Chapter 10 - The Children BelowI couldn't move.
My name stared back at me.
Returned.
Not deceased.
Not missing.
Returned.
I turned to Vincent.
"What does that mean?"
He looked like he wanted to pull me away.
Instead he whispered:
"It means you were here."
"No."
"You were."
"When?"
"When you were six."
"I wasn't."
"You don't remember."
Daniel appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Because they removed the memory."
Maya clung to my hand.
"Mommy did."
I looked at her.
"What?"
Maya's face was pale.
"Mommy said she had to make you forget."
Daniel nodded.
"She used the same method they did."
I felt sick.
"She erased my memories?"
"She buried them."
"Why?"
"Because the last thing you remembered was where they put the records."
Vincent stared at Daniel.
"What did she tell you?"
"Enough."
"What did she say?"
Daniel looked at me.
"She said Lena would come back when the right child arrived."
"What child?"
He pointed at Luca.
"The heir."
Vincent's expression changed.
"What does Luca have to do with this?"
Daniel smiled.
"Everything."
A door at the bottom of the stairs opened.
No one touched it.
A woman stepped into the corridor.
She was wearing a dark coat.
Her face was hidden.
Vincent drew his weapon.
"Stop."
The woman removed her hood.
I knew her.
My mother.
I forgot how to breathe.
"Mom."
Maya gasped.
"Mommy!"
My mother looked at us.
Tears filled her eyes.
Then she looked at Vincent.
"You brought them here."
"You knew I would."
"Yes."
Vincent lowered the gun.
My mother walked toward us.
I wanted to run to her.
Instead I froze.
So many questions.
Why did you leave?
Why did you lie?
Why did you change my name?
Why did you let me believe you were missing?
My mother reached for me.
I stepped back.
She stopped.
"I deserve that."
I wanted to cry.
"Why did you leave?"
"To keep you alive."
"Why didn't you tell me who he was?"
She looked at Vincent.
"Because your father is not the man you think."
"Then what is he?"
My mother looked at him.
"The last surviving architect."
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"That's not true."
"You built the system."
"I destroyed it."
"After you used it."
Silence.
I looked between them.
My mother took a breath.
"Your father saved you once."
I glanced at Vincent.
"But?"
"He couldn't save the others."
I looked at the names on the walls.
Hundreds.
A question came to me.
"What is the Moretti Project?"
My mother looked at me.
"A machine."
"What kind?"
"A system for predicting loyalty."
I frowned.
She continued.
"They studied children to determine which ones could be trusted under pressure."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"You were the only child who consistently refused to betray someone else."
I didn't understand.
"That's why they called you the weapon."
My mother touched my cheek.
"They didn't mean a gun."
"Then what?"
"Someone who could expose everyone."
A sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Many.
My mother turned.
"They found us."
Vincent raised his weapon.
"How many?"
"Enough."
Daniel laughed from above.
My mother looked at him.
"You shouldn't have come."
Daniel replied:
"I had to see her."
My mother stepped closer to me.
"Listen carefully."
"Okay."
"There is a room beneath this room."
"Where?"
She pointed at the wall.
"Three knocks."
I stared at it.
I knew the pattern.
I raised my hand.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Nothing.
I did it again.
Three knocks.
A click.
A hidden door opened.
Behind it was a small room.
Inside was a single chair.
A camera.
And a mirror.
On the mirror was one sentence.
TELL THEM WHAT YOU SAW.
I looked at my reflection.
Then the mirror flickered.
A recording appeared.
A six-year-old version of me sat in the chair.
Crying.
Someone stood behind the camera.
My younger voice whispered:
"I know where the records are."
Then another voice answered.
A man's voice.
Vincent's voice.
"Then you're going to tell me."
I turned slowly toward him.
May you like
My father had been in the room.
And on the recording, six-year-old me looked terrified of him.
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