.
“Save one child… or save them all.”
Silence followed.
A horrible silence.
Lyra suddenly realized something.
Her mother chose her.
Not The Circle.
Not Blackthorne.
Her.
But something still felt wrong.
“If she wanted to protect me… why come back now?”
Nobody answered.
Then Elowen whispered softly:
“Because Phase Two means they found the archive.”
Everyone turned sharply toward her.
Ren’s expression hardened immediately.
“You’re sure?”
She nodded slowly.
“The memory breach triggered it.”
Lyra frowned.
“What archive?”
Caius looked deeply uncomfortable now.
“The recordings.”
A terrible feeling settled inside Lyra’s chest.
“What recordings?”
Nobody wanted to answer.
That alone told her enough.
“The experiments,” she whispered.
Ren nodded once.
“They recorded everything underground.”
Nova looked sick now.
“Children?”
Nobody spoke.
And again—
That silence answered everything.
Lyra’s stomach twisted painfully.
“No…”
Suddenly the academy speakers crackled overhead again.
Static buzzed loudly.
Then Elian’s calm voice echoed throughout the building.
“All students remain where you are.”
The group froze.
“Blackthorne Academy is entering purification protocol.”
Nova whispered shakily:
“That sounds incredibly murderous.”
Elian continued.
“Subjects attempting escape will be neutralized.”
Caius cursed immediately.
Ren looked toward the lower stairwell.
“They’ve sealed the exits.”
“Then how do we leave?” Lyra asked.
The detective’s eyes shifted toward the silver keycard in her hand.
“There’s one way out.”
Caius instantly understood.
“The underground rail tunnel.”
Lyra frowned.
“There’s a train under the school?”
Ren nodded.
“Blackthorne was built during the war. The tunnels stretch far beyond the academy grounds.”
Nova blinked rapidly.
“This school somehow keeps becoming more insane.”
Another explosion rocked the building.
This one closer.
Smoke drifted down the stairwell now.
Students shoved past nearby crying and panicking.
The academy was falling apart.
Ren looked sharply at Lyra.
“If Elian reaches the chamber before us, it’s over.”
“What’s inside it?”
The detective hesitated.
Then quietly answered:
“The original subjects.”
A freezing silence followed.
Lyra stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
But suddenly—
A loud metallic screech echoed below them.
Everyone turned instantly.
Something moved in the darkness beneath the stairwell.
Heavy.
Slow.
Then came a sound that made Lyra’s blood run cold.
A child crying.
Soft.
Weak.
Coming from underground.
Nova grabbed Elowen’s arm immediately.
“Tell me that’s fake.”
Elowen looked terrified now.
Actually terrified.
“No,” she whispered.
The crying continued.
Then another voice joined it.
A little boy whispering softly through the darkness:
“Lyra…”
Her breathing stopped.
That voice.
Kael.
Impossible.
Completely impossible.
Yet she knew it instantly.
The crying beneath the stairwell suddenly stopped.
Silence followed.
Then the emergency lights flickered one final time.
And every single light in Blackthorne Academy went black.
- Writer
