Chapter 28 Confrontations
ZARA'S POV
Mira fled from the cafeteria as quickly as she could. I gave a quick nod to Kai before rushing after her. Something may have happened but I couldn't remember it and I slept like an angel last night so... Yes... It was funny.
"Mira wait up!" I called.
She didn't respond, she just kept moving, passing through doors and all that. She didn’t stop. She passed through two sliding doors and burst into the east wing corridor where the light flickered like it was breathing. When she finally halted, she stood facing the window that overlooked the frozen courtyard, her hands pressed against the glass.
“Mira, talk to me,” I said, slowing down to catch my breath.
She turned.
“Do you remember what happened last night?”
Her question made my stomach twist.
“No. I went to bed after study hour.
“Slept like a log. Why?”
She let out a dry laugh.
“That’s what they programmed you to say.”
“What?”
Mira paced back and forth, hair falling over her face.
“Something is wrong with this place, Zara. With us.
“I can feel it buzzing under my skin. You don’t feel that?”
I tried to think, but my mind felt like fog. The memory of last night was an empty box.
“I don’t understand”
“You wouldn’t.” She grabbed my wrist.
“They wiped you.”
Her grip trembled as if she was holding back tears.
“Who wiped me?” I asked.
“Dr. Voss.”
The name alone made my pulse skip. I hated that woman with all of me.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” she shot back.
“You were with her in the testing sector. The alarms went off.
“Kai and I found you slipping in and out of consciousness.
“You think that was normal?”
Flashes stirred behind my eyes, blinding lights, clanging bells, Voss’s voice cutting through my screams. I blinked hard and it was gone, leaving only a pounding ache in my skull.
“I don’t remember any of that,” I whispered.
“Exactly.”
She moved closer.
“The academy isn’t just a place for control training. It’s a lab.
“They study us, reset us when we break pattern, then pretend nothing happened.”
My throat went dry.
“That’s insane, Mira.”
"I've been here longer than you and that's just stupid."
I chuckled slightly. But she didn't laugh. Oh! She was being serious.
“Then tell me something simple,” she said.
“What color were the ritual flames last night?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came. My mind was blank.
"Was there a ritual yesterday?" I asked.
“That’s what I thought.” She gave a bitter smile and turned away.
The lights flickered again. For a moment, the reflection on the window shifted, the cafeteria behind us replaced by images I couldn’t comprehend: silver towers collapsing, skies burning, people screaming in languages that didn’t belong to this world. Then the vision vanished.
“What was that?” I gasped.
Mira spun around.
“You saw it too?”
Before I could answer, the alarm tone changed. A low hum rippled through the walls. The red lights returned, pulsing like heartbeats.
“That’s not from the academy,” Mira whispered.
“That’s a transmission.”
“To where?” I asked.
Her voice dropped.
“Everywhere.”
The hallway temperature dropped, our breaths turning white. My wolf stirred restlessly inside me.
“We need to find Kai,” I said.
We ran back toward the cafeteria, but the corridors had changed. Door panels blinked with streams of data, faces flashing across them, students, staff, even mine. Words scrolled underneath: Subject Night. Reinitialization Protocol Active.
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked.
Mira didn’t answer. She was already tapping furiously on her wrist pad, trying to override the lock system.
“They’re rewriting us again.”
“Not this time,” I muttered.
I slammed my palm against the sensor door. It hissed open, revealing Kai standing by the center table, phone in hand, confusion etched on his face.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Voss happened,” Mira snapped.
“She’s rewriting our memories.”
Kai frowned.
“I just spoke to her this morning. She was...”
“Normal?” I cut in.
“That’s her trick.”
A sudden static filled the room. The holo-screens along the walls blinked to life. Dr. Voss’s calm face appeared, projected in crimson light.
“My dear students,” her voice purred, smooth as glass.
“You’re experiencing a minor recalibration. Please remain calm while the system restores balance.”
“Restore this,” Mira muttered and hurled a metal tray at the screen. It passed through the hologram and clattered on the floor.
Voss smiled faintly.
“Resistance is unproductive, Miss Kerr. The ritual destabilized your neural frequencies. I’m only preventing a dimensional rupture.”
Kai stepped forward.
“By erasing us?”
Her silver eyes flicked toward him.
“By saving you. The activation must be contained.”
The hologram blinked out, leaving silence.
“What activation?” I whispered.
Kai rubbed his temples.
“She said the same thing during my check-up. Something about my alien side syncing with human consciousness.”
Mira shot him a sharp look.
“Alien side?”
He looked away.
“Long story.”
Before anyone could speak again, the floor vibrated. Streams of red light shot from the ceiling, weaving symbols in mid-air. They pulsed faster, feeding into a large orb forming at the center of the room.
“Kai,” I said.
“Do you feel that?”
He nodded slowly.
“It’s like… recognition.”
My own chest burned. The air shimmered, and suddenly the cafeteria wasn’t the cafeteria anymore. The smell of smoke and iron filled my lungs. Silver spires stretched into the sky above a city swallowed by flames. Screams echoed from every direction. I knew this place even though I shouldn’t... It was the city from my dreams, the one I’d painted in secret sketches.
“Kai…”
He was staring at the same vision, jaw tight.
“Silver Cities. I remember them.”
Mira’s voice came faint, distant.
“You’re not supposed to.”
The light flared brighter, wrapping around us like molten threads. The burning towers collapsed inward, and somewhere beyond the smoke, a figure stood watching, a woman with eyes like Dr. Voss but older, colder.
Her lips moved, whispering words that sliced through the static: Find the original.
Then the vision shattered.
I gasped and fell to my knees. The cafeteria returned, though smoke still lingered in my nose. Kai crouched beside me, his hands trembling.
“You saw her too?” I asked.
He nodded once.
“She said something about an original.”
Mira crouched beside us.
“That’s impossible. Originals don’t exist anymore. They were wiped out in the first merge.”
“The first what?” I demanded.
"The person controlling this academy isn't Dr. Voss." Mira said.