Chapter 10 - The Fake MotherThe front door exploded.
Glass shattered.
We ran through the back.
Maya carried Jake.
Dad covered us.
We escaped into the alley.
"You heard her voice," I said.
Dad nodded.
"They use recordings."
"No."
I looked at him.
"That was her voice."
"They have years of recordings."
"Then where is Mom?"
"I don't know."
The city blurred as we ran.
We hid inside an underground parking garage.
Jake's face was pale.
Maya checked his wound.
"He's losing blood."
Dad looked at me.
"We need to find the real facility."
"How?"
"The mirror."
I stared at him.
"You said I'm the mirror."
"Then look."
"What am I supposed to see?"
"Something you've forgotten."
I closed my eyes.
Faces.
Hallways.
Mirrors.
Scars.
Makeup.
Then...
A room.
I was thirteen.
There was a woman beside me.
Not Mom.
A nurse.
She wore a silver necklace.
On it was a small black triangle.
I opened my eyes.
"I remember."
"What?"
"The nurse."
Dad went rigid.
"What nurse?"
"She had a triangle."
Maya stared at him.
"Who was she?"
Dad whispered:
"Halcyon's director."
Dr. Vale's wife.
The woman who vanished eighteen years ago.
The woman everyone believed was dead.
I suddenly realized something.
"Maya's father wasn't the only one."
"What?"
"There was another person in the room."
I could see the memory.
My mother.
She was crying.
And beside her...
Jake.
But Jake was supposed to be somewhere else.
My memory shifted.
I heard words.
"Which twin?"
Someone answered:
"The one who notices faces."
I opened my eyes.
"Me."
Dad nodded.
"Yes."
"But why?"
"Because they needed someone who could recognize anyone."
"For what?"
He looked away.
"To identify people who disappeared."
The parking garage lights shut off.
A voice echoed through the darkness.
"Exactly."
Dr. Vale stepped from behind a concrete pillar.
Surrounded by armed men.
Jake stood.
Blood dripping from his side.
Maya raised her gun.
Vale smiled.
"Now you remember."
I stared at him.
"What did you do to me?"
He tilted his head.
"Nothing."
A pause.
"Your mother did."
I froze.
"My mother?"
Vale smiled.
"She asked us to erase only the parts that would get you killed."
He raised his weapon.
"Unfortunately, she forgot one thing."
"What?"
"Memory always comes back."
He fired.
Dad stepped in front of me.
May you like
The bullet struck him.
He fell.
