Chapter 8: The Photo

Rule #8: Sometimes the truth doesn't set you free. It buries you deeper.

The Circle didn't meet in a classroom.

They met in a vault.

Hidden behind a false wall, down a hallway that didn't exist on any map, the room was cold, windowless, humming with quiet tension. It smelled like dust, ink, and old secrets.

Ava Monroe, welcome to hell.

Briar pressed a button and a projector blinked on.

A photo filled the wall. Fuzzy. Grainy. Like it had been taken in a rush, from behind something.

But I knew that face.

Mine.

It was me, standing outside a building I didn't recognize. Nighttime. Hoodie up. A bag in my hand.

Killian moved closer. "When was this taken?"

Rings Guy answered. "Three nights ago."

"That's impossible," I whispered. "I was home. I—I didn't even leave the dorm."

No one said anything.

Then Briar, quietly: "You sure?"

I opened my mouth—then closed it.

Because I wasn't sure. Not completely.

I hadn't slept much. I'd had weird dreams. Shadows. Whispers. A hallway that wasn't Ridgeview's. A voice I hadn't heard in years.

The same night I woke up with dirt under my nails.

"Someone's messing with me," I said. "That photo is fake."

Killian shook his head. "It's real. I know that street. That's where it happened."

"Where what happened?"

Everyone went quiet again.

Until Briar said it.

"The fire."

My stomach turned.

"That building burned down an hour after this photo was taken," she said. "One person was inside. He didn't make it out."

The room spun.

"You think I did that?" I whispered.

"No," Killian said softly. "We think someone wants us to think you did."

I backed away. "This is insane. I didn't even know—"

"Memory loss is a symptom," Briar said. "Of gaslighting. Of trauma. Of something worse."

I stared at the photo again.

My face.

Same jacket. Same eyes.

But something was off.

I looked haunted.

Killian stepped between me and the wall. "There's more going on than you know. Someone is trying to rewrite your story, Ava. And we think Ridgeview's the key."

I almost laughed. "So what now? I join your little secret society?"

Briar looked at me. "Only if you want answers."

The door buzzed behind us. Someone else was coming.

Killian's voice dropped to a whisper.

"If you want out… this is your last chance."

I looked around.

At the Circle.

At the shadows that knew more about my past than I did.

And at the boy who ruined rules for me.

I didn't move.

Because if I was already drowning in lies—

I might as well learn how to swim.

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