CHAPTER 14: WELCOME BACK, LYRA
1083 Words
The classroom felt suddenly too small.
Too quiet.
Too dangerous.
Lyra’s breathing came unevenly while Caius held her steady beside the desk. The old photograph trembled in her hands.
Her.
As a child.
Standing beside Kael Mercer.
Impossible.
“I don’t understand…” she whispered.
But deep inside, something terrible had already begun shifting.
A feeling.
A memory.
Like a locked door inside her mind had cracked open slightly.
Elian watched her carefully.
Interested.
Almost pleased.
“You remember him now,” he said calmly.
Caius immediately stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
Elian’s silver eyes moved toward Caius slowly.
“You can’t protect her from herself forever.”
Lyra looked sharply at Caius.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered quickly enough.
And that silence told her everything again.
Frustration exploded inside her chest.
“No more half-truths!”
Her voice echoed through the old classroom.
Rain hammered violently outside while lightning flashed across the dark windows.
“You all keep talking like I’m part of something I don’t even remember!”
Elowen looked away first.
Nova stayed unusually quiet now.
Even she looked disturbed.
Caius exhaled slowly.
Then finally said the words Lyra feared most.
“You used to live here.”
The room went completely still.
“What?”
Elian folded his hands behind his back calmly.
“Blackthorne Academy once housed select students full-time.”
Lyra shook her head immediately.
“No. I would remember that.”
“You were very young,” Elian replied.
“You stayed in the east wing with your mother.”
A cold wave rushed through Lyra’s body.
East wing.
The same place people kept warning her about.
“No,” she whispered again.
Another flash hit her suddenly.
A hallway.
Red carpets.
A child’s laughter.
Kael carrying her on his shoulders while her mother smiled nearby.
The memory vanished instantly.
Lyra grabbed the desk hard enough to steady herself.
Caius moved closer immediately.
“Lyra—”
“I saw him.”
Everyone froze.
She looked up slowly.
“I saw Kael.”
The room became silent again.
Rain crashed harder against the academy windows.
Elian’s calm expression sharpened slightly.
“What did you remember?”
Lyra pressed trembling fingers against her temple.
“Pieces.”
“Tell me.”
Caius snapped instantly.
“No.”
Elian looked at him coldly.
“She’s awakening faster than expected.”
Awakening.
Another disturbing word.
Nova finally spoke again.
“Okay seriously, every sentence you people say sounds evil.”
Nobody even reacted.
That terrified her more.
Lyra looked directly at Elian.
“What happened the night Kael died?”
The silver-eyed man stayed silent briefly.
Then quietly answered:
“He betrayed The Circle.”
Caius’s fists clenched.
“That’s not true.”
“It is.”
“No,” Caius growled.
“He tried to expose you.”
A dangerous tension filled the classroom instantly.
Lyra looked between them rapidly.
“Expose what?”
Elian’s expression remained calm.
“The Program.”
“The psychological experiments,” Nova muttered quietly.
Elian’s eyes shifted toward her slowly.
“You know more than you should.”
Nova immediately raised both hands.
“I regret everything.”
Lyra ignored them all.
“What experiments?”
Nobody spoke.
Then Elowen finally answered softly.
“They test students.”
Lyra stared at her.
“How?”
Elowen hesitated.
“Isolation. Manipulation. Fear conditioning.”
Every word made Lyra feel sicker.
“They push students psychologically until they either break…”
Her voice lowered slightly.
“Or become exceptional.”
Silence followed.
Lyra’s stomach twisted painfully.
“This is insane.”
“No,” Elian replied calmly.
“It’s effective.”
Caius stepped toward him sharply.
“She’s not joining The Circle.”
Elian looked almost amused.
“You think she has a choice?”
Lightning flashed again.
And suddenly—
The classroom lights exploded.
Glass shattered overhead.
Everyone ducked instinctively as sparks rained from the ceiling.
The room plunged into darkness.
Nova screamed loudly.
“WHY DOES THIS SCHOOL KEEP DOING THAT?!”
Emergency red lights flickered on seconds later.
Smoke drifted from the broken ceiling lamp.
Then—
The classroom door slammed shut by itself.
Hard.
BANG.
Everyone froze.
A low static sound crackled through hidden speakers again.
But this time…
The voice sounded different.
Female.
Soft.
Familiar.
“Lyra…”
Her entire body went cold instantly.
Her mother’s voice.
Again.
The room stayed silent.
Even Elian looked confused now.
“Lyra,” the voice whispered gently.
“Find me.”
The speakers crackled violently.
Then shut off.
Silence crashed down heavily.
Lyra’s chest rose unevenly.
“That was her.”
No one answered.
Because they all knew it too.
Caius moved toward the speaker system quickly.
“That transmission wasn’t authorized.”
Elian looked disturbed for the first time.
“Impossible.”
Nova frowned.
“Okay, not gonna lie, seeing evil people confused is somehow scarier.”
Lyra barely heard her.
Her mind raced violently now.
Her mother was alive.
She had to be.
No recording could sound that real.
That personal.
Find me.
The words echoed inside her chest.
Suddenly another memory flashed.
A woman kneeling in front of her years ago.
Iris Vale.
Her mother.
Crying.
“Never let them take you underground again.”
The memory hit so hard Lyra gasped aloud.
Caius caught her shoulders instantly.
“What did you see?”
She looked up at him shakily.
“She knew.”
Everyone went still.
“My mother knew The Circle was dangerous.”
Elian’s voice hardened immediately.
“You’re remembering incorrectly.”
“No.”
Another flash hit her.
White masks.
A locked room.
Children crying.
Kael shouting.
Then—
Blood.
Lyra stumbled backward breathing hard.
Caius looked terrified now.
Actually terrified.
“She remembers the chamber,” he whispered.
Elian’s calm expression vanished instantly.
“That’s impossible.”
Suddenly alarms exploded throughout the academy.
Not the normal emergency alarms.
Worse.
A deep mechanical siren echoed through every hallway.
Elowen’s face lost color immediately.
“Oh no.”
Nova looked around nervously.
“What now?”
Elowen whispered only two words.
“Memory breach.”
The silver-eyed man turned sharply toward Lyra.
For the first time since meeting him—
He looked afraid of her.
Then every screen inside the classroom suddenly turned on by themselves.
Static flickered across each monitor.
One sentence slowly appeared in black letters:
SUBJECT L HAS FULL RECALL POTENTIAL.
And beneath it—
INITIATE PHASE TWO.
- Writer
