CHAPTER 9 SHE CHOSE HIM
For three seconds, nobody moved.
I stared at the words on the glass.
SHE CHOSE HIM.
My mind refused to understand them.
Then I realized what was missing.
My arms were empty.
“Amelia?”
My voice came out as a whisper.
I looked around the chamber.
Nothing.
No baby.
No blanket.
No crib.
Nothing.
“AMELIA!”
I ran toward the door.
Luka caught me before I could reach it.
“Emma, wait.”
“Let me go!”
“She isn't here.”
“I know!”
I shoved him away.
“My daughter is gone!”
My mother covered her mouth.
Gabriel stood near the control panel, watching us.
He wasn't smiling anymore.
That frightened me.
Because my father always smiled when he thought he had won.
Now he looked afraid.
I turned toward him.
“What did you do to my daughter?”
He shook his head.
“I didn't take her.”
“Then who did?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying!”
“I swear.”
I stepped toward him.
“You built this place.”
“Yes.”
“You created M-17.”
“Yes.”
“You knew what was inside my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me where she is!”
He looked at the glass.
“She chose.”
My heart stopped.
“Chose what?”
“Her host.”
I stared at him.
“She is a newborn.”
Gabriel's voice dropped.
“No.”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“She is the most advanced consciousness you've ever created.”
My blood ran cold.
“I didn't create her.”
“You created the conditions for her.”
I shook my head.
“Stop talking in riddles.”
Gabriel pointed toward the screen.
A new image appeared.
Amelia.
Sleeping.
But she wasn't in the hospital.
She was inside another room.
A white room.
A woman sat beside her.
I recognized the woman immediately.
Victoria.
My stomach dropped.
“Where is she?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
I grabbed his collar.
“WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?”
He looked at me.
“Victoria took her.”
My entire body went cold.
“Why?”
“Because she was never working for me.”
My mother stepped forward.
“Who does she work for?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Your mother.”
Sarah's face went pale.
“No.”
Gabriel smiled bitterly.
“You still haven't told her.”
My mother shook her head.
“Gabriel, don't.”
“Tell me what?”
My mother looked at me.
“Emma…”
“What did you do?”
She couldn't answer.
I stepped backward.
“What did you do to my daughter?”
My mother's eyes filled with tears.
“I gave her to Victoria.”
The room went silent.
I stared at her.
“You what?”
“I had no choice.”
“You gave away my baby?”
“To save you.”
“You don't get to say that anymore!”
My voice echoed through the chamber.
“You don't get to sacrifice my daughter and call it protection!”
My mother began crying.
“I was trying to stop Gabriel.”
“By taking Amelia?”
“No.”
“Then explain!”
She looked at the floor.
“Victoria isn't taking Amelia.”
“Then where is she?”
“She is taking her to the only place where Gabriel cannot reach her.”
I stared at her.
“Where?”
My mother whispered,
“Home.”
I frowned.
“What home?”
She looked at me.
“Your childhood home.”
My blood froze.
The house my father had abandoned seventeen years ago.
The house I hadn't seen since I was a child.
“The house in Connecticut?”
“Yes.”
“Why there?”
My mother hesitated.
“Because that's where M-17 began.”
Luka stepped forward.
“Where exactly?”
My mother looked at him.
“Under the house.”
Daniel, who had been lying against the wall, suddenly groaned.
I turned.
He was still alive.
Blood soaked his shirt.
“Daniel!”
I rushed to him.
He grabbed my wrist.
“Don't go there.”
“Why?”
His breathing was weak.
“Because that's where they keep the original.”
I froze.
“The original what?”
He looked toward my father.
“The original body.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
My mother closed her eyes.
Luka immediately understood.
“Gabriel's body.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Emma's.”
I felt the air leave my lungs.
“My body?”
“Not yours now.”
He coughed.
“The first body.”
I didn't understand.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel looked at Luka.
“You have to tell her.”
Luka remained silent.
“Tell me.”
He finally spoke.
“Your father created another body for you.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“When you were five, your body began rejecting the implanted consciousness.”
“What implanted consciousness?”
“Your father's.”
