Nadia slept restlessly. Alicja, on the other side of the room, long since lost in deep sleep, breathed calmly, motionless.Suddenly — a chill. As if the air had thickened. Nadia opened her eyes at the exact moment a hand covered her mouth. Her heart froze. In the dim light, she saw a familiar figure leaning over her.Leon. But his eyes… they were not his.
Silence. He didn't say a word. His fingers were cold, firm. With his other hand, he grabbed her wrist, pulling her into a sitting position.
She struggled. Her eyes were wide with fear, but she couldn't make a sound. Alicja didn't move an inch. As if the whole reality had been muted. Leon — or rather the General — looked at her with cold, dead calm.
He didn't even let her put on her shoes.
Without a word, he led her down the corridor, dragging her toward the exit. Nadia tried to break free, strike, kick — nothing worked. He was stronger. Certain. And he guided her like a victim.
They reached the water. The pond was still, black as an abyss with no return. The General stopped only at the very edge. He opened his hand and let Nadia go. But before she could step back, he grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her toward him brutally.
"It's time," he whispered. "Time for you to remember what you did. How you betrayed them. How you betrayed me."
Nadia looked at him in terror.
"Leon…" she whispered. "Please… don't…"
He smiled — a smile that did not belong to Leon.
"Leon doesn't exist here anymore."
And without hesitation — he threw her into the darkness.
Nadia hit the icy water with a dull splash. She plunged in immediately, choking, trying to surface. But something… something was already waiting for her. Cold hands wrapped around her ankles. The fog thickened.
The water became dense as glass. She saw them.The twins.Their white eyes. Their faces full of hatred.
And then it began. A wave of images. Memories. Screams. Blood. Hanna's voice, pleading for life. Betrayal. Escape. Slammed doors. Yells.
Nadia clutched her head, sobbing in a voiceless scream beneath the water.
Her own voice. But different. Older.
"I can't! I can't save them! If I do, he'll kill me!""WE TRUSTED YOU!"
The twins' voices echoed in her mind, tearing her apart from the inside.
Leon — the General — stood at the edge, watching. Motionless.
Waiting for her to awaken. For Hanna to open her eyes again — no longer as a memory, but as a living part of Nadia.
***
Nadia emerged from the water with a violent gasp, drawing in air like a drowning woman. She choked, shivered, her hair plastered to her face like dead seaweed. Trembling, she struggled to the shore, digging her fingers into the damp earth.
She crawled, as if she didn't know where she was. As if every movement was a burden too heavy to bear. The fog clung to her skin like ice.
Her body was in shock, but what raged inside her was far worse.
Images swirled in her mind—not fragments, but entire scenes. Candlelight. Children's screams. The darkness of the room where she had hidden alone. The General's eyes—then still human—and his quiet command: "Do not open the door. Be silent."
And her own breaking "I'm sorry" whispered into the void, as she betrayed those who trusted her.
On her knees, trembling, bent in half, Nadia finally shuddered from an inner cold. As if something inside her had shattered.
"No… no…" she whispered. Her voice was hoarse, almost inhuman.
Hugging herself, she began to rock. Her eyes were wide open, yet empty. Anyone beside her would have thought she had gone mad—but it wasn't madness. It was the collision of two souls.
Nadia and Hanna. Past and present. Body and memory.
A few steps away, the General still stood, calm as a phantom. He watched her with satisfaction.
"Welcome back, Hanna," he whispered.
Nadia looked at him—and this time… something had changed in her eyes. Not just fear. Not just pain.
But anger.
A quiet, severe, raw anger that had quietly taken root. Something in her knew it wasn't over. That now she knew the truth. That now… she remembered.
The fog over the pond seemed to thicken. The water behind Nadia rippled lightly, as if something still called to her, as if the twins' spirits still wanted her back. But she no longer looked behind. Her gaze was fixed on him.
The General.
Leon.
Tall, calm, seemingly absent, yet his eyes were sharper than ever. His lips curved in a faint smile.
"You've finally returned."
His voice was soft, almost tender, yet there lurked in it a violence, a poisoned note of pleasure at reclaiming what he had long considered lost.
Nadia trembled, still wet, but she stood. Slowly. With effort. As if with each second she regained a fragment of her strength.
"I remember," she said. Her voice was weak, hoarse, but the words were clear. "Everything."
The General stepped closer, deliberate, unhurried. He felt he had her in his grasp now.
"Do you remember how you trembled when I came to you? How you begged me not to leave you alone, even if I had to burn the whole world with blood?" He stopped before her, his fingers brushing her chin. "Do you remember how it felt to be mine?"
Nadia did not answer. Tears pricked her eyes, but she did not let them fall. Not here. Not now.
"I betrayed you. I ran away," she finally said. "And I would do it again."
Something dangerous glimmered in the General's eyes.
"You think you have a choice?" He leaned close, whispering directly into her ear. "You think this body, this soul, this memory is yours? Everything you are was shaped by me. I created you, Hanna."
His hand gripped her hip, hard, as if trying to anchor her. He pulled her close until their bodies collided.
"And this time I will not make a mistake. I will not let you go. I will not let you forget. I will take everything from you, slowly. Friends. Love. Yourself. I will break you until only what I desire remains."
