Chapter 12 - Beneath the OceanThe floor broke.
Everyone ran.
The chamber shook violently.
Glass shattered.
Rafael's containment cylinder exploded.
He fell onto the floor, gasping.
Mariana grabbed Mateo.
“Move!”
Lucía pulled a lever.
A steel door slammed shut behind them.
The explosion continued on the other side.
Mariana looked at her mother.
“What is happening?”
Lucía was crying.
“I was afraid of this.”
“What did they find?”
“A structure.”
“What structure?”
“Not natural.”
Mariana stared.
“You expect me to believe there was something under the ocean?”
“I saw it.”
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
Lucía pulled open a hidden panel.
Inside was a photograph.
An underwater excavation.
A massive circular structure buried beneath the seabed.
Perfectly symmetrical.
Covered in symbols.
Mariana stared.
“Who built it?”
“We don't know.”
“Then why did Meridian care?”
“Because the structure reacted to your blood.”
Mariana looked at Mateo.
“No.”
Lucía nodded.
“The first time you were brought near it, the system activated.”
“That's impossible.”
“It wasn't.”
Mariana remembered something.
A childhood memory.
A room.
A blue light.
Her father holding her.
A terrible noise beneath the floor.
She had always thought it was a dream.
“It wasn't a dream.”
Lucía stared.
“You remember.”
Mariana nodded slowly.
“I remember a door.”
Lucía's face went pale.
“What did you see?”
“A symbol.”
“Which one?”
Mariana closed her eyes.
A circular mark.
Three dots.
A line through the center.
Lucía whispered:
“That is the Meridian seal.”
Mateo suddenly grabbed Mariana's hand.
“Mommy.”
“What?”
“He's here.”
“Who?”
Mateo pointed behind her.
Nobody stood there.
Then every light in the corridor turned off.
A man's voice echoed from the darkness.
“Mariana.”
She turned.
Nothing.
“Who's there?”
“Your father lied to you.”
The voice came closer.
“He told you he wanted to save you.”
Mariana backed away.
“He never saved anyone.”
A gunshot.
Esteban's body jerked.
He collapsed.
“Dad!”
Mariana screamed.
Lucía caught her.
A shadow appeared at the end of the corridor.
Adrian Vale stepped into the emergency light.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Mariana raised Esteban's fallen gun.
Adrian smiled.
“You won't shoot.”
“You killed my father.”
“No.”
He looked down at Esteban.
“He killed himself long ago.”
Mariana fired.
Adrian ducked.
The bullet struck steel.
He disappeared into the darkness.
Mariana rushed to Esteban.
Blood soaked his shirt.
He grabbed her wrist.
“Listen.”
“Don't talk.”
“I need you to know.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“The first child…”
He coughed.
“…wasn't you.”
Mariana froze.
“What?”
Esteban struggled to breathe.
“There was another.”
“Who?”
He looked at Mateo.
Then whispered:
“Your sister.”
His hand went limp.
Mariana stared.
“No.”
Lucía sank to her knees.
She had known.
Mariana turned toward her.
“You knew.”
Lucía's silence was answer enough.
“Where is she?”
Lucía looked toward the sealed corridor.
Before she could speak, a child's voice came from the darkness.
“I'm here.”
Mariana spun.
A little girl stepped into the light.
Same age as Mateo.
Same red mark.
Same three dots.
She smiled at Mariana.
May you like
And said:
“I'm your sister.”
