Chapter 13 - The Woman Who Refused to ForgetEthan ran toward the scream.
“Grace!”
The underground facility was enormous.
Old laboratories stretched into darkness.
Broken glass.
Rusting equipment.
Walls covered in faded warning signs.
Daniel followed.
“Stay together.”
They reached a locked room.
Grace was inside.
Alive.
Bruised.
Weak.
Ethan nearly collapsed when he saw her.
He pressed his hand to the glass.
Grace looked at him.
For a moment she seemed unable to believe her own eyes.
Then she whispered:
“Ethan.”
He couldn't speak.
Grace began crying.
He unlocked the door.
She stumbled into his arms.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I wanted you to think I was.”
“Why?”
“Because Hale was watching you.”
Ethan held her tighter.
“You should have told me.”
“I tried.”
“How?”
Grace looked at him.
“Your dreams.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“I left messages in your dreams.”
He remembered.
The blue room.
The woman standing in the snow.
A cup.
A voice saying his name.
He had assumed they were nightmares.
They weren't.
Grace continued.
“I was trying to trigger memories the Somnus couldn't erase.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Why did Ellie know?”
Grace smiled through tears.
“Because children notice what adults teach themselves to ignore.”
Daniel approached.
“We need to leave.”
Grace's expression changed.
“No.”
“What?”
“Hale isn't after the formula.”
Ethan frowned.
“What is he after?”
Grace looked at him.
“You.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He needs your blood.”
Ethan's face went cold.
“Why?”
“Because you are resistant to Somnus.”
“And?”
“Your blood contains the key to neutralizing it.”
Daniel understood.
“He wants a reversal agent.”
Grace nodded.
“If Hale controls the antidote, he controls anyone exposed to Somnus.”
Ethan looked at the facility.
“How many people?”
Grace hesitated.
“Thousands.”
Silence.
Ethan stared.
“What?”
“Governments. Corporations. Private clients. People who paid to forget.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
Grace continued.
“Hale has been selling manipulated memory for years.”
Ethan looked at her.
“And my father?”
“Your father tried to expose him.”
“What about my mother?”
“She helped.”
“And Claire?”
Grace lowered her eyes.
“She saved me.”
Ethan remembered Claire falling.
“Is she alive?”
Grace nodded slowly.
“Probably.”
Ethan turned.
“What do you mean probably?”
Grace looked toward the hallway.
“Hale doesn't kill people he can still use.”
Then the lights went out.
A calm voice came over the speakers.
Victor Hale.
“Beautiful reunion.”
Ethan raised his weapon.
“Hale!”
“Bring me the blood sample.”
“No.”
“You misunderstand.”
A screen lit up.
Claire appeared on it.
Alive.
Bound to a chair.
Pierce stood beside her.
Ethan froze.
Hale spoke again.
“Bring me Ethan.”
Grace grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Ethan stared at the screen.
Claire looked directly into the camera.
Then she mouthed three words.
Don't trust Pierce.
Ethan looked at the doctor.
Pierce smiled.
May you like
Then Grace whispered:
“That's not Claire.”
