The Girl who broke the Glass

Part I: Black Glass

The sky bled silver.

That's what people remembered—the moment it happened. All across Delhi, mirrors cracked. Not shattered, not splintered, but bled—a slow ripple of darkness oozing across every reflective surface. Car mirrors turned black. Phones refused to show reflections. Even puddles rippled with static like stormy TV screens.

And in the center of it all stood Lena Carter.

The girl who broke the glass.

Dev, Riven, and Kian stared at her in stunned silence on the rooftop.

She didn't look powerful.

She looked haunted.

Hair wild in the wind. Eyes unfocused. Hands trembling.

But something inside her had shifted.

And all three boys could feel it.

"You shouldn't have done that," Riven said first, stepping closer.

"Why?" Lena asked, voice like ice. "Because now I'm not yours to control?"

Riven's jaw clenched.

Kian was next. "Lena, whatever just happened—it's echoing. The Watchers, the Vanished, they'll feel it."

"I want them to," she said.

Dev finally moved. He didn't speak. He just stood behind her, silent support, eyes heavy with warning.

Riven took a slow breath. "Do you even know what you just awakened?"

"No," Lena said. "But I'm done being afraid of it."

---

Part II: Blood on the Mirror

That night, chaos broke loose.

A Watcher safehouse was attacked—rumors spread of mirrors turning into doorways, sucking people into them. One Watcher was found torn in half, the words "She is choosing" etched into the wall in mirror-glass.

The Vanished were mobilizing.

All sides believed Lena had chosen a side.

But she hadn't.

Not yet.

She sat in her room, cross-legged, the journal of her great-grandmother—Anya Carter—spread open beside her. Ink stains covered the last pages, as if she'd died writing.

> "The moment you choose one heart, the others will break.

And broken hearts are the most dangerous kind."

That line echoed in Lena's chest like thunder.

There was a knock at her window.

Kian.

"Can I come in?"

She hesitated—then nodded.

He slid through, quiet and graceful as always. Something about him had shifted too. There was grief behind his smile now. And longing.

"I didn't come to fight," he said.

"Then why?"

Kian walked closer and sat beside her.

"To ask if you remember what you felt the night you kissed me."

Lena's breath caught.

"I remember," she said softly.

Kian leaned in, forehead touching hers. "I need to know it meant something. Because if this is a war... then I'll fight for you. But I won't fight against you."

Their fingers touched.

A flicker of warmth. A pulse of light.

Then—

A mirror across the room exploded.

Kian moved fast, shielding her, but when the shards settled, they weren't alone anymore.

Standing in the mirror's place was a version of Lena.

Only—this one had no eyes. Just black holes where her eyes should've been.

It smiled.

"You don't get to choose love without choosing war."

And vanished.

---

Part III: The Triangle Burns

At school the next morning, the world felt different.

People whispered again. Not just about Lena's love triangle. But about glass that watched them. About doors vanishing in homes. About reflections that didn't follow movements.

Something ancient had been stirred.

Lena walked through the halls like a ghost. She saw Dev waiting near the library—tired, quiet, loyal as always. He looked at her with pain and fire and something like a promise.

"Lena."

She stopped.

"Did you mean it?" he asked. "What you said on the roof?"

"I meant all of it."

He walked closer. "Then mean this too."

And he kissed her.

It wasn't soft.

It wasn't shy.

It was full of fire. Full of years of longing and silence and watching her fall for other people.

When he pulled away, he whispered, "Don't break me."

Lena stared at him—heart splitting in three different directions.

"I never wanted any of this," she said. "Not like this."

Dev turned and walked away without another word.

She felt Riven's presence behind her moments later.

"Two down," he muttered. "Now it's my turn, isn't it?"

She turned, fury in her eyes. "This isn't a game!"

"Of course not," he said. "It's war. And I'm the only one who doesn't pretend otherwise."

He stepped closer.

"Do you know what I would do to have you? What I'd burn?"

She didn't answer.

But in her chest, something twisted.

---

Part IV: The Breaking Point

That evening, Lena stood before the mirror again.

It didn't speak this time.

Instead, it reflected nothing.

No Lena. No room. Just black glass.

Then—

A voice behind her.

"You've made all three fall for you."

It was Meera.

Only... not Meera.

Her hair was longer. Her skin paler. And her smile was too sharp.

"You're not real," Lena whispered.

"I'm every version of your best friend who warned you."

"What do you want from me?"

"Nothing," the other Meera said. "But they do."

Suddenly, three versions of Lena stepped out from the shadows—each holding the hand of a different boy.

One Lena with Dev.

One Lena with Kian.

One Lena with Riven.

And each of them was smiling.

Each of them... looked happy.

"You have to choose," the fake Meera said.

"And if I don't?"

"They'll kill each other."

And with that—

The mirror exploded into a thousand floating shards.

Each shard showed a possible future.

One with Dev.

One with Kian.

One with Riven.

One with no one.

And one with Lena alone in the center of a burning world.

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