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Maevryn’s POV

Slowly, I test opening my eyes and my brain still throbbing. I take in my surroundings trying to figure out where I am.

I realize I am in what looks like to be a hospital room?

No, it couldn't be a hospital room.

There's no machines beeping and no sterile scent in the air.

The walls were painted a soft, pale grey. The bed beneath me had matching sheets and pillows.

There was a small 32” TV in the corner, sitting on a desk beside a few thick books. It was quiet. Too quiet.

I tried to sit up, but that's when I realized I couldn't move. My eyes darted around the room in panic.

Then came the creak of the door.

A girl entered, wearing a white scrub shirt and black pants. Her long blonde hair was tied in a high ponytail. But it was her eyes that froze me.

Emerald green. Just like mine. They twinkled when she smiled, like she knew me.

“Perfect, you’re awake! Mae, we’re so glad you’re okay!” she said quickly, before turning and bolting back out the door.

Mae? No one ever calls me that.

Who the hell is she?

How does she know my name?

A moment later she returned—with someone else.

A tall man followed behind her, and my breath caught in my throat. He looked… like me. The same jawline. The same eyes. Slightly older, but undeniably connected. He walked toward the bed slowly, his expression unreadable.

“My word… you look just like her,” he murmured.

It was then I realised all my bruises and scars were showing I was in nothing but a tank top and shorts. I was exposed. As if she could sense I was panicking, the blonde girl moved quickly to my bedside and adjusted the blanket.

“You’re safe now. I know you’re scared, but it’s okay,” she said gently. “The sedative will wear off soon. We had to use it—it was the only way to transport you safely and run tests.”

I looked at her wide eyes.

TESTS.

What tests!

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

I looked at the strange man on the other side of me. “I look like who?” I croaked out in a whisper.

He looked at me as if he was studying my face. Questions raced in my brain. I couldn’t take it. My chest tightened. My vision narrowed. Everything began to spin again, and everything went black.

The next time I woke up, I was alone. Relief flooded through me as I realized I could move my arms and body again. I slowly sat up and saw on the bedside table there was a newly sealed water bottle on my left. I quickly grabbed the water and chugged it like I hadn’t drank any water in days.

The door slowly opened and this time only the man came in. In his hands he held a tray of what looked like shepherd's pie, he walked over to the table on my left and put the food down. I looked at him wearily.

Well if it's poisoned at least I went out with a good meal.

I thought to myself, eyeing the food. I looked back at the man and smiled a small smile. I quickly grabbed the food with no further hesitation, like he might change his mind.

The hot food tasted amazing and my stomach rejoiced in the fact it was being fed.

When was the last time I ate?

I realized I haven't eaten in maybe 3 days. I looked at the strange man and then at my plate he brought me. I had finished the food embarrassingly fast.. I looked at him sheepishly.

“May I have more please?” I asked as I looked back down at my plate.

This was the first real hot meal i had eaten in months, normally i eat a sandwich or whatever's left at the cafeteria that the lunch ladies will give me.

He blinked, visibly caught off guard. “I’ll bring you more after we talk, alright?”

I nodded, downing the rest of the water. Then I asked the question again.

This time, slower. Steadier. “I look like who?”

He looked down, his eyes clouding with something heavy. .

“You look just like your mother, Nythera.” Everything inside me froze.

This stranger knew me and knew my mom. I slowly started piecing things together.

“ ..Lucian…” I whispered.

He inhaled sharply like he didn't think I’d know who he was.

“How do you know my name?” he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“She blamed me my whole life, that you left her because of me” I said quietly as I wiped a tear away not realising I was now crying.

Lucian’s expression shifted. His eyes flickered—

Emerald green… then grey… then back again.

I flinched. No way.

That wasn’t normal. The room fell silent.

Finally I asked,“ Why now?”

He looked me straight in the eye, and this time… it felt like looking in a mirror.

“I’ve been waiting for the right moment ,” he said quietly. “Your teacher, Mr. Rhyerson called me yesterday morning after class. He’s been watching over you for years—at my request.”

I quickly darted my eyes back to my hands on the bed fiddling with the bed sheet.

My jaw dropped. “You knew? You knew where I was all this time and you never came?!”

The anger burned hot and fast. “You left me there with her. She BEAT me, Why do you care now?!”

My heart thundered in my chest. My blood roared in my ears. I could barely see him through the haze of rage. Lucian closed his eyes, pain etched into his face.

“Your sixteenth birthday is in a month,” he said finally. “There are things you don’t understand yet. Things you need to be prepared for.”

“What does that mean?” I demanded.

But before he answered, I felt a prick in my arm.

I looked at him in betrayal as the world began to spin.

“I’ll explain everything,” he whispered. “Once you’ve calmed down.” I drifted off into unconsciousness again.

Feeling like my whole world was just tilted on its axis and I'm left falling into the abyss.