Aria stared at them like the floor had cracked open beneath her feet and she was the only one falling.
"Impossible to kill…" she whispered, the words scraping her throat. "That's not real. It sounds like a story people tell to scare kids."
"Aria," Liam said gently, "I wish it was just a story."
Kayden stepped closer, shadows cutting across his face. "And I wish you weren't part of it."
Her breath hitched — a small, sharp sound that shook both boys.
"I'm part of nothing," Aria said, backing up until her spine bumped a shelf. "I was just living my life—going to school, trying to breathe, trying to exist—and now you're telling me I'm what… some experiment?!"
Liam flinched. Kayden closed his eyes like the word physically hurt him.
"No one said you're an experiment." Liam moved carefully, like approaching a panicked animal. "We're saying you're connected to people who were experimenting with things they shouldn't have touched."
Kayden muttered under his breath, "And they think you're the missing piece."
Aria stared at him.
"Missing… piece of what?"
He held her gaze for three long seconds before answering.
"To finishing what your father started."
The room tilted.
Aria pressed a hand to the table to stay upright.
"My father didn't start anything," she whispered. "I don't even know him—I don't remember him. My mom never said a word."
Kayden's jaw tightened. "There's a reason she didn't."
Liam nodded. "She was running, Aria. Protecting you."
Aria shook her head, tears burning behind her eyes.
"I don't understand. If I'm so important, why didn't anyone tell me? Why leave me blind? Why make me a target without even warning me?"
Kayden's voice dropped, rough and low.
"Because once you know what you are… you can't go back."
Aria froze.
"What… I am?" she repeated, barely breathing. "I'm a girl."
Liam swallowed. "You are. But you're also something more."
"I'm not special," Aria snapped. "I can't fight, I can't run fast, I can't do anything except—except panic!"
Kayden stepped in front of her, closing the space between them until she could feel the heat of his breath.
"That's not true," he said quietly. "You survived a fall that should've broken your ribs last week."
Aria shook her head. "I—it was an accident—"
"Aria," Liam said softly, "you hit concrete. You didn't even bruise."
Her stomach dropped.
"And," Kayden added, "the fire alarm last month? You should've choked on smoke — you didn't. You were the only student who walked out without coughing."
Aria felt her pulse thunder through her body.
"I thought I was just lucky," she whispered.
Kayden's eyes softened. "You're a lot of things, Aria. But not lucky."
Liam stepped forward. "We're not guessing here. There are records. Files your father hid. Files someone stole after he was taken."
Aria's voice cracked.
"What do they say?"
Liam hesitated. Kayden looked away.
Aria didn't miss it.
"You've read them," she breathed. "Both of you. Haven't you?"
Kayden's silence was the answer.
Aria felt the pieces clicking into place — painfully, sharply, like glass inside her chest.
"You knew who I was the first day I arrived," she whispered. "Both of you did."
Kayden's eyes flashed with something tortured.
"I tried to stay away."
"You failed," Liam muttered under his breath.
Kayden shot him a glare.
Aria stood frozen, trapped between them, trapped between truths she didn't want and answers she never asked for.
"Why did you get close to me?" Aria whispered, voice shaking. "Tell me the truth. Was it because of the files?"
Liam looked stricken.
"Aria, no—"
"Yes," Kayden said at the same time.
Aria's heart cracked in half.
Liam spun toward him. "Kayden—what the h—"
"She asked," Kayden said harshly. "I'm not sugarcoating it."
Aria stepped back like she'd been hit.
"So I was a mission to you," she whispered.
Kayden looked at her then — really looked — and the rawness in his expression almost knocked the breath out of her.
"At first," he said quietly. "But then you started looking at me like I was something worth trusting. Worth… breaking rules for."
He exhaled shakily.
"And I hated it. Because I knew what was coming."
Liam moved toward Aria, hands out like he needed to keep her from shattering.
"You weren't a mission to me," he said softly. "You were a warning — someone I needed to protect before the wrong people got to you."
Aria's throat tightened again, but this time for a different reason:
Pain.
Confusion.
Betrayal wrapped in tenderness.
"What happens now?" she whispered.
Liam and Kayden exchanged a glance — not of rivalry this time, but shared fear.
Kayden's voice dropped.
"Now we tell you the truth your mother died protecting."
Aria froze.
Her heart stopped.
Liam exhaled, gently placing a hand on her trembling shoulder.
"Aria…" he said softly, "your father didn't just work on Project Helix."
Kayden finished, voice low and deadly serious:
"He was Project Helix."
Aria's knees nearly buckled.
And for the first time, Kayden caught her before she hit the ground.