The greenhouse was hot and wet. The air smelled like old dirt and rotting leaves.
Nia stood in front of Lina. Her hands glowed with a soft, blue light. She was ready to fight.
The False Kai just stood there. He did not look at Nia's magic. He only looked at Lina.
"Please," the False Kai said. His voice was so calm. "Sit down. We can just talk."
"We are not sitting," Lina said. Her voice shook, but she kept her chin up. "Let Elias go. Then we will talk."
"Elias is fine," the boy said. He did not move his head, but his eyes shifted to look at the trembling boy on the ground. "He is just tired. The walls of this room are very loud for him."
Lina knew she needed to buy time. Nia needed a moment to get her magic ready. Lina had to keep the fake boy talking. She had to test him again. She had to find a crack in his perfect mask.
"If you have his memories," Lina said slowly, "then you know his past. Tell me about his earliest memory."
The False Kai smiled. It was the same empty, wrong smile.
"He remembered the sun," the boy said smoothly. "He remembered the smell of pine trees. He remembered his mother singing."
"Liar," Nia spat. "Kai grew up in the city. He hated the woods. And his mother died when he was a baby."
The False Kai did not look at Nia. He kept his flat, dead eyes on Lina.
"Those are the memories the academy gave me," the False Kai said softly. "They are the fake ones. The ones they put in his file to make him look normal."
Lina's heart beat faster. "Then what is the real one? What did he tell you right before the mirror took him?"
The False Kai tilted his head. The movement was too smooth.
"He told me he did not have a childhood," the boy said. His voice was gentle, like he was sharing a sweet secret. "He told me he woke up inside the glass ten years ago. He said he was just a reflection. He stole the name Kai Rhen from a real boy who drowned in the lake."
The greenhouse went completely silent.
Lina felt the ground tilt beneath her feet. The air left her lungs.
"That is a lie," Lina whispered. Her voice broke. "Kai is real. He bleeds. He cries. He is real."
"He told me he learned how to bleed," the False Kai said. "He told me he was never human, Lina. He was just a trick of the light that learned how to feel pain."
Nia's blue magic flickered. She looked at Lina, her eyes wide with shock. Even Elias stopped crying. He stared at the False Kai in pure horror.
Lina's mind raced. Everything she knew. Everything she fought for. The real Kai was not a boy who was taken.
The real Kai was the monster in the mirror all along.
Above them, the glowing numbers pulsed in the dark glass.
Lina's number flickered.
The six faded away. A sharp, bright five took its place.
Lina 🖋️ — 5.
The time was running out. And now, she did not even know who she was trying to save.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2026
All rights reserved.
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Next Chapter Summary for Chapter 109: Lina struggles with the terrifying truth about Kai's identity, while Jax wakes up in the infirmary with a chilling message from the thing beneath the stone.