Chapter 9 - Jonathan couldn't move.His mother had been dead for two decades.
Yet there she was.
Alive.
Looking down at him from a helicopter as armed men surrounded the mansion.
Marcus pulled Jonathan toward the basement.
"We need to leave."
Jonathan resisted.
"I want answers."
"You'll get them."
"When?"
"When we're alive."
They escaped through an underground tunnel beneath the wine cellar.
Jonathan had never known it existed.
The tunnel led into the woods behind the property.
Michael followed.
Emma held Noah's hand.
Lily slept quietly.
As they ran, Jonathan looked at Marcus.
"You've known all this time."
Marcus shook his head.
"I knew pieces."
"Tell me."
"I tried."
"Why didn't you contact me?"
"Because they were watching you."
"Who?"
Marcus looked back.
"The people who created us."
Jonathan stopped.
"What does that mean?"
Marcus took a breath.
"Our family wasn't just involved in Project Echo."
He looked Jonathan in the eyes.
"We were part of it."
Jonathan felt cold.
Marcus explained that their mother had discovered the regenerative mutation decades earlier.
She had secretly tested treatments on herself.
She never aged normally.
Neither did Marcus.
He revealed a scar on his chest.
"I should be seventy-two."
Jonathan stared.
"You don't look a day over fifty."
"Because the treatment slows cellular decay."
"And Lily?"
"She's the next generation."
"Then why does Kane want her?"
"Because Lily's cells don't just regenerate."
Marcus looked at the sleeping baby.
"They evolve."
Jonathan frowned.
"Meaning?"
"Every time Lily heals someone, she learns from them."
Jonathan remembered his legs.
"She learned from me?"
Marcus nodded.
"Maybe."
"So what happens if she touches someone dangerous?"
Marcus didn't answer.
Jonathan's blood ran cold.
They reached an abandoned cabin.
Inside, Marcus opened a metal box.
Documents filled it.
Photographs.
Medical reports.
Jonathan found one picture of himself from fourteen years earlier.
He was lying unconscious in a hospital bed.
Evelyn stood beside him.
Lily was in her arms.
Marcus pointed to another figure in the photograph.
Kane.
"And our mother."
Jonathan stared.
There was a third person.
A man whose face had been blacked out.
"Who is that?"
Marcus whispered:
"The original donor."
"Who?"
Marcus looked at him.
"You."
Jonathan stared.
"What?"
Marcus explained.
Before the accident, Jonathan had undergone experimental cell extraction.
His own cells had been altered.
Project Echo had used them to create Lily.
She was genetically connected to him.
But there was another secret.
Jonathan's body had reacted differently.
The accident wasn't sabotage.
It was an attempt to activate the treatment.
It failed.
Or so everyone thought.
Jonathan looked at his hands.
"But I'm healing."
Marcus nodded.
"Because Lily is completing what they started."
Jonathan's stomach twisted.
"What happens when it's complete?"
Marcus looked away.
"You may not survive."
Silence.
Then footsteps approached the cabin.
Everyone froze.
Marcus raised his gun.
A voice came from outside.
"Michael."
The boy's face changed.
He knew it.
"Kane."
The door opened.
Kane stood there alone.
No weapons visible.
He held a photograph.
"Jonathan."
Jonathan raised his gun.
"Stop."
Kane lifted the photograph.
Evelyn.
Alive.
Sitting in a chair.
A microphone in front of her.
Jonathan's heart stopped.
Kane said:
"She wants to speak to you."
A monitor inside the cabin flickered on.
Evelyn appeared.
Her face was older.
But her eyes were the same.
Jonathan walked closer.
"Evie."
She smiled sadly.
"Jonathan."
He touched the screen.
"You're alive."
"Yes."
"Why did you let me believe you were dead?"
"I didn't."
Jonathan frowned.
"Kane did."
Evelyn's expression changed.
"Jonathan, listen carefully."
He moved closer.
"I have only a few minutes."
"Why?"
"Because they know where you are."
"Who?"
Evelyn looked directly at Lily.
"The people who are coming for her."
Then she said something that shattered Jonathan.
"She's not the only child."
Jonathan stared.
"What?"
"There is a seventh."
Marcus went pale.
"No."
Evelyn nodded.
"The one Kane never told you about."
Kane stepped forward.
"Enough."
Evelyn looked at him.
"Tell him the truth."
Kane's expression hardened.
Evelyn whispered:
"The seventh child is already inside the Vale mansion."
Jonathan's blood ran cold.
"Who?"
The screen went black.
Kane smiled.
"Now you understand."
Jonathan turned toward the children.
Emma.
Noah.
Michael.
May you like
Lily.
One of them was the seventh.
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