Chapter 7 - The second door was at the end of the laboratory.Black steel.
No handle.
No keypad.
Just the same triangle symbol.
Adrian approached it carefully.
"Nora, stay behind me."
"You heard her."
"I heard a recording."
"She knew about the room."
"That doesn't mean she's alive."
I wanted to argue.
Then I heard my mother's voice again through the speaker.
"Adrian."
He froze.
"She's using my name."
The voice continued.
"You've always been bad at listening."
Adrian's face changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
He whispered,
"Maya."
I turned.
"What?"
He stared at the speaker.
"That was my wife."
The voice laughed softly.
"No, Adrian."
Then the speakers went silent.
My pulse raced.
"This is insane."
"Yes."
He walked toward the second door.
I followed.
"Don't."
He looked at me.
"You want to know what's behind it."
"So do you."
"That doesn't mean we open it."
I held up the key.
"We already came this far."
He took it.
The key slid into a small slot.
The door opened.
Inside was a room with a single chair.
And a glass wall.
Behind the glass was a nursery.
A crib.
A child's toys.
A mobile hanging above the bed.
I stared.
Leo had been born here.
Adrian couldn't move.
On the floor was a photograph.
Maya.
My mother.
Leo.
And another man.
I picked it up.
The man looked almost identical to Adrian.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
Same scar.
I looked at Adrian.
"Who is that?"
He didn't answer.
"Adrian."
He finally spoke.
"My brother."
I frowned.
"You never mentioned a brother."
"Because he died."
"Then who was the man Leo saw?"
Adrian's face hardened.
"No."
A screen behind the glass suddenly activated.
A medical report appeared.
SUBJECT: ALEX VOSS.
Status.
DECEASED.
I stared.
Then another document appeared.
DATE OF DEATH: 4 YEARS AGO.
Leo was six now.
The math didn't make sense.
My mother had left another message.
"Alex didn't die."
Adrian moved toward the glass.
The speaker activated.
"Neither did I."
A woman's silhouette appeared behind the nursery wall.
We couldn't see her face.
I felt dizzy.
"Mom?"
The silhouette raised a hand.
Adrian grabbed me.
"No."
"Let me go."
"Wait."
The figure stepped closer.
Then she turned.
It wasn't my mother.
It was Maya.
Leo's dead mother.
Alive.
Older.
Thin.
But unmistakably Maya Voss.
Adrian stopped breathing.
"Maya."
She touched the glass.
"Nora."
I stared.
"Why do you know my name?"
"Because Elena told me you would come."
Adrian looked furious.
"You've been alive for six years."
Maya didn't answer him.
Instead, she looked at me.
"Your mother trusted you."
"Why?"
"Because she knew Hale would eventually come for you."
"Why me?"
Maya's eyes moved toward the pendant around my neck.
"Because you're not carrying the key."
She pointed to Leo.
"He is."
I turned.
Leo stood in the doorway.
Adrian spun around.
The guards were gone.
Leo walked toward us.
He looked at his father.
"Papa."
Adrian rushed to him.
But Leo stepped back.
"Don't."
Adrian froze.
Leo's eyes filled with tears.
"Mama said you would lie."
Adrian looked destroyed.
"Nora," Maya said through the speaker, "you have to get Leo away from this house."
"Why?"
"Because Hale doesn't want to kill him."
I stared.
"Then what does he want?"
Maya's voice dropped.
"He wants what is inside him."
A metallic click sounded behind us.
Adrian spun.
The room door had locked.
Then the monitors displayed another message.
TRANSFER BEGINS IN 60 SECONDS.
I looked at Leo.
"What transfer?"
Maya screamed through the speakers.
"RUN!"
The countdown started.
May you like
And beneath the floor, machinery began to roar.
:::
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