Chapter 13 - Émilie went to the street corner.Not alone.
Gabriel followed from a distance.
Henri stayed hidden nearby.
Marianne disappeared before the police arrived.
The rain had stopped.
The street was empty.
Atlas stood beside Émilie.
The old blanket was back.
The bowl was filled with water.
A single red flower rested in the center.
Émilie crouched.
Atlas sniffed the flower.
Then growled.
A speaker hidden beneath the sidewalk crackled.
“You came.”
Émilie stood.
“Let Lucie go.”
A voice replied:
“She isn't your sister.”
“She is family.”
A laugh.
“Family is exactly what made you vulnerable.”
A door opened across the street.
A warehouse.
Émilie entered.
Inside, Lucie was tied to a chair.
Daniel stood beside her.
Claire stood behind him.
And in the center of the room was Émilie's boss.
The man who had hired her.
The man smiled.
“Hello, Émilie.”
She stared.
“I knew it was you.”
“Of course.”
“You manipulated me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To find the map.”
“The lullaby?”
“The final coordinates.”
He nodded toward Lucie.
“She has the memory.”
Lucie shook her head.
“No.”
The man smiled.
“You've had it since childhood.”
Émilie looked at Lucie.
“What does he mean?”
Lucie looked away.
“He thinks you're the carrier.”
“What carrier?”
“The information wasn't put in the lullaby.”
She swallowed.
“It was put in you.”
Émilie felt numb.
The man continued.
“Your biological mother used neurological conditioning.”
“What?”
“She knew they could steal papers.”
“So she put the information in my memories.”
“Exactly.”
“You spent twenty years trying to make me remember.”
“Not us.”
He looked at Claire.
“Her.”
Claire stepped closer.
“She has spent her entire life guiding you.”
Émilie looked at her.
“You caused the hospital call.”
“Yes.”
“You sent the notebook.”
“Yes.”
“The dog?”
“No.”
Claire's smile disappeared.
“No one controls Atlas.”
The dog suddenly lunged.
He knocked over a table.
A hidden compartment opened beneath it.
Inside was a small metal cylinder.
Everyone froze.
The boss stared.
“That's it.”
He rushed toward it.
Gabriel fired into the ceiling.
“Don't move.”
The boss stopped.
Lucie whispered:
“Atlas found it.”
Henri entered from the side door.
“We're done.”
But Claire laughed.
“You're too late.”
She pressed a remote.
The walls lit up.
Every monitor showed a different child.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Across hospitals.
Schools.
Shelters.
The Garden was still active.
The boss smiled.
“You thought this was about one family.”
He pointed at the screens.
“This is an industry.”
Émilie stared in horror.
Then Atlas growled.
He was staring at Claire.
Claire slowly raised her hand.
The dog lowered his head.
“Atlas,” she whispered.
The dog's ears twitched.
“You remember me.”
Émilie looked at her.
“You knew the dog.”
Claire smiled.
“I trained him.”
She pulled out a photograph.
It showed her beside Atlas many years earlier.
Beside them stood a little girl.
Émilie recognized the face.
Her own.
But the photograph was dated:
THREE YEARS AGO.
Impossible.
Émilie whispered:
“That was me.”
Claire nodded.
“But you weren't six.”
She leaned closer.
“You were seventeen.”
Émilie's world shattered.
“What?”
Claire smiled.
“The girl living your life now was never you.”
She pointed toward Lucie.
“Neither is she.”
The warehouse doors slammed shut.
The monitors went black.
May you like
A hidden siren began to sound.
And somewhere beneath the building, hundreds of locks clicked open at once.
