Lena's breath came in shallow gasps as she sprinted down the darkened streets, her fingers clutching Riven's hand in a desperate grip. The cold night air burned her lungs, but she couldn't stop.
Not now.
Not when they were so close.
Behind her, the shadows moved.
Figures dressed in black, blending into the darkness. Silent. Relentless.
The Watchers.
Lena didn't dare look back.
"Faster," Riven muttered, his voice tight with urgency.
Lena's legs burned, but she forced herself to keep going.
Their footsteps echoed in the empty streets. Her heart pounded, drowning out every other sound.
Then—
A flicker of movement to the left.
Lena barely had time to react before something whizzed past her, slicing through the air.
A dart.
It embedded itself in a streetlamp, the metal pole hissing as smoke curled from the impact.
Poison.
Riven swore under his breath.
Lena's stomach twisted. They weren't trying to kill her.
They were trying to capture her.
Panic clawed at her throat.
She would not be erased again.
"There!" Riven jerked her arm, pulling her toward a narrow alleyway.
Lena staggered but followed, their footsteps slapping against the cracked pavement.
The alley was pitch dark, the walls pressing in on either side.
Her heart pounded against her ribs. "Where are we going?"
"Away from them," Riven growled.
Lena didn't argue.
She could hear them now—footsteps, closing in.
Then—
A sharp voice.
"Stop running, Aarya."
Lena froze.
Her blood ran cold.
A woman's voice.
Smooth. Controlled.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
Lena turned her head slowly.
And there, standing at the entrance of the alley—
Was her mother.
Her breath caught. "No…"
Her mother stepped forward, dressed in black, blending into the night like she belonged to it.
Her face was calm. Too calm.
Lena staggered back. "You… you're with them?"
The answer was in her mother's eyes.
Cold. Detached.
Like she had known this moment would come.
Like she had planned for it.
Lena's stomach churned.
"You knew." Her voice trembled. "You knew what they did to me."
Her mother's gaze never wavered.
"I did what was necessary," she said.
The words felt like a knife.
Lena shook her head. "You let them erase me."
Her mother exhaled, almost as if she were disappointed.
"Aarya," she said, like she was speaking to a child. "You were never meant to come back."
Lena's pulse roared in her ears.
She wanted to scream.
Wanted to cry.
Wanted to run.
But most of all—
She wanted to fight.
Riven stepped in front of her, his body tense, golden eyes glowing in the dark.
"We're leaving," he said flatly.
Her mother's lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile.
"I can't let you do that."
A cold dread settled in Lena's chest.
Then—
A flick of her mother's wrist.
The shadows behind her moved.
Watchers emerged, their faces hidden, their presence suffocating.
They surrounded them.
Riven tensed.
Lena felt the walls closing in.
Her fingers curled into fists.
No.
Not again.
Not this time.
She wasn't a girl waiting to be erased anymore.
She was something more.
A flicker of something stirred in her chest. A memory.
Of who she was before.
Aarya.
The girl they had tried to erase.
Lena lifted her chin.
Her mother's eyes flickered with something—curiosity, maybe even amusement.
Lena took a slow breath.
Then—
She closed her eyes.
And vanished.
A rush of wind swept through the alley as her body faded into nothingness.
The Watchers stilled.
Riven didn't hesitate.
In one swift motion, he grabbed the nearest Watcher, twisting their arm behind their back and shoving them into another.
Chaos erupted.
Lena moved through the confusion, unseen, untouched.
She felt it—the strange pull, the energy crackling around her, making her lighter, faster.
She had done this before.
Had used this power before.
The pieces of her past were falling into place.
She wasn't just an introvert hiding in the background.
She was someone who could disappear.
Someone who had survived.
And this time—
She wouldn't let them take her.
With a sharp breath, she grabbed Riven's wrist—her invisibility spreading to him—
And they ran.
Behind them, her mother's voice cut through the night.
"You can't run forever, Aarya."
But Lena didn't look back.
She wasn't running.
She was taking back what was hers.
And for the first time—
She wasn't afraid.
---