Chapter 9: Echoes in Flesh

The map burned in Mira's hand—not with fire, but with meaning. Each circle was a riddle. Each glowing mark a memory waiting to be reclaimed or destroyed. And the next site was closer than she wanted.

Under the school gymnasium.

Right where her nightmares had begun.

Zeke stared at the map over her shoulder. "That one's dangerous."

Mira glanced up. "Aren't they all?"

"This one more than most," Lys murmured, tying her braid back. "There's something… unfinished about it."

"Like what?"

Lys tapped the spiral. "It was meant to be sealed. But the lock was broken from the inside."

Mira's fingers curled. "Then someone—or something—got out."

"Or woke up," Zeke added darkly.

They waited until the school lights dimmed for nightly maintenance.

Then Mira led the way.

That part felt strange. Leading. Not following Lys. Not letting Zeke check every corner first.

But Lys said it was her time.

"Your Shard listens to you now," she'd told her. "It answers your fear. But soon, it will answer your will."

They entered through the maintenance hatch behind the gym bleachers. Mira's hand lit the spiral lock without her even thinking. The stone slab slid open, revealing a downward tunnel choked with old vines and dust.

They descended in silence.

Each step echoed like a warning.

The third Riftsite was a vault.

Metal walls. Rusted chains. Spiral sigils hanging from the ceiling like chandeliers.

The floor was bloodstained in places—faint, but real.

Mira inhaled sharply. "What happened here?"

Lys knelt beside the chains. "This was a containment site."

"For what?"

Zeke turned to her. "Not what. Who."

And then, a scream tore through the chamber.

Not ahead.

Behind.

They spun.

Renna stood at the top of the tunnel.

Mira's breath caught. "Renna?"

Her best friend's eyes shimmered white.

"Mira," she said softly. "You shouldn't be here."

Zeke reached for his weapon.

"Don't!" Mira snapped. "That's Renna!"

Renna stepped forward slowly. Her feet didn't make a sound.

Her face was familiar—but wrong. Too smooth. Too still.

And her eyes never blinked.

Lys whispered, "That's not her."

"No," Mira breathed. "It is."

Renna stopped a few feet away.

"You don't remember what happened after the school locked down," she said. "But I do."

Mira stepped closer. "What do you mean?"

Renna's smile cracked like glass.

"You left me there."

The room exploded into chaos.

The chains lifted into the air, rattling like serpents. Spiral marks on the wall ignited. Renna's body flickered—between solid and shadow.

Lys shoved Mira aside just as one of the chains lashed forward.

Zeke darted behind a pillar, returning fire with a blast of threadlight that carved a gouge in the wall.

Renna didn't flinch.

She floated above them now, arms out, as if conducting the Rift itself.

"You were always the strong one," she said to Mira. "And me? Just the shadow you dragged behind."

"I looked for you!" Mira cried.

"Too late."

Mira's Shard blazed.

She launched herself upward—toward Renna—toward whatever had taken her and wrapped itself around her face.

Their powers collided midair.

Sparks flew.

Pain lanced through Mira's spine.

But she didn't let go.

"I don't know what you are," she gasped. "But Renna—if you're still in there—I'll pull you back myself!"

The voice that answered wasn't Renna's.

It was many voices. Twisted. Hollow.

"Renna was easy. She was yours. She trusted you. That's why she cracked first."

Mira's fury exploded.

She drove her fist forward, Shard burning like a star.

It struck Renna's chest—

And everything froze.

When Mira opened her eyes, they were standing in a memory.

Colorless.

Silent.

A school hallway.

Renna's silhouette walked alone, clutching a notebook to her chest.

Watching Mira laugh with a crowd across the way.

The Rift had pulled her into a fracture.

A moment Renna never spoke about.

Mira stepped forward. "Renna… I didn't know."

The image shimmered.

Flickered.

Then—

Renna turned.

And this time, she was real.

Crying.

"I waited for you," she whispered. "When the doors locked. I thought you'd come."

"I tried," Mira said. "I swear, I tried."

Renna's hands trembled. "Then why did the Rift choose me to carry the Echo?"

Mira stepped forward, tears stinging. "Because it wanted to hurt me."

And Renna—her real Renna—nodded.

"Then fight it."

Mira reached out—

And pulled her through the memory.

They both gasped as the world snapped back into place.

The chamber's chains fell limp.

The spirals dimmed.

Renna collapsed into Mira's arms, shivering.

Zeke and Lys rushed forward.

"She's clean," Lys said, scanning her. "The Echo left her."

Renna wept softly. "It didn't just wear me. It learned me. My voice. My memories. Everything."

Mira held her tighter. "You're safe now."

But Lys's face was pale.

"That Echo, if it learned Renna that fast,It might know you just as well, Mira."

Mira looked at the chains, at the walls, at the scorched spiral.

And she knew.

This wasn't the end of the Rift's reach.

It was just the start of its invasion.

.