Chapter 5 Through the Mirror of Shadows

Lyra's Point of view

"You knew her?" I asked, staring at the photograph in my hands. My fingers trembled just slightly.

The girl in the photo had my face-same eyes, same stubborn chin, even the same little freckle above her brow. But her eyes... there was something sad in them. Tired. Like she'd already seen the end before it began.

Cassian didn't answer immediately.

He looked away, shoulders stiff beneath his jacket. The night wind curled around us like it wanted to hear too.

"I did," he finally said. "Lyrena and I-we weren't friends exactly. Not in the way you might think."

I didn't breathe.

"We were... chosen together. Marked by the gate. Meant to either open it or stop it, depending on which way the stars fell." His voice sounded far away now, like he was pulling words from a memory he'd buried a long time ago.

"And you betrayed her."

It wasn't a question. The words slipped out too fast. Too sharp.

Cassian didn't flinch. He just nodded.

"Yes."

The stars above us pulsed faintly, and I swore one of them blinked out.

"She trusted me," he said. "I told her she wasn't alone. That I'd help her. But when the time came... I made a different choice."

I could barely speak.

"What happened to her?" I whispered.

Cassian stood, walking to the edge of the rooftop. His silhouette was painted in silver light, shadow stretching behind him like it didn't want to follow anymore.

"She tried to seal the gate herself. Gave up everything for it. Her blood, her mind, her soul."

"And you just let her?" My voice cracked, fury rising with the heat in my chest.

"No," he said softly. "I helped them bind her to the seal."

My stomach turned.

"She wasn't just the guardian. She became the seal."

---

I couldn't sleep that night.

I kept seeing her face-the girl from the photo-Lyrena. Me, but not me. And Cassian's voice echoing in my mind like some cursed mantra.

She became the seal.

Was that what waited for me? To die, like she did, and become some eternal lock on an ancient door?

No. I wouldn't let that happen.

I wasn't Lyrena.

But a tiny part of me-the one that kept seeing stars move behind my eyelids and waking up with words I never remembered learning-wasn't so sure.

---

The next day at Lunaris was weird. Colder than usual. The clouds moved too fast. People looked over their shoulders like they felt something was watching them. Even the teachers seemed off, especially Professor Marell, who usually lectured about astronomy but now wouldn't stop mumbling about "the Veil thinning."

At lunch, Naomi slammed her tray down beside me.

"So. Betrayal. Past lives. Prophecy. Wanna unpack that, or are we just gonna pretend everything's normal?"

I groaned. "Normal's gone, Naomi. Normal packed a bag and ran for the hills."

She arched a brow. "Seriously though. Cassian betrayed your past self and now he's, what, trying to redeem himself? Or manipulate you again?"

I paused.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Part of me believes he's different now. But the other part thinks I'd be an idiot to trust him."

"Okay. So what's our next move?"

Before I could answer, the lights flickered above us. The air buzzed. Like static before lightning. Then, suddenly-

Screams echoed from down the hall.

We jumped up, trays forgotten, and rushed toward the noise.

Half the students were flooding out of the west corridor, faces pale, eyes wide. I pushed through them, Naomi at my heels, until we reached the source.

The glass trophy case outside the Hall of Ancients had shattered.

And floating in the center of the broken glass was a glowing mirror.

Not a regular mirror.

A scrying mirror.

One of the forbidden relics used to look beyond the Veil.

And in it-I saw her.

Lyrena.

She wasn't dead.

She was trapped.

---

Naomi pulled me back just as the mirror cracked with a high-pitched sound like a scream underwater.

Then the glass exploded.

I didn't even realize I was shielding the others until I felt the burn across my arms. Silver light seared my skin, but it didn't cut me-it marked me.

Naomi stared, wide-eyed.

"Lyra... your back."

I turned slightly.

There, through the tear in my hoodie, was a mark burning into my skin.

The Silver Vein constellation.

Only this time, it was shifting. Forming a new shape.

A door. With three moons above it.

Cassian arrived moments later, dragging two other students behind him-Jaxon and Mira-both of whom were bleeding from their eyes.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded.

I pointed at the shattered case. "The mirror-someone activated it."

He froze. "That mirror was sealed by the Headmistress herself. No one should've been able to reach it."

"Well," Naomi said, "someone did."

Cassian looked at me, gaze heavy.

"You saw her, didn't you?"

I nodded. "Lyrena's trapped behind the gate."

Cassian cursed under his breath. "Then the seal's fracturing faster than we thought."

He turned to the others. "We need to find the other relics. If they've started activating on their own..."

"Wait," I interrupted. "There are more of those?"

"Seven," he said. "One for each phase of the lunar prophecy."

Naomi let out a dry laugh. "Cool. So now it's a scavenger hunt from hell."

Cassian's face darkened.

"No. It's worse than that. If someone's already using the relics to force the gate open, then we're out of time."

"Who would do that?" I asked.

His eyes flicked to the others.

And for the briefest second, I saw something shift in his expression. Doubt. Fear. Maybe even guilt.

"I don't know," he lied.

But I knew he did.

---

Later that night, when the campus had settled back into its eerie silence, I couldn't sleep again.

So I did something stupid.

I went back to the mirror's remains.

The hall was dark, but I found a sliver of the scrying glass buried beneath a broken tile. It pulsed faintly in my palm. Like it remembered me.

Without thinking, I whispered, "Lyrena."

The shard warmed.

And then I heard her voice-just a whisper. But clear.

> Don't trust him, Lyra. He's not what he seems.

I dropped the shard. It hissed as it hit the floor, vanishing into mist.

Behind me, I heard a step.

Cassian stood in the shadows, arms crossed.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

My throat went dry. "Yeah."

He stepped forward. "You looked into the mirror again, didn't you?"

"I didn't mean to."

He nodded slowly.

Then, with eyes darker than I'd ever seen them, he said, "Sometimes the truth finds you... whether you're ready or not."

And in that moment, I swore the constellation on my back shifted again.

A new moon had appeared.