Chapter 13 - The mansion began collapsing around them.Daniel pulled Lily toward the hidden room.
Emma followed.
Victor stayed behind.
“What are you doing?”
Victor looked at the old woman.
“Ending it.”
The old woman screamed.
“No!”
Victor pressed a button on the wall.
The underground facility began shutting down.
Machines exploded.
Lights died.
The old woman lunged at him.
Victor tackled her.
“Go!”
Daniel hesitated.
Victor shouted:
“GO!”
Daniel ran.
Inside the hidden chamber, the air was cold.
No fire.
No smoke.
At the center sat an old wooden chair.
A child was sitting in it.
Six years old.
Exactly Lily’s age.
She looked up.
Daniel stopped.
The child smiled.
“You’re late.”
Lily stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The child smiled.
“My name is Anna.”
Daniel stared.
“Who is Anna?”
Emma whispered:
“The first subject.”
Anna nodded.
“Not exactly.”
She pointed at Daniel.
“Your family called me the beginning.”
Daniel approached slowly.
“You’ve been alive for over a century?”
Anna laughed.
“No.”
She pointed to herself.
“This body is new.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
“Whose body?”
Anna smiled.
“Lily’s.”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
“No.”
Anna’s expression hardened.
“She is my vessel.”
Lily shook her head.
“I’m me.”
Anna reached toward her.
The crescent mark on Lily’s wrist glowed.
Then Anna’s mark glowed too.
Daniel stepped between them.
“What happens if you touch her?”
Anna answered:
“We become one.”
Emma raised her weapon.
“Stay back.”
Anna laughed.
“You cannot stop memory.”
Daniel looked around the room.
On the walls were thousands of names.
People.
Dates.
Generations.
He saw his father.
His mother.
Emma.
Eli.
Lily.
And his own name.
But beside his name was a second name.
ANNA ASHFORD.
Daniel whispered:
“Anna Ashford.”
Anna nodded.
“Your family was built around me.”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing.”
Daniel stared.
“Nothing?”
“I want what everyone wants.”
She looked at Lily.
“To go home.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“Where is your home?”
Anna smiled.
“Inside you.”
Daniel suddenly heard voices.
Hundreds of them.
His father.
His mother.
Emma as a child.
Eli as a baby.
Lily.
All speaking at once.
The room tilted.
Daniel fell to his knees.
Anna whispered:
“You finally opened yourself.”
Daniel grabbed his head.
“No.”
“You can hear us now.”
He saw memories.
Not his.
A woman named Anna standing in a laboratory in 1891.
She had discovered the first method of memory transfer.
She transferred a fragment into her daughter.
Then her granddaughter.
Then the next.
Each generation carried part of her.
But over time, the fragments became corrupted.
Some hosts fought back.
Some died.
Some became monsters.
The Ashford family had spent generations trying to contain her.
Daniel understood.
His father hadn’t created the program.
He had inherited it.
Emma had discovered it.
Eli had broken it.
And Lily had the ability to end it.
Daniel looked at Anna.
“You need Lily.”
Anna shook her head.
“I need you.”
“What?”
“You were the first successful male host.”
Daniel stared.
“You’ve been inside me?”
“Since birth.”
Daniel felt sick.
The memories flooded him.
His father inserting the first implant.
Daniel as a child seeing things he couldn’t explain.
Daniel growing older.
The hidden rooms.
The experiments.
Even his marriage to Vanessa.
Daniel whispered:
“Was any of my life real?”
Anna answered:
“All of it.”
Then Lily screamed.
The crescent mark on her wrist burst with light.
Anna smiled.
“She’s ready.”
Daniel moved.
He grabbed Lily and ran.
“Dad!” she screamed.
Behind them, Anna laughed.
“You cannot outrun your own mind.”
They burst back into the corridor.
The mansion was collapsing.
Emma shouted:
“The front entrance!”
They ran.
But before they reached it, the grandfather clock in the hall began ringing.
Twelve times.
The fire suddenly stopped.
Everything went silent.
The duplicate Daniel appeared at the top of the staircase.
He looked down.
Then smiled.
“You finally figured it out.”
Daniel aimed the gun.
“What?”
The duplicate pointed to Lily.
“She isn’t the key.”
May you like
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
“She’s the lock.”
