Chapter 38 - The Children Who Remembered
The phones stopped ringing at exactly 2:14 a.m.
Silence returned.
But it didn't feel like peace.
It felt like anticipation.
Leah unplugged one of the old phones.
It immediately rang again.
She stared at it.
“No electrical connection.”
Dad frowned.
“Then how?”
“The system isn't using the phones.”
“What's it using?”
She looked at me.
“Memory.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That's becoming everyone's answer.”
“It shouldn't be.”
Leah held up a wire tester.
“The devices are receiving no external signal.”
“Then what's making them ring?”
She looked toward Noah.
“His nervous system.”
I went cold.
“No.”
Elias stepped closer.
“That's why they took him.”
“To activate the network.”
“To prove the bridge works.”
Dad slammed his fist against the wall.
“We're done letting them use children.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“Then stop using me.”
We turned.
Noah stood alone.
His face was pale.
“What?”
He looked directly at me.
“I remember.”
I rushed to him.
“Remember what?”
“The room.”
“What room?”
“The place they took me.”
Ethan knelt.
“You were there only a few minutes.”
Noah shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I've been there before.”
“Before tonight?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Leah sat beside him.
“Tell us everything.”
Noah squeezed the rabbit.
“There were other kids.”
“How many?”
“Lots.”
“Were they scared?”
“Some.”
“Did anyone talk to you?”
He nodded.
“A girl.”
“What did she say?”
“She called me C-15.”
My heart stopped.
Leah's face drained of color.
“Noah isn't C-15.”
“No,” Noah whispered.
“She said I was C-15's replacement.”
Elias closed his eyes.
Dad looked at my mother.
“What did you know?”
Mom shook her head.
“Nothing.”
A crack came over the speaker.
Then a girl's voice.
“That's not true.”
Everyone froze.
Leah looked up.
The basement lights flickered.
A monitor came alive.
A girl appeared.
She looked about twelve.
Dark hair.
Pale face.
Hospital gown.
A number tattooed on her wrist.
C-15.
She stared at Noah.
“You were never supposed to live.”
My mother stepped toward the screen.
“Who are you?”
The girl looked at her.
“You know me.”
Mom shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
The girl smiled sadly.
“You held me.”
Mom staggered backward.
“When?”
“When they brought me to your house.”
Dad went still.
“What house?”
The girl looked at me.
“Your house.”
I stared.
“What happened?”
“I replaced you.”
The words cut through me.
“You weren't there.”
“I was.”
“When?”
“Before you were seven.”
The photograph on the table suddenly made sense.
I looked at the boy.
Then at the girl.
Then at Noah.
Carter had tested replacements.
Children designed to imitate the original anchor.
The girl continued.
“C-15 was supposed to become you.”
“Why didn't she?”
“Because you came back.”
I stared at Mom.
“You brought me back.”
She nodded slowly.
“Adrian did.”
“Where was I?”
Mom looked at Dad.
Dad said nothing.
I turned on him.
“Where was I?”
He finally spoke.
“In hiding.”
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
“From what?”
“From Carter.”
“Then who was the girl?”
Mom answered.
“Your replacement.”
The girl smiled at me.
“They made me look like you.”
My throat tightened.
“And then?”
“They decided I wasn't good enough.”
“What happened to you?”
She looked away.
“I escaped.”
Elias stepped closer to the monitor.
“How?”
“Someone opened the door.”
“Who?”
The girl looked directly at him.
“You.”
Elias went pale.
“No.”
“You don't remember.”
“I remember.”
“You shouldn't.”
She smiled.
“That's the point.”
I stared at Elias.
“You freed her?”
“I was seven.”
“You don't remember doing it?”
“No.”
The girl leaned closer to the camera.
“They erased it.”
My scar burned.
“So that's why I remembered rain.”
The girl nodded.
“You remembered me.”
I thought of the rain.
The blue blanket.
My mother's singing.
The childhood nickname.
Memories that had seemed separate suddenly connected.
I looked at Leah.
“Carter didn't erase memories.”
“No.”
“It rearranged them.”
“Yes.”
“And the anchor can restore them.”
“Yes.”
I stared at the screen.
“What happens if all the memories return?”
The girl shook her head.
“You become complete.”
“That sounds good.”
“It isn't.”
“Why?”
“Because then you can access Carter.”
I felt the room freeze.
“And?”
The girl whispered:
“Then you can command it.”
Dad stared at me.
Leah looked horrified.
Elias looked afraid.
I slowly understood.
Thomas didn't want to control me.
He wanted me to control the entire network.
My son was the bridge.
My brother was the guardian.
And I was the key.
The screen went black.
Then a message appeared.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
Noah screamed.
His scar began glowing.
I grabbed him.
“Mom!”
His body went rigid.
Every old phone in the basement rang.
Then hundreds of voices whispered through the walls.
All saying the same word.
“Wake.”
I looked at Elias.
“What do I do?”
He stared at Noah.
Then at me.
“You have to go back.”
“Where?”
“To the hospital where you were born.”
Dad shook his head.
“It's a trap.”
Elias nodded.
“I know.”
“Then why go?”
“Because there's one person there who can break the transfer.”
“Who?”
May you like
Elias looked at my mother.
“Adrian.”
