Chapter 5 5.chapter 5:The Keeper's choice

**Chapter 5: The Keeper's Choice**

The morning after her second vision felt wrong.

Kira awoke to find every mirror in the house-bathroom, hallway, bedroom-shrouded with black cloth. She hadn't covered them. But someone, or *something*, had. The material was old, moth-eaten, and heavy with the scent of mildew. Her heart thudded dully as she moved through the house, lifting each covering one by one.

Each reflection stared back at her, normal-yet *off*. Her eyes looked a little too wide. Her expression, a second slower to follow her emotions.

Something was watching through them.

She left them covered.

Later that morning, Kira returned to the hidden attic room. She didn't want to go-but she had to. Elias Vane's journal sat on her desk, open to the last entry:

*"There is no escape. Only the Choice. Become its vessel, or break the cycle. I believe the mirror can be sealed-but not without sacrifice. The Keeper must choose what to give: a memory, a name... or a life."*

*Become its vessel, or break the cycle.*

Kira knelt in front of the mirror. Her reflection stared back-normal now, no strange smiles or flickering eyes. Just her. Pale. Sleep-deprived. Scared.

"What do you want?" she whispered.

The mirror didn't answer. Not with words.

But her reflection stepped back.

The surface shimmered, like oil on water, and revealed something behind her: the study. Her grandmother's old desk. A drawer slid open on its own, and something glinted inside-a silver locket.

Kira blinked. She recognized it. Her mother's.

She raced down to the study and tore the drawer open.

Empty.

But when she turned around, the locket was lying on the desk.

She picked it up, hands shaking. Inside was a photo-her as a baby in her mother's arms.

A note was folded behind it:

*"You'll know what to do when the time comes. Be stronger than I was. -E."*

Stronger than Evelyn?

Kira clutched the locket. It pulsed warm against her skin. The mirror had *shown* her this. Why? To manipulate her? Or... to warn her?

That night, the dreams grew darker.

She stood once more inside the mirror. This time, she wasn't alone. Dozens of figures surrounded her-reflections of herself at different ages. Each one whispered:

"We gave in. Will you?"

Then she saw him.

Elias Vane.

He stood at the edge of the dream, wrapped in shadow, hands pressed against the glass from inside.

"Don't trust what it shows," he said. "But trust what it hides."

Kira reached for him, but he was yanked backward-vanishing into black.

She awoke gasping, the taste of ashes in her mouth.

The journal said she had four days.

Now, only three remained.

Kira sat on the floor of the attic with the mirror before her, the locket warm in her palm, the journal open beside her. The Choice lingered in her mind.

A memory. A name. A life.

If she gave it a memory... what would she forget? Her mother? Her past?

A name-did that mean her identity?

Or... a life?

*Could she sacrifice someone else?*

Or would it be *hers*?

Suddenly, the mirror pulsed. Images flashed across its surface-Evelyn, screaming; a younger Elias, burning papers; a child with black eyes holding out a bloody doll.

Then, in the final instant, it showed her something new:

Herself-older, twisted, smiling with obsidian eyes.

The mirror whispered through the silence:

"*Choose.*"

And Kira knew-**the time was running out.**