The Ghost who I was

Lena's heartbeat was erratic.

The walls of the dimly lit room seemed to close in, the weight of Riven's words pressing against her chest like a crushing force.

"I was there the night you disappeared, Aarya."

The name.

That name.

It didn't belong to her.

And yet, it did.

Lena felt the floor beneath her shift, as if the world itself was crumbling. The past she had clung to—her life, her memories, her identity—had been nothing more than a carefully constructed lie.

She swallowed, but her throat was dry. "You… you were there?"

Riven nodded, his golden eyes watching her carefully, as if gauging her reaction.

Lena forced herself to breathe. "Then tell me. What happened?"

Riven hesitated. Not out of uncertainty—out of something else.

Regret.

"You were being hunted," he finally said. "By them."

Lena clenched her fists. "The Watchers."

"Yes."

A shiver ran through her. She had heard the name before. They were the ones who had tried to take her.

But now she understood—they weren't chasing her because she was special.

They were chasing her because she was supposed to be gone.

"What do they want from me?" she whispered.

Riven's jaw tightened. "They don't want anything from you, Lena. They want you erased."

Lena's stomach twisted.

The Watchers had erased her before.

And now that she had started to remember, they would come for her again.

She exhaled shakily. "Why?"

Riven looked away for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was quieter.

"Because Aarya was powerful."

Lena's breath hitched.

There it was again. That word.

Powerful.

Not normal.

Not ordinary.

She didn't know what terrified her more—the idea that she had been erased, or the possibility that she had been erased for a reason.

She swallowed hard. "You said… someone close to me was involved."

Riven's expression darkened.

Lena's hands curled into fists. "Who?"

Riven exhaled slowly, as if the words he was about to say carried the weight of a thousand regrets.

"Your mother."

The world stopped.

Lena's breath caught in her throat. "No."

Riven didn't look away.

"She knew, Lena. She was a part of it."

Lena shot to her feet, shaking her head violently. "No. That's not possible. My mother—"

She thought back to the woman who had raised her.

Distant. Cold. Unloving.

She had always thought her mother simply didn't know how to love her.

But what if—

What if she hadn't wanted to?

Lena felt sick.

Riven stood as well, stepping toward her. "She's not who you think she is."

Lena backed away. "You're lying."

Riven's eyes darkened. "Am I?"

Lena's breathing was erratic. This couldn't be real.

Her mother wasn't perfect, but she wasn't—

She wasn't capable of something like this.

Was she?

A single memory flickered in her mind.

A childhood fever.

She had been young—too young to understand—but she remembered it clearly now.

Lying in bed, burning up.

And her mother standing in the doorway.

Not worried.

Not afraid.

Just… staring.

As if waiting for something.

Waiting to see if the fever would take her.

Lena staggered back, gripping the edge of the table to steady herself.

Had her mother always been waiting for her to disappear?

The realization was like a knife to the chest.

She whispered, "What else are you not telling me?"

Riven exhaled, running a hand through his dark hair. "More than you're ready for."

Lena forced herself to meet his gaze. "Tell me anyway."

Riven hesitated. Then—

"They won't stop, Lena. They'll come for you again."

Lena swallowed. "And if they do?"

Riven's golden eyes burned. "Then you need to decide—are you going to run? Or are you going to fight?"

Lena's chest ached. She had spent her whole life fading into the background, staying quiet, unnoticed.

But now—

Now she wasn't invisible anymore.

Now she had something to fight for.

Lena Carter was dead.

And Aarya—

Aarya was waking up.

She lifted her chin, her voice steady despite the storm raging inside her.

"I'm done running."

A slow, knowing smile spread across Riven's lips.

"Good."

Because the war for her identity had just begun.

And Lena—**or Aarya—**was finally ready to face it.

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