Chapter 11 - The lullaby had four verses.Émilie had heard it every night until she was twelve.
She had never thought about the words.
Now Henri wrote them on a piece of paper.
The pattern seemed meaningless.
But Gabriel noticed something.
“The first letters.”
Émilie looked.
He wrote them down.
Together they formed coordinates.
A location outside the city.
An abandoned railway station.
“That's where your mother hid the records,” Henri said.
They drove there before sunrise.
Atlas stayed in the back seat.
Émilie couldn't stop thinking about the old man's words.
A memory hidden in a lullaby.
A map hidden in a childhood song.
At the station, they found an old storage building.
Inside were shelves filled with boxes.
Most were empty.
One remained.
Henri opened it.
Inside was a hard drive.
A photograph.
And a keycard.
The photograph showed dozens of children.
All around Émilie's age.
Underneath was a list of names.
Some had been crossed out.
Some marked missing.
Some marked TRANSFERRED.
One name was circled in red.
LUCIE MOREAU.
Next to it:
STATUS: ACTIVE.
Émilie's heart stopped.
“She's alive.”
Henri nodded.
Gabriel stared at the page.
“She was never missing.”
“Where is she?”
The hard drive contained a single file.
A video.
They opened it.
Security footage.
A young girl sitting in a room.
Older than the child in the photographs.
Approximately twelve years old.
Her face looked exactly like Émilie's.
The girl lifted her head.
She was older now.
Sixteen.
Then eighteen.
Then twenty.
The footage jumped through years.
The same room.
The same girl.
Growing.
Watching.
Waiting.
Finally she looked directly into the camera.
She whispered:
“Émilie, if you found this, you need to stop looking for me.”
The video ended.
Émilie stared.
“That was recorded recently.”
Henri nodded.
“Three weeks ago.”
“Where is she?”
A voice answered from the doorway.
“Here.”
Everyone turned.
A young woman stood there.
She looked exactly like Émilie.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Same scar above the left eyebrow.
Émilie could not breathe.
The woman took one step forward.
“Hello, sister.”
Atlas began growling.
Not at her.
At someone behind her.
Daniel.
He stepped into the doorway.
The young woman looked at him.
“I told you not to follow me.”
Daniel smiled.
“You always did disobey.”
Émilie looked between them.
“Who is she?”
The young woman answered:
“Lucie.”
“Are you my sister?”
Lucie smiled sadly.
“No.”
Émilie froze.
“What?”
Lucie looked at Daniel.
Then Henri.
Then Gabriel.
Finally back at Émilie.
“I am the girl who was supposed to be you.”
Silence.
Émilie felt the floor disappear beneath her.
Lucie continued.
“Our lives were switched.”
“I don't understand.”
“Because the records lie.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Your biological mother had two daughters.”
Henri shook his head.
“Three.”
Everyone turned.
Henri looked at Émilie.
“There was another baby.”
Daniel's smile disappeared.
“No.”
Henri nodded.
“She was never recorded.”
Lucie whispered:
“That's why they were afraid.”
Émilie stared.
“Who was the third?”
Before anyone answered, every light in the station went out.
A phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Lucie looked terrified.
“It's her.”
“Who?”
Lucie whispered:
“The woman who started The Garden.”
The phone stopped ringing.
A voice echoed through the darkness.
“My daughters.”
Émilie froze.
The voice continued.
“You've finally found each other.”
Then the lights returned.
May you like
Lucie was gone.
So was the hard drive.
