Mag-log inAnna’s POVHe reached for me.And everything inside me reacted.Not the thing controlling me.Not the presence watching through me.Me.For the first time since everything changed…I felt something break through the silence.“Sam…”The name didn’t come out of my mouth.But it echoed inside me.Loud.Desperate.Alive.His hand was so close now.Just a few inches away from mine.And yet—It felt like the distance between worlds.“Don’t,” the voice inside me said.Calm.Firm.Watching.“He will interfere with the process.”Process.That word again.Like I was something being completed.Something being built.Something no longer human.“I…” I tried to speak.But my body didn’t move.Didn’t respond.Because I wasn’t the one in control anymore.“You see?” the voice continued.“You cannot even act on your own will.”That should have scared me.It did.But something else rose stronger.Anger.No.Not just anger.Refusal.I wasn’t gone.I wasn’t a fragment.I wasn’t just something they could u
Sam’s POV“We have waited long enough.”Those words didn’t belong to Anna.But they came from her lips.Soft.Calm.Final.And somehowThat made it worse than anything we had faced so far.Because before, there had always been struggle.Resistance.A fight.Now…There was none.“Anna,” I said carefully.My voice low.Controlled.Even though everything inside me was anything but.Her eyes stayed on mine.Unmoving.Cold.Not empty.No.Empty would have been easier.This was something else.Something… aware.“You continue to use that name,” she said.Her voice smooth.Unfamiliar.“It no longer defines what stands before you.”My jaw tightened.“She’s still in there.”A pause.Then—A faint tilt of her head.Like she was studying me.Evaluating.“Fragments remain,” she admitted.“But they are no longer in control.”Fragments.That word hit harder than anything else.Because it meant—She wasn’t completely gone.But she wasn’t whole either.“Then I’ll bring her back,” I said.Something shi
Anna’s POVSomething touched me.Not like before.Not like the others.This wasn’t force.This wasn’t pressure.This was… awareness.Ancient.Quiet.Watching.And the moment it reached meEverything else went still.The voices that had been surrounding me.The ones that whispered.The ones that pulled.The ones that tried to take control.They stopped.Not because they wanted to.Because they had to.“Sam…” I whispered.“I feel it,” he said immediately.His voice was sharper now.Alert.“This isn’t them.”“No…”It wasn’t.This was something else.Something deeper than the darkness we had been fighting.And somehowThat scared me more.“You’ve reached too far.”The voice came softly.Clear.Calm.Nothing like the others.It didn’t echo.It didn’t distort.It spoke like it had always been there.Like it belonged here.And that was the worst part.“Who are you?” I asked.Silence.Then“A witness.”That didn’t make sense.“A witness to what?”“To all of it.”The space around us shifted ag
Anna’s POVI wasn’t alone anymore.For the first time since this nightmare began…I wasn’t drowning in silence.“Sam…”My voice echoed through the dark space around us.It didn’t feel like a place.It felt like… a void.Endless.Heavy.But nowThere was something else here.Him.“I’m here.”His voice came from behind me.Steady.Grounding.I turned quickly.And there he was.Not physically.Not the way I was used to seeing him.But I knew it was him.The way his presence felt.Warm.Solid.Real.“You shouldn’t have come,” I whispered.“I wasn’t going to leave you here alone.”“You don’t understand…”“I understand enough.”His eyes held mine.Unshaken.“You’re not facing this by yourself anymore.”Something inside me broke at those words.Not fear.Not pain.Something softer.Relief.But it didn’t last.Because the moment I felt it—The space shifted.Darkness pulsed around us.Like something had noticed.“You brought another one.”The voice came from everywhere.Layered.Deep.Wrong.
Sam’s POVThere are moments in life where everything slows down.Not because time changes.But because the weight of a decision becomes too heavy to carry all at once.This was one of those moments.Three choices stood in front of me.Let them take her.Kill her.Or… do something no one had even suggested.I looked at Anna.Really looked at her.Not the stillness.Not the unnatural calm.But the small things.The slight tremble in her fingers.The uneven rhythm of her breathing.The way her eyes kept flickering between clarity and emptiness.She was still there.Barely.But she was still there.“She won’t last much longer,” the woman said.Her voice calm.Unmoved.Like this was just another case.Another situation.Another door.“She’s not a case,” I said.“She’s a person.”“She stopped being just a person the moment she opened the threshold.”My jaw tightened.“Then maybe your system is the problem.”A pause.Then—“You’re emotional,” the man said.“Yes.”“And that will get her kille
Sam’s POVThis wasn’t a fight anymore.It stopped being a fight the moment she stopped struggling.The moment her body went still.Too still.Controlled in a way that didn’t belong to her.I had seen Anna lose control before.But this…This was something else.This was cooperation.Or at least something dangerously close to it.“She’s stabilizing.”The woman’s voice cut through the tension like it was nothing.Like this was expected.Like this was progress.“She’s losing herself,” I said coldly.“No,” she replied calmly.“She’s becoming what she was meant to be.”I felt something dark rise in my chest.Anger.Sharp. Immediate.“You don’t get to decide that.”Her eyes shifted to me for the first time.Fully.Studying.Measuring.“You think this is about choice?” she asked.“Yes.”“Then you’ve already lost.”Those words hit harder than they should have.Because part of me…Knew she wasn’t entirely wrong.Anna was slipping.And no matter how much I wanted to believe otherwise…I was runn
Anna’s POVThe morning light barely touched the marina, but the tension from last night lingered like smoke in the air. My body ached from adrenaline and fear, yet my mind was sharper than it had ever been. Every thought, every heartbeat, was centered on the twins—and on survival.Sam stood beside
Anna’s POVThe shrill sirens tore through the night air, echoing off the water and metal docks. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might shatter my ribcage. My hands instinctively moved to my stomach, protecting the twins as if my own life no longer mattered.Sam’s hand found mine, gripping
Anna’s POVCold metal pressed against my stomach.The world seemed to shrink to that single point where the gun touched my body. My breath caught halfway in my chest, refusing to move any further. My hands instinctively rose, palms trembling slightly in the air as the guard tightened his grip on my
Anna’s POVFor a moment, I forgot how to breathe.The world narrowed to the figure standing under the weak yellow light of the marina lamp. The ocean wind whipped around us, carrying the scent of salt and rusted metal, but I barely noticed it.Because the man standing there—The man leaning slightl







