Chapter 7 - Smoke poured through the vents.Daniel grabbed Lily.
“We’re leaving.”
Emma shook her head.
“Not upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where they want us.”
A loud crash shook the chamber.
Marcus looked toward the tunnel.
“They’ve sealed the exits.”
Daniel turned to Emma.
“Then give me another way out.”
Emma pointed to the floor.
“There’s a drainage tunnel beneath the vault.”
Daniel searched the room.
“How do we open it?”
Emma looked at Lily.
The little girl stepped forward.
“I know.”
Daniel stared.
“Lily?”
She walked toward a large circular symbol engraved in the stone.
She pressed her palm against it.
Nothing happened.
Then the crescent-shaped mark on her wrist began glowing faintly.
Daniel’s face drained of color.
The stone moved.
A hidden staircase appeared.
Marcus whispered, “That’s impossible.”
Emma replied, “Not anymore.”
They descended.
Behind them, the vault door exploded inward.
Men in black flooded the chamber.
One of them shouted:
“Take the girl!”
Daniel ran.
The tunnel beneath the mansion was narrow and ancient.
Water ran along the floor.
Lily clung to Daniel.
Vanessa followed.
Marcus limped.
Emma moved quickly behind them.
“Left!” she shouted.
They turned.
Daniel heard gunfire behind them.
Bullets struck the stone.
He kept running.
The tunnel opened into a huge underground chamber.
At its center stood a glass cylinder.
Inside was a man.
Daniel stopped.
It was Eli.
He was unconscious.
Machines surrounded him.
Blood ran through transparent tubes connected to his arms.
Daniel rushed toward the glass.
“Eli!”
Emma grabbed him.
“No!”
“Let go!”
“If you break that cylinder, you’ll kill him.”
Daniel froze.
“What are they doing to him?”
Emma stared at the monitors.
“They’re extracting his memories.”
Daniel looked at the screens.
Images flashed across them.
A forest.
A hospital.
A burning building.
A little boy.
A woman.
A grave.
Then Lily.
Daniel stared.
“Why are they recording her?”
Emma whispered:
“Because Lily is different.”
“How?”
“She doesn’t only remember.”
Daniel turned.
“What does she do?”
“She sees the memories before they happen.”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
Lily was staring at Eli.
“Lily?”
She whispered:
“He’s scared.”
Daniel crouched.
“How do you know?”
“He told me.”
Daniel froze.
“He told you?”
“He’s sleeping.”
Eli suddenly opened his eyes.
Inside the glass.
He looked directly at Lily.
And smiled.
Then every machine shut off.
The room went dark.
Eli screamed.
A violent pulse of electricity ran through the glass cylinder.
Daniel grabbed Emma.
“What’s happening?”
Emma stared at the screens.
“No.”
“What?”
“They activated the transfer.”
“Transfer of what?”
“Eli’s entire memory.”
The chamber filled with light.
Lily screamed.
Daniel covered her ears.
But the sound wasn’t coming from the room.
It was inside their heads.
Daniel saw a vision.
His father.
Emma.
A hospital.
A newborn baby.
Then another image.
His mother standing over a crib.
Then another.
Vanessa holding a knife.
Then another.
Daniel himself.
Standing over a body.
Covered in blood.
He stumbled backward.
“No.”
Emma shouted, “Daniel!”
He couldn’t hear her.
The vision changed.
He saw Lily older.
Seventeen.
Standing in the same chamber.
Holding the brass key.
Then fire.
Then darkness.
Then a voice.
His own voice.
Whispering:
“I should have killed her when I had the chance.”
Daniel collapsed to his knees.
Lily ran toward him.
“Daddy!”
He looked at her.
For one terrible second, he didn’t recognize her.
Then Eli’s voice filled his mind.
That memory is not yours.
Daniel froze.
They put it inside you.
Daniel looked at the cylinder.
Eli was smiling.
Dad, don’t trust your memories.
The chamber doors suddenly opened.
A woman stepped inside.
Daniel’s dead mother.
She looked exactly as she had in his childhood.
May you like
She smiled at him.
“You finally remember.”
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