Chapter 32 - Beneath the House
The hidden elevator was behind the library wall.
My father entered a sequence on a panel I had never noticed in eighteen years of living in that house.
The shelves shifted.
A section of wall opened.
Behind it was an elevator made entirely of steel.
I stared at it.
“You built this?”
Dad didn't look at me.
“Carter did.”
“For us?”
“For them.”
“Then why is it in our house?”
He pressed the button.
“Because this house was never only a house.”
The elevator doors opened.
Leah entered first.
Then Dad.
Ethan stayed beside me.
My mother hesitated.
I looked at her.
“You're coming.”
She nodded.
The doors closed.
The elevator began descending.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
The display showed no floor numbers.
It only showed a series of symbols.
At fifty seconds, Leah whispered, “This can't be right.”
Dad looked at her.
“What?”
“This shaft should only descend four levels.”
The elevator continued.
Seventy seconds.
Eighty.
Ninety.
I felt pressure build inside my ears.
My scar burned again.
Noah's rabbit was still in my hand.
I couldn't let go of it.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“You said I had a first father.”
She looked at the floor.
“I did.”
“Who was he?”
She didn't answer.
“Mom.”
“My first husband.”
The words struck me.
I glanced at Dad.
He didn't react.
“You were married before Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Who was he?”
Mom's mouth trembled.
“Dr. Adrian Vale.”
Leah suddenly looked up.
“Vale?”
My mother nodded.
Leah went pale.
“You never told me.”
“You never asked.”
“I spent six years inside Carter.”
“And if you'd known his name, you wouldn't have survived six.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
A corridor extended into darkness.
Emergency lights came alive one after another.
Red.
Red.
Red.
Like a trail.
We stepped out.
The air smelled metallic.
Old.
Something had been running here recently.
Machines hummed behind the walls.
Dad held up his hand.
“Everyone stay together.”
A speaker crackled.
A woman's voice played.
My mother's voice.
But younger.
“Subject fourteen demonstrates persistent emotional resistance.”
I stopped.
Another recording.
My father's voice.
“Can we terminate?”
Then a third.
A man's voice.
Adrian.
“No.”
My mother covered her mouth.
I stared at her.
“What is this?”
She shook her head.
“Keep moving.”
The recording continued.
“If you terminate her,” Adrian said, “you lose the only viable human anchor.”
Dad's younger voice answered.
“She isn't an anchor.”
Adrian laughed.
“She is the prototype.”
My scar burned so violently I nearly fell.
Ethan caught me.
The speaker went silent.
Leah crouched beside me.
“What happened?”
“It knows I'm here.”
She looked at the ceiling.
“What knows?”
The lights all turned on at once.
A screen appeared at the end of the corridor.
A live image showed Noah sitting in a chair.
His wrists weren't tied.
That made it worse.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Mom?”
I stepped forward.
“Noah.”
A man entered behind him.
C-13.
I had seen his face on the monitor before, but never clearly.
He looked young.
Mid-twenties.
Dark hair.
Thin scar along his jaw.
His expression was strangely calm.
“Hi.”
I stared.
“Where is my son?”
“With me.”
“Let him go.”
“I can't.”
“Can't or won't?”
He smiled.
“You still ask questions like a normal person.”
Dad aimed his gun at the screen.
“C-13.”
The young man's expression hardened.
“General.”
“You're making a mistake.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Your father made the mistake.”
Dad stepped forward.
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“I know everything.”
C-13 turned toward Noah.
“Tell her.”
Noah shook his head.
“I'm sorry.”
My heart broke.
“Tell me what?”
C-13 looked at the camera.
“Your son isn't afraid of us.”
I frowned.
“He's afraid of himself.”
Noah's eyes filled with tears.
“Mom, don't listen.”
“What did they do to you?”
“Nothing.”
C-13 smiled.
“He remembers.”
I froze.
“Remembers what?”
The screen went black.
The corridor doors slammed shut behind us.
Dad rushed toward them.
“Leah!”
She was already at the control panel.
“I'm locked out.”
My scar burned again.
A message appeared.
CHOOSE.
Then another.
MOTHER.
FATHER.
SON.
EACH DOOR WILL OPEN FOR ONE.
I looked at the three doors ahead.
Three separate locks.
My mother stepped closer.
“Don't.”
“What?”
“It's a test.”
Dad shouted, “Nobody chooses anything.”
The lights changed.
Noah appeared again.
This time there was a gun pressed against his head.
A voice spoke through the speaker.
“One door. One person.”
Ethan grabbed my hand.
“It's manipulating you.”
“I know.”
“But it wants you to choose.”
“Yes.”
“Then don't.”
I looked at Noah.
His lips moved.
I couldn't hear him.
I read the words.
Trust me.
Then I realized something.
Noah wasn't looking at the gun.
He was looking at the corner of the camera.
At something behind it.
A reflection.
Someone was standing there.
A woman.
I recognized her.
Diane.
I turned.
“Where is Diane?”
Dad looked around.
“She was behind us.”
The corridor was empty.
Then her voice came through the speakers.
“I was never behind you.”
A door opened.
Diane walked into the camera frame.
She wasn't holding her gun anymore.
Instead, she carried a file.
She looked straight at me.
“Your mother lied.”
Elena whispered, “Diane, don't.”
May you like
Diane smiled sadly.
“She has been lying since the day you were born.”
