The heavy wooden door of the dorm room clicked shut. Lina turned the lock. Then she pushed a heavy chair under the handle.
Mira sat on the edge of the bed. She was hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes were fixed on the floor.
"Five," Mira whispered. The word sounded like a sob. "It dropped to five, Lina. Why did it drop?"
Lina walked over and knelt in front of her. She gently took Mira's cold hands. "I do not know," Lina said softly. "But we are going to figure it out. I promise."
Lina was tired. Her body ached from the Mirror Tax. Her stolen voice felt like sand in her throat. But she could not rest. She had to be strong for Mira. She had to be the one who found the answers.
A soft knock echoed in the quiet room.
Lina froze. Mira's breath hitched.
"Who is it?" Lina called out. She tried to make her voice sound brave.
"It is Kai," the voice replied from the other side of the door.
The voice was smooth. It was calm. It was perfectly polite.
Lina looked at the door. Her heart hammered against her ribs. "Go away," she said.
"You forgot your scarf in the hallway," the voice said. "I brought it back for you. You looked cold."
Lina frowned. She was not wearing a scarf. She never wore a scarf. It was a small lie. A tiny mistake. But it was enough.
"Leave it on the floor," Lina said. "And walk away."
There was a pause. A long, heavy silence.
Then, the soft sound of fabric sliding across the wooden floor.
"Sleep well, Lina," the voice said.
Footsteps walked away. They were perfectly even.
Lina waited a full minute before she moved. She crept to the door and pulled the chair away. She opened it just a crack.
On the floor lay a dark blue scarf. It was neatly folded. But it was not Lina's. It was Kai's. The real Kai's scarf. The one he was wearing when the Mirror Door took him.
How did the thing outside get it?
Lina slammed the door shut and locked it again. She backed away, her hands shaking.
Down the hall, in a different room, Seren sat up in bed.
She pressed her hands over her ears. Her head was pounding.
Seren had a special power. She could borrow the final words of the dead. It was a heavy gift. Usually, the voices were faint. They were echoes of the past.
But tonight, the voice was loud. It was crystal clear.
"I am sorry," a voice whispered in the dark room. "I could not save you."
Seren's blood ran cold. She knew that voice.
It was Lina's voice.
But Lina was not dead. Lina was alive. Lina was just down the hall.
Seren stared into the shadows of her room. Her hands trembled. The rules of her power were breaking. She was not hearing a ghost from the past.
She was hearing a death that had not happened yet.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2026
All rights reserved.
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Next Chapter Summary: Seren warns Lina about the terrifying echo she heard, while the False Kai begins to integrate himself into the academy, perfectly mimicking the real Kai's routines but missing the human flaws.