I looked at Gabriel.
He didn't deny it.
“You said I rejected him.”
“Yes.”
“So what happened?”
Luka's voice was quiet.
“Your father removed the consciousness.”
“And then?”
“He couldn't remove everything.”
I felt sick.
“What's left?”
“Fragments.”
“Where?”
Luka looked at Amelia's empty blanket.
“Inside her.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Emma…”
“No!”
I stepped away.
“My daughter isn't a container.”
“I know.”
“Then stop talking about her like one!”
Luka's expression softened.
“She isn't a container.”
“Then what is she?”
He hesitated.
“A bridge.”
The word chilled me.
“A bridge between what?”
“Your consciousness…”
He looked at me.
“…and the consciousness your father buried.”
Gabriel suddenly spoke.
“That's why she chose him.”
I turned.
“Who?”
He looked toward the screen.
“The original.”
The monitor flickered.
The image of Amelia disappeared.
A new image appeared.
A room beneath an old house.
In the center stood a glass chamber.
Inside was a little girl.
Five years old.
She was sleeping.
She had my face.
My childhood face.
The same scar.
The same eyes.
The same black mark behind her ear.
I stared at the screen.
“That's me.”
Luka shook his head.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“That isn't you.”
“Then who is she?”
He whispered,
“Your original body.”
I couldn't breathe.
Gabriel continued.
“Your mother believed she destroyed it.”
My mother shook her head.
“I did.”
“No.”
He looked at the screen.
“You destroyed the chamber.”
“Then how is she alive?”
Gabriel's expression became grim.
“Because the chamber wasn't storing a body.”
My mother stared at him.
“What?”
“It was storing a memory.”
I looked at the little girl on the screen.
She suddenly opened her eyes.
I stopped breathing.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then smiled.
Her lips moved.
I couldn't hear her.
But I knew what she said.
Mommy.
My mother screamed.
“No…”
The screen went black.
Then another message appeared.
HOST 17 HAS RETURNED.
Luka stared at it.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel whispered,
“No.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He was crying.
“She remembers.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Your daughter.”
I shook my head.
“She's a baby.”
“No.”
His eyes widened.
“She isn't remembering someone else.”
He pointed at the screen.
“She is remembering herself.”
A phone suddenly rang.
Everyone froze.
It was coming from my pocket.
I pulled it out.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Static.
Then a tiny voice.
“Mommy?”
My heart stopped.
“Amelia?”
A giggle.
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
Silence.
Then:
“Under our house.”
I looked at my mother.
Her face had gone completely white.
“How did you get there?”
Another voice answered.
A man's voice.
Deep.
Calm.
Familiar.
My father's voice.
But Gabriel was standing directly in front of me.
I looked at him.
He was just as shocked as I was.
The voice on the phone said:
“Emma.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed.
“You really don't remember me?”
Luka slowly reached for his weapon.
Gabriel whispered,
“No…”
The voice continued.
“I've been waiting for my daughter to come home.”
My mother began shaking.
“That's not possible.”
I looked at her.
“Who is he?”
She didn't answer.
The voice laughed again.
Then said:
“Ask your mother what happened the night she buried me.”
The call ended.
Nobody spoke.
I stared at my mother.
“What did he mean?”
She looked at me.
Tears streamed down her face.
“I never buried your father.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“Then who did you bury?”
She whispered:
“Your brother.”
Silence.
I looked toward Luka.
Then Daniel.
Then Gabriel.
Nobody moved.
Finally, Gabriel said something that made my blood freeze.
“My son wasn't supposed to survive.”
I stared at him.
“Your son?”
He nodded.
“My first child.”
I looked at the black screen.
The image of the little girl had disappeared.
And beneath it, one final message appeared:
M-17 WAS NEVER ABOUT ONE HOST.
THERE WERE TWO.
Then another line appeared.
THE BROTHER IS AWAKE.
Luka grabbed my hand.
“We're going to Connecticut.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
She whispered,
“Because if you go there…”
Her voice broke.
May you like
“…you won't be coming back as Emma.”
And somewhere beneath my childhood home, my missing daughter began laughing.
