Aria's POVThere's a specific kind of horror that comes with watching buildings full of innocent people burn while knowing you could have prevented it if you'd acted differently. It's the kind of horror that either breaks you completely or transforms you into something much more dangerous than you were before.I felt the transformation happening in real time."How long do we have?" I asked Hayes as he worked frantically to override the emergency exit locks."Before the fires spread to this building? Maybe ten minutes.""Before everyone in those dormitories dies?""Aria—""How long?""Some of them are already dead. The buildings that got hit directly, anyone on the upper floors—""How many might still be alive?"Hayes stopped working and looked at me with the kind of expression people wear when they're about to deliver news that will destroy you."Maybe fifty students. Maybe fewer. Depends on how many made it to the lower levels before the smoke got too thick."Fifty students. Fifty he
Aria's POVFighting for your life is hard enough when you know who you are. Fighting when you're not sure if your memories are real or your identity is artificial adds a whole new level of psychological complexity to combat.But muscle memory, apparently, doesn't care about existential crises.I moved through the Academy guards with the fluid precision of someone who'd been training for this moment her entire life—regardless of whether that life was real or manufactured. My body knew how to fight, how to anticipate attacks, how to turn an opponent's strength against them.That had to mean something."Left!" Caspian shouted, and I ducked just as an energy bolt scorched the air where my head had been. He was fighting back-to-back with Riven, both of them moving with the kind of coordination that comes from trust built through shared danger.Lyra had unleashed another storm, filling the confined space with wind and crackling electricity that made it nearly impossible for the guards to ma
Aria's POVThe silence that followed Aldrin's revelation was broken by something I didn't expect.Laughter.My laughter.Not from the duplicate standing across from me, but from me. Genuine, slightly hysterical laughter that bubbled up from somewhere deep in my chest."You know what?" I said, wiping tears from my eyes as I stood up. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."Aldrin blinked, clearly not expecting this reaction. "I beg your pardon?""Memory implantation. Artificial personality construction. Perfect duplicates." I gestured around the room. "Do you have any idea how insanely complex that would be?""The technology exists—""Does it? Because I'm looking at my supposed 'duplicate' and noticing some pretty significant flaws in your perfect replacement theory."I walked closer to the other Aria, studying her with the kind of attention I'd learned from months of observing Academy politics."For instance," I continued, "she's standing with perfect posture. I have a ten
Aria's POVThe technical services building was exactly as abandoned as we'd hoped—which should have been our first warning that something was wrong.Hayes disabled the security system with the kind of efficiency that came from years of Academy experience, while Caspian and I provided lookout. The communication array was housed in a concrete structure that looked more like a bunker than an academic facility, surrounded by equipment I didn't recognize and cables thick enough to power a small city."How long do you need?" I asked Riven as he examined the broadcast equipment."Ten minutes to bypass their safeguards. Another five to upload our message to every communication device on Academy grounds.""And if they try to cut us off?""They can't. Not without shutting down their entire emergency system, which would violate about fifteen different safety protocols."It was almost too easy. Which should have triggered every survival instinct I'd developed over the past few months.Instead, I
Aria's POVPlanning a war against your own mother while hiding in an abandoned ranger station wasn't exactly covered in any leadership training I'd ever received. But then again, most leadership training probably didn't account for discovering that your primary parental figure was orchestrating your systematic elimination."First priority," I said, spreading out Hayes's hand-drawn map of the Academy grounds, "is disrupting their timeline. They're planning to eliminate all targets within seventy-two hours. We need to make that impossible.""How do we disrupt a timeline when we don't know all the moving pieces?" Riven asked."We create chaos that forces them to react instead of act. Make them respond to our moves instead of following their careful plan.""That's incredibly dangerous," Hayes pointed out. "If we force them into reactive mode, they might accelerate the elimination schedule.""Or they might make mistakes. Reveal weaknesses we can exploit.""You're betting all our lives on t
Aria's POVThe walk back to the ranger station passed in a blur of numbness and disbelief. Every step felt mechanical, like my body was moving through muscle memory while my mind tried to process the impossible truth I'd just witnessed.My mother wanted me dead.Not just dead—eliminated as part of a systematic restructuring of Lycan society. A restructuring she was orchestrating."Aria." Caspian's voice seemed to come from very far away. "We need to tell the others what we learned."I nodded without really hearing him. The details of the meeting replayed in my head on an endless loop. My mother's clinical tone as she discussed termination protocols. The casual way she'd condemned Caspian to death for the crime of caring about me.The ranger station came into view, warm light spilling from the windows where Hayes, Riven, and Lyra waited for our return. They looked up expectantly as we entered, ready to hear what intelligence we'd gathered.I sat down heavily on one of the makeshift ben