Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN WHO DIED TWICEWe found my mother in a monastery outside Quebec.
She was seventy-one.
Her hair was white.
Her face was thinner.
But when she turned toward me, I knew her.
There are some things blood recognizes before the mind does.
She whispered my name.
"Nina."
I couldn't speak.
I simply walked toward her.
She touched my face.
"You're so tall."
I laughed through tears.
"You missed a lot."
She closed her eyes.
"I know."
Dad stood several feet away.
My mother looked at him.
"I told you not to come."
Dad replied softly.
"I wasn't going to lose you twice."
She looked at me.
"They still think the ledger is a document."
"What is it?"
She sat down.
"Memory."
I waited.
"My father was part of the consortium."
I blinked.
"Your grandfather?"
She nodded.
"He kept records in his mind because he trusted no machine."
She revealed that the original ledger had been memorized by three people.
Her.
Elias.
And a third person.
Victor.
But after the consortium collapsed, my mother feared the information would be lost.
So she trained someone else.
Me.
I stared at her.
"I was eleven."
"You didn't know you were learning."
She explained the games we'd played.
Numbers.
Color sequences.
Stories.
Songs.
She had hidden account numbers inside them.
Patterns.
Routes.
Names.
I thought they were childhood games.
They were a vault.
I looked at Dad.
He had known.
"You erased my memories?"
My mother shook her head.
"No."
"You buried them."
"Yes."
Then the monastery doors opened.
A man entered.
Nathan.
I froze.
He looked thinner.
His wrists were bruised.
He walked toward us.
"I escaped."
Dad immediately raised his weapon.
Nathan stopped.
"I came because Celeste has your mother."
My blood ran cold.
"What?"
Nathan looked at me.
"She knew we'd find this place."
My mother stood.
"Celeste wasn't working for Victor."
Nathan nodded.
"She was working for someone else."
"Who?"
Nathan looked at me.
"The thirty-seven."
Dad's expression changed.
"The Architect's council."
Nathan nodded.
"They've decided to stop hiding."
A phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Nathan looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Celeste's voice came through.
"Hello, Nina."
I said nothing.
"Your mother is alive."
Celeste laughed softly.
"For now."
Then she gave us an address.
A hotel in Montreal.
Room 1907.
"Come alone."
I knew it was a trap.
But there are moments when knowing something is a trap doesn't matter.
You still walk into it.
Because the person inside the trap is someone you would burn the world to save.
The call ended.
Nathan looked at me.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"I know Celeste better than anyone."
I looked into his eyes.
"That's exactly why I'm not taking you."
He frowned.
Then my mother stepped forward.
"I'll go."
We all turned.
She smiled.
"I know who Celeste is afraid of."
"Who?"
May you like
My mother whispered:
"Me."
