The clear, hard glass covered Kai's chin. It crept over his mouth, freezing his lips in place.
Then, it covered his eyes.
He did not struggle. He just stood there in the middle of the Founder's room. He looked like a beautiful, sad statue made of ice. He was completely still. He was completely silent.
Lina dropped to her knees. She reached out and touched his glass cheek. It was freezing cold.
"Kai?" she whispered.
There was no answer. The boy she cared for was trapped inside the glass.
Suddenly, the floorboards beneath them gave a loud, wet creak.
Black water bubbled up through the cracks in the wood. It smelled like dead fish and deep, dark mud. The water from the flooded chapel was seeping through the ceiling below. It was rising fast.
The black water splashed against Kai's glass shoes.
Lina gasped and tried to pull him away. But he was too heavy. He was solid glass now.
Then, the water touched his legs.
The glass statue twitched.
Lina froze. She stared at the face made of glass.
Slowly, the head turned. The glass neck made a horrible, scratching sound. The statue looked down at Lina.
The lips curved upward. It was the wrong, empty smile. The terrible smile of the reflections.
"Hello, Lina," the glass boy said.
The voice was not Kai's. It was deep, wet, and heavy. It was the voice of the lake.
Lina scrambled backward. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She looked around the room and grabbed a heavy brass candlestick from the Founder's desk. It was thick and solid.
"He is gone," the monster inside the glass said. The glass boy took a step forward. Clink. "This body belongs to the water now. He is part of the army."
The glass boy raised its pale, clear hands. Its fingers were sharp like broken bottles. It turned its empty, glassy eyes toward Mira and Seren, who were huddled in the corner.
Mira let out a terrified sob.
Lina stood up. She gripped the heavy brass candlestick with both hands. Her knuckles were white.
She had an impossible choice.
If she did nothing, the monster would use Kai's glass body to kill her friends. It would tear them apart.
But if she swung the heavy brass, she would shatter him. She would break Kai's body into a million sharp pieces. He would be gone forever. There would be nothing left to save.
The glass boy took another step toward Mira. Clink.
Lina raised the brass candlestick high above her head. Tears blurred her vision. Her chest ached with a pain so deep it felt like she was drowning.
She had to break him to save them.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2026
All rights reserved.
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Next Chapter Summary for Chapter 132: Lina makes the heartbreaking choice to shatter the glass, but the broken pieces reveal a shocking secret about Kai's soul, while the black water finally breaches the Founder's door.