Nadia closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them, something burned within them.
"Try," she whispered. "But remember: even if you destroy me, you will never possess me."
The smile vanished from his face.
He tightened his grip on her hip, but said nothing more. He only watched.
With a chasm in his eyes. With the fire of vengeance. And with fear. Because he knew that now… she was aware.
Nadia stepped back for the first time, when his fingers dug painfully into her hip. A second time—when she felt his body did not tremble with anger, but with the intoxicating sense of power. And a third time—when she looked into his eyes and saw no trace of Leon. Only the abyss. Only the General.
In one instant, she broke into a run. She leapt as if scalded, stumbling on the slick grass, but she did not stop. Wet, filthy, gasping raggedly, she threw herself into the darkness—away from the pond, away from the past.
Behind her, she heard only a drawn-out laugh.
And then the words fell. Spoken unnaturally deep, echoing across the water, the forest, herself.
"Run as much as you like, Hanna. But you will come back to me on your knees. Just like before. Because you know how resistance ends. Someone you love always dies."
Her steps faltered. As if the water had swallowed her again for a moment. As if the air itself had frozen.
She did not look back. She couldn't.
But something inside her had shattered. And something else—was reborn. Anger. Fear. And the need to save everything before it was too late.
***
The cafeteria was nearly deserted. A soft blanket of first snow coated the world outside, transforming the weekend morning into something quiet, almost serene. But the trio huddled in the corner paid no mind to the winter magic. Alicja picked at her cold eggs, the fork trembling slightly in her hand. Natan gripped his cup of tea so tightly that his knuckles turned stark white, veins standing out like cords under his skin. Nadia sat across from them, her eyes dark-rimmed, arms wrapped around herself as if trying to hold her pieces together.
The silence stretched too long, heavy and suffocating, until at last, Nadia's voice cut through it—soft, rough, almost breaking.
"He took me to the pond. In the middle of the night. He covered my mouth—Alicja didn't hear anything." Her words came in quiet, jagged bursts. "He threw me in again. But this time… the twins didn't want to hurt me. He convinced them. He made them believe that I betrayed them once. That I was to blame for their death."
Alicja's head snapped up, tension coiling every muscle in her face."What did they do to you?"
"They restored the memories." Nadia drew in a trembling breath. "I started remembering. Hanna. Him. It all really happened. And he… he doesn't want to kill me. He wants to break me. From the inside out."
Natan cursed under his breath, low and raw, for the first time without any restraint."Why? What does he hope to gain from this?"
Nadia's gaze found his, her eyes an impossible mixture: pity, fury, fear, and defiance all at once."Because he thinks that if he takes everything I have now… I'll be his again. Like before. Like Hanna." She slammed her hand on the table, the impact rattling the cutlery. "And if I resist, he'll kill those I care about."
Alicja raised her head, narrowing her eyes at a single, invisible point across the table."We won't let him. I won't let him hurt you."
"Nor let Leon disappear forever", Natan added quietly, his voice low but infused with a determination that surprised even himself.
Nadia nodded, hands still trembling. The memory of that touch, that word—kneel—lingered like a shadow. But she was no longer alone. Not this time.
"The time for playing with fire has begun", Alicja whispered, leaning forward, elbows pressed against the table, eyes blazing. "But if we want to beat him, we have to stop being afraid. Fear gives him power. We can't give him that."
Nadia nodded again, calmer now, when suddenly someone approached their table. A tall figure, clad in a dark hoodie with the school crest, eyes bright and smiling. It was Ariel, a senior, liked and respected by everyone. He stopped just beside Nadia, looking down at her with gentle concern.
"Hey… are you okay?" he asked softly, glancing at the other two. "You look like you've seen a ghost… or something worse."
Alicja and Natan exchanged a tense, fleeting glance, but before either could reply, Ariel leaned closer to Nadia, placing a warm hand on her shoulder. A simple, reassuring gesture, yet in that moment, it felt like a lifeline.
"I heard there's a bonfire behind the school tonight, organized by the seniors. We wanted to invite you, Nadia. Bring your friends if you want. It'll be good to step away for a while. And… Leon should come too. He's number one now, and I know you two get along."
For a heartbeat, the world seemed to pause. Alicja turned her head, tense and alert. Natan glanced at Nadia, who offered a small, uneasy smile. But none of them noticed what happened at the far end of the cafeteria.
Leon. Or rather… the General.
He sat in shadow, alone, hand resting on the tabletop. But now his fingers clenched into a fist, knuckles whitening, eyes flashing with a malevolence that no one had the right to see.
Jealousy.Rage.A relentless power that could not tolerate sharing anything he deemed his.
In that instant, nothing else existed but him and the girl who still had the audacity to breathe without his permission.
"Touch her again, and I'll tear your hand off", he whispered to himself, his voice barely audible yet vibrating through the air with lethal intent.
A glass on his tray cracked with a soft, ominous snap. Nadia felt it—a prickling in her skin, a sixth sense warning her of the storm brewing nearby.
"Thank you, Ariel. I'll think about it", she said politely, but her voice quivered with an edge of tension she couldn't fully explain.
Alicja squinted, her gaze sweeping across the cafeteria, noting every shadow, every movement."I guess… we won't be eating in peace today…"