Lyra didn't really remember the walk back.
One moment she was in the hallway, spine pressed to the wall with Alayah's hand on her wrist and that maddening, knowing smirk far too close.
The next, she was shoving open the door to her little house, closing it a bit harder than necessary and sagging back against it, chest heaving like she'd just run a mile uphill.
She stayed there for a few seconds, eyes closed, focusing on breathing in and out. In. Out. Slow. Calm.
The crush crystal hovered quietly near her collarbone, a soft pink glow pulsing like a tiny heartbeat.
"Fuck," she whispered to the empty room.
Thankfully it looked like Alayah hadn't realized the crystal was for her. Lyra held onto that thought like a lifeline. The demon had clearly noticed it.But Alayah had opened her mouth and aimed straight at the wrong target.
A crush on a human?
Good. Let her think that. Let her stew over the handsome guy from the lobby. It was humiliating enough to have a crush crystal floating out of her own aura; the last thing Lyra needed was for the object of that crush to realize she was the one causing it.
She peeled herself away from the door and dropped her bag on the chair, fingers trembling slightly. Her heart still hadn't quite settled.
The encounter had been too sudden; the way Alayah had pinned her without effort, the heat of her body, the intensity of those dark eyes it had all lodged itself somewhere inconvenient just beneath Lyra's ribs.
She stalked to the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water, and downed half of it in one go. The cold helped. A little.
"Get a grip," she muttered. "You're not sixteen. This is ridiculous."
The crush crystal gave a gentle, traitorous twinkle.
Before she could spiral into another loop of overthinking, her phone started ringing on the table—an aggressive, cheerful ringtone Zoe had set "as a joke" and Lyra had never bothered to change. She sighed, grabbed it, and hit accept.
"Lyra!" Zoe's voice exploded through the speaker, bright and loud enough to rattle her eardrum. "You disappeared after class! Are you at home? Are you alive?"
Lyra inhaled very slowly. "Zoe. I am at home. I am alive."
Zoe made an exaggerated gasp. "Did something happening?"
"Nothing is happening," Lyra lied smoothly, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "How was club?"
Mercifully, switching the subject worked.
Zoe launched into a full-speed recap of her day at the video game club: a chaotic last-minute tournament, someone rage-quitting because a newbie beat them, an argument about which game should be featured at the next school event.
Lyra let herself sink back onto the mattress, phone pressed to her ear, letting Zoe's chatter wash over her like static. It was a relief, in a way.
Zoe's enthusiasm filled all the corners of Lyra's mind that might otherwise have been occupied by Alayah's face, Alayah's voice, Alayah's hand trapping her against the wall.
She made the appropriate noises—"mmh," "really?", "what did you say?"—at all the right moments.
When Zoe described one of the club members rage-eating three bags of chips after losing, Lyra even laughed. A real laugh. It loosened something tight in her chest.
"…and then," Zoe finished breathlessly, "we decided to start a bracket system! So obviously you have to join next time because I've bragged that I had a really good best friend"
Lyra's stomach did a strange twist at the name.
"We'll see," she said, trying to keep her tone even. "I'm not sure I'm ready for a crowd yet."
Zoe protested. "Seriously, Lyra, you have natural talent. It's unfair. Anyway, what did you do after fencing? You sounded weird earlier."
"Nothing," Lyra said quickly. Too quickly. "Just tired. I didn't sleep very well this weekend."
Zoe was quiet for a beat; Lyra could almost hear the suspicion forming.
"Okay," she said slowly, clearly unconvinced but choosing not to push. "Well, get some rest. And… Lyra?"
"Yes?"
Zoe hesitated. "You know you can tell me stuff, right? Even if it's weird. Or messy. Or… emotional."
Lyra stared at the ceiling. For a moment, she imagined saying it—I have a crush crystal. It's for a demon. The demon we're supposed to be beating. The idea made her throat close.
"I know," she said softly.
