Lyra didn’t move.
Her eyes remained fixed on the monitor screen.
The woman standing outside the house was still there.
Her long hair was soaked by the rain. Her white coat fluttered in the wind. Her face looked pale beneath the glow of the porch light.
But that wasn’t what made it hard for Lyra to breathe.
The woman’s face.
Her eyes.
The shape of her nose.
Her lips.
Even the faint line near the corner of her eye.
Everything felt so familiar.
As if Lyra were looking at her own face, only older.
“That’s impossible,” she whispered.
Cassian remained standing in front of the monitor.
“Don’t go near the window.”
“Who is she?”
“Seraphine Vesper.”
“Why did she call me her daughter?”
Cassian didn’t answer.
Lyra turned around.
“You said my father was dead. You said my family was looking for me. Now there’s a woman who looks like me claiming to be my mother.”
“I know.”
“Then explain it!”
Lyra’s voice rose.
Cassian finally looked at her.
“I don’t know everything yet.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m serious.”
“Ever since I met you, you’ve kept saying you know something about my life, but every time I ask, you only give me half an answer!”
Cassian fell silent.
Lyra pointed at the screen.
“Who is she?”
“A woman who was believed to have died twenty-three years ago.”
“Believed?”
“Seraphine Vesper is the eldest daughter of the Vesper family.”
Lyra furrowed her brow.
“Daughter?”
Cassian nodded.
“And according to the official records, she died twenty-three years ago.”
Lyra looked at the screen again.
“Then why is she there?”
“That’s what I want to know.”
Suddenly, the house lights went out.
Darkness.
Lyra flinched.
“What happened?”
Cassian immediately grabbed her hand.
“Don’t move.”
“Why?”
“The generator died.”
Footsteps sounded outside.
One.
Two.
Then more and more.
Cassian drew his gun.
“We have to go.”
“Which way?”
Cassian pointed toward the back door.
“The exit is over there.”
Lyra followed him.
But before they reached the door, the sound of shattering glass rang out.
Someone came in through the window.
Cassian pulled Lyra behind him.
A man’s shadow appeared in the room.
Then the emergency lights came on.
A man dressed in black stood in the middle of the room.
Cassian raised his gun.
“Lower your weapon.”
The man smiled.
“You still like pretending to be a hero, Cassian.”
Lyra looked at Cassian.
“You know him?”
“Unfortunately.”
The man raised both hands.
“I’m here for the girl.”
Cassian replied coldly.
“You’re not getting her.”
“She doesn’t belong to you.”
“She doesn’t belong to anyone.”
The man gave a soft laugh.
“Still the same as ever.”
Cassian moved quickly.
One punch.
The man fell.
But two more shadows appeared through the front door.
Cassian shoved Lyra toward the hallway.
“Run!”
Lyra ran.
She heard the sounds of fighting behind her.
Her heart pounded.
She opened the back door and rushed into the yard.
But after only a few steps, someone grabbed her arm.
Lyra nearly screamed.
A hand covered her mouth.
“Easy.”
Lyra froze.
The woman in the white coat stood in front of her.
Seraphine.
The woman looked at Lyra with tear-filled eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Lyra pulled her hand away.
“Who are you?”
Seraphine didn’t answer.
Instead, she touched Lyra’s face.
Her hand trembled.
“You really grew up to look just like your father.”
“I don’t know you.”
“I know.”
“Why did you say you’re my mother?”
Tears streamed down the woman’s cheeks.
“Because I am.”
Lyra stepped back.
“Then why did you leave me?”
Seraphine fell silent.
“I never left you.”
“Then where have you been all this time?”
“I was forced to leave.”
“Who forced you?”
Seraphine glanced toward the house.
“We don’t have time.”
She took Lyra’s hand.
“You have to come with me.”
Lyra pulled her hand away.
“No.”
“Lyra.”
“I don’t even know you.”
“I know.”
Seraphine looked at her sadly.
“But I know you.”
A voice came from the house.
“Lyra!”
Cassian.
Seraphine immediately panicked.
“He’s going to take you away.”
“He saved me.”
“He can destroy you, too.”
Lyra shook her head.
“I don’t believe you.”
Seraphine pulled something from her coat pocket.
An old photograph.
She handed it to Lyra.
Lyra looked at the photograph.
A young woman stood beside a man.
Between them was a baby.
The same baby as in the photograph in Cassian’s folder.
Written on the back of the photograph was a handwritten message:
For Lyra, if one day I can no longer protect you.
Lyra looked at Seraphine.
“This…”
“Your father.”
Lyra studied the man in the photograph.
For some reason, there was something familiar in his gaze.
“What was his name?”
Seraphine answered softly.
“Adrian Vesper.”
The name left Lyra speechless.
But before she could ask anything else, footsteps sounded behind her.
Cassian appeared.
“Lyra!”
Seraphine immediately stepped in front of Lyra.
“Don’t come any closer.”
Cassian stopped.
“Seraphine.”
The woman glared at him.
“You can’t take her.”
“I’m trying to save her.”
“You already failed once.”
Cassian fell silent.
Lyra looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
There was no answer.
“What happened twenty-three years ago?”
Cassian and Seraphine exchanged a look.
Finally, Cassian said,
“Seraphine was supposed to take you away that night.”
Seraphine lowered her head.
“But someone leaked our location.”
“Who?”
Cassian answered,
“We never found out.”
Seraphine gripped Lyra’s hand.
“What we do know is that your father was murdered that night.”
Lyra felt her throat close up.
“And me?”
Seraphine looked at her.
“You were declared dead.”
“Why?”
“Because it was the only way to make them stop looking for you.”
Lyra stared at the photograph in her hand.
“If I was declared dead…”
She swallowed.
“…who have they been looking for all this time?”
Seraphine didn’t answer.
Cassian was silent, too.
Then sirens sounded in the distance.
Seraphine looked at Cassian.
“They’re here.”
Cassian nodded.
“We have to go.”
Seraphine looked at Lyra again.
“Trust me.”
Lyra didn’t know who to trust.
Her mother, who had appeared after twenty-three years.
The stranger who kept too many secrets.
Or herself, when she didn’t even know who she really was.
But before they could move, a voice came from a loudspeaker on the road.
“Lyra Vesper.”
A man’s voice.
Cold.
“Give yourself up.”
Lyra turned toward the road.
Several black cars had stopped in front of the house.
The doors opened.
Dozens of people got out.
Seraphine tightened her grip on Lyra’s hand.
“Don’t look at them.”
But Lyra had already seen someone standing among the crowd.
An old man.
His hair was white.
His face was stern.
But it wasn’t his face that made Lyra freeze.
It was the words that came from his mouth.
“Welcome home, granddaughter.”
Lyra looked at Seraphine.
“Granddaughter?”
Seraphine closed her eyes.
Cassian slowly lowered his gun.
And for the first time since that night began, Lyra realized that the greatest danger might not be the people chasing her.
The greatest danger might be the family she had never known existed.
To be continued…