Chapter 8 - The Thing Buried Beneath the Tree
The Truth Had Been Waiting in the Dark
We returned to the house before dawn.
It was still smoking.
The fire department had left.
The windows were black.
The yard looked untouched except for one thing.
The oak tree.
The place where I'd seen the figure.
Rowan handed Dad a shovel.
“Dig.”
Dad stared at him.
“You trust me enough now?”
“No.”
Rowan pointed.
“Dig anyway.”
Dad dug.
The earth was soft.
Too soft.
After less than a minute, the shovel hit metal.
We pulled out the box.
It was wrapped in plastic.
Inside was an old cassette recorder.
And a VHS tape.
No labels.
Dad went pale.
“I thought this was destroyed.”
“Destroyed by who?”
He didn't answer.
We took everything back to the safe house.
The recorder still worked.
The tape was converted using an old player Rowan kept in storage.
The screen flickered.
A garage appeared.
Elena was standing in frame.
Younger.
Terrified.
She looked directly into the camera.
“If this recording is being watched, I have failed.”
She turned.
Another figure entered.
A man.
I couldn't see his face.
But I recognized the voice immediately.
Mom gasped.
“So did I.”
I looked at her.
“You know him.”
She nodded.
The man spoke.
“You should never have taken the child.”
Elena replied,
“She isn't yours.”
“She belongs to the program.”
The word made my skin crawl.
“What program?” I whispered.
The tape continued.
The man stepped closer.
He said a name.
“Meridian.”
Rowan stiffened.
“Meridian?”
Dad looked at him.
“You know it?”
“It's a classified identity-management program.”
“Government?”
“Officially.”
My heart sank.
“Officially?”
Rowan didn't answer.
The man in the recording continued.
“You and Adrian were never supposed to adopt her.”
Elena said, “They already have.”
“Then you'll both disappear.”
The screen shook.
A loud crash sounded.
Then the tape ended.
I stared at the blank screen.
“What did Meridian want from me?”
Dad finally spoke.
“They wanted your identity.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It will.”
He took a breath.
“Your biological father was a government witness.”
“Who?”
Dad looked at Mom.
She answered.
“His name was Samuel Vale.”
My heart stopped.
“Vale?”
“Elena's husband.”
“But I never knew him.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
“Why?”
Mom's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Samuel was one of the men who built Meridian.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He helped create a system that could erase identities.”
“And then?”
“He discovered what it was being used for.”
“He tried to expose it.”
Dad nodded.
“They killed him.”
I whispered, “And Elena?”
“She went underground.”
“And me?”
Dad looked at the floor.
“You were the one thing they couldn't erase.”
“Why?”
“Because Samuel left something inside your original identity file.”
“What?”
Dad opened a folder.
Inside was a photograph of me as an infant.
On the back was a handwritten code.
Ivy leaned closer.
“What does it mean?”
Rowan looked at the code.
Then he went completely still.
“This isn't a code.”
“What is it?”
“It's an access key.”
“For what?”
He looked at me.
“For Meridian.”
A noise came from the hallway.
Someone had entered the safe house.
We all froze.
Then a familiar voice called out.
“Lyra?”
Mom stood.
“Don't.”
The voice came again.
“It's me.”
Dad whispered,
“That's not possible.”
I recognized the voice.
It was the clerk from the convenience store.
He was standing outside the door.
May you like
And he said one sentence that made my blood run cold.
“I know what your mother did to Elena.”