"Good," Zoe replied. "Now go do something relaxing. Or at least something that isn't homework. You sounded like death this afternoon."
Lyra smirked faintly. "You're very flattering, you know that?"
"I try. Goodnight, my mysterious sword-wielding, maybe-dangerous friend. Sleep, or I will come over and throw a pillow at your head."
"I'll keep that in mind," Lyra said, and ended the call before Zoe could get sentimental again.
Silence settled over the room, broken only by the distant hum of traffic.
It should have been peaceful.
But as Lyra set her phone down, a prickling realization crept in.
She hadn't collected much today. Not really.
Classes had been a blur. She'd gone through the motions, but with her thoughts tied in knots, she hadn't done her usual quiet reading of the room.
No targeted conversations, no intentional charm. At fencing, she'd focused on technique, not emotions. Even the hallway drama with Alayah had been more panic than strategy.
She summoned the archive with a flick of her fingers. The small device on the nightstand lit up, glowing faintly. Numbers appeared in the air above it:
Today's Harvest:
Admiration: 8 crystals × 150 = 1,200 points
Friendship: 5 crystals × 60 = 300 points
Minor crush: 2 crystals × 40 = 80 points
Curiosity: 9 crystals × 20 = 180 points
Total: 1,760 points
Lyra winced.
For a normal student, that might have been impressive. For the Celestian representative in an official contest where a demon with black fire and a terrifying libido was roaming the campus like a walking crystal magnet?
It was nothing.
"At this rate," she muttered, "she's going to double me this week."
She thought of Alayah in the hallway earlier, leaning casually against the wall, girl hanging on every word, eyes glittering with infatuation.
Thought of all the others like that, at parties, in clubs, in classrooms. Alayah didn't even have to try. It just happened.
Lyra set her jaw.
No. She couldn't afford to be distracted. Not by jealousy. Not by confusing attraction. Not by… anything. If she wanted to really win she needed to pull herself together and concentrate.
She was still chewing on that when the air above her nightstand flickered faintly.
The archive dimmed, and a second projection flared to life a familiar, soft blue with a distinct Celestian seal spinning at its center. A hologram call. Official channel.
Lyra sat up straighter, her heart leaping for an entirely different reason.
"Answer," she said quickly.
The seal dissolved, and two figures shimmered into view, life-sized and translucent: her mother and her little sister.
Her mother appeared first tall, composed, silver hair braided and pinned back, eyes a deep blue that always seemed to see more than Lyra wanted them to.
Even through the slightly grainy distortion of the hologram, she radiated calm authority. Beside her, half-hiding behind her arm, was her younger sister, Miren—shorter, with darker hair cropped at her chin, eyes wide and sparkling with excitement.
"Lyra!" Miren's voice came through first, high and delighted. "You finally answered fast! Do you know how long we've been trying to catch you when you weren't in class?"
Her mother smiled—just a small curve of the lips, but real. "Hello, Lyra."
Lyra's throat tightened. "Hi, Mom. Hi, Miren."
The sight of them did something strange to her chest—tight and warm, a mix of homesickness and relief she hadn't let herself feel since arriving here.
The crush crystal, still hovering faintly near her collarbone, dimmed on its own, as if recognizing a different priority.
"You look tired," her mother observed at once, sharp gaze sweeping over her face. "But alive."
Miren leaned forward until her image glitched. "And you look cool! Is that a human hoodie? You really live there now! How are the humans? Are they weird? Did you fight any demons yet? Did you make friends? Did you meet your rival?"
Lyra exhaled slowly, a trembling little laugh escaping her. Just like that, the weight of the day shifted. Not gone, but… rearranged.
It was a different battlefield now.
And whatever she said next, she knew she couldn't mention black monsters, nearly dying, or the fact that the crush crystal glowing over her heart wasn't for the handsome human her mother probably hoped she'd flirt with.
It was for the demon her mother had warned her about.
And Lyra, for the first time since she'd arrived in the human world, had no idea how to explain anything.