CHAPTER 9: THE TRUTH IN THE MIRROR

"Welcome home, daughter."

Elena froze.

The voice had come from directly behind her.

Her heart slammed against her ribs.

Slowly, she turned.

There was no one there.

Only darkness.

The emergency lights flickered once, then twice.

"Who's there?" Elena demanded.

Her voice sounded steadier than she felt.

Nothing answered.

Then Adrian grabbed her arm.

"Elena, we need to leave."

She pulled away.

"No."

"Now."

"I said no."

Adrian stared at her.

For the first time, there was desperation in his eyes.

"Please."

That one word stopped her.

Adrian never said please.

Not to her.

Not to anyone.

Elena studied his face.

"What are you afraid of?"

He looked toward the corridor.

"Her."

"Who?"

Before he could answer, Marcus suddenly raised a hand.

"Quiet."

They all stopped.

A faint sound came from the corridor.

Footsteps.

Slow.

Unhurried.

Someone was walking toward them.

Elena's breathing became shallow.

The footsteps stopped outside the room.

Nothing happened.

Then the door opened.

A woman stood in the doorway.

Elena's body went rigid.

For one impossible second, she thought she was looking at herself.

The woman had the same dark hair.

The same delicate features.

The same narrow jaw.

But her eyes were different.

Silver.

Cold silver.

And there was something about her expression that made Elena's skin crawl.

She looked at Elena as if she had been waiting years for this exact moment.

"Hello, Elena."

Elena couldn't speak.

Adrian moved in front of her.

"Stay back."

The woman smiled.

"Still protecting her?"

Adrian's shoulders tightened.

"You shouldn't have come here."

"I didn't come."

The woman's eyes moved to Elena.

"She brought me here."

Elena frowned.

"What does that mean?"

The woman ignored Adrian.

She walked into the room.

Marcus immediately reached inside his jacket.

The woman noticed.

"Don't."

Marcus stopped.

"How did you know?"

"I know more about you than you think."

She looked at Elena again.

"My name is Mira."

Elena's breath caught.

"My mother?"

The woman's expression softened.

"No."

Elena felt a strange disappointment.

"Then who are you?"

Mira looked at her for a long moment.

"Someone who carries her memories."

Elena shook her head.

"That's impossible."

"Is it?"

Mira stepped closer.

"After everything you've seen tonight, you're still holding on to the word impossible?"

Elena had no answer.

Mira stopped a few feet away.

"You want the truth."

"Yes."

"Then you need to stop believing everything Adrian told you."

Elena looked at Adrian.

He said nothing.

Mira smiled.

"Ask him what happened six years ago."

Elena's eyes remained on Adrian.

"What happened?"

He took a slow breath.

"The experiment was supposed to transfer your consciousness."

"Into my mother's body."

"Yes."

"What went wrong?"

Adrian looked at Mira.

"She interfered."

Elena frowned.

"Who?"

"Mira."

The woman standing before them gave a quiet laugh.

"I didn't interfere."

Adrian's voice hardened.

"You sabotaged the system."

"I saved her."

Elena stepped between them.

"Enough."

Both stopped.

She looked at Mira.

"You said you carry my mother's memories."

"Yes."

"Then tell me what she did."

Mira's expression changed.

"She discovered the truth."

"What truth?"

"That Blackridge was never trying to save lives."

Elena's stomach tightened.

"Then what was it trying to do?"

Mira looked directly into her eyes.

"Create people who could survive death."

Silence filled the room.

Elena swallowed.

"And I was one of them."

"You were the first successful one."

Marcus suddenly stepped forward.

"That's not possible."

Mira looked at him.

"You were there."

Marcus went quiet.

Elena turned toward him.

"What is she talking about?"

Marcus rubbed a hand over his face.

"I didn't know everything."

"You knew enough."

"I knew the experiment was different with you."

"How different?"

Marcus hesitated.

"You weren't reacting like the other subjects."

Elena's voice lowered.

"What happened?"

"You stopped responding to pain."

She frowned.

"Everyone reacts to pain."

"Not you."

Marcus looked uncomfortable.

"Your body continued functioning even when your brain activity should have stopped."

Elena remembered the footage.

Her heart stopped.

Her eyes opening.

"Because I survived death."

Marcus nodded.

"Yes."

Mira corrected him.

"Because she was never completely alive in the first place."

Elena stared at her.

"What does that mean?"

Mira stepped closer.

"Your mother began experimenting on herself before you were born."

Elena's face went pale.

"Why?"

"She was dying."

A silence followed.

"Your mother had a condition that doctors couldn't treat. She was desperate. She believed she could preserve her consciousness."

Elena shook her head.

"But she had me."

"Yes."

Mira's voice softened.

"And after you were born, she discovered something unexpected."

"What?"

"You inherited it."

Elena stared at her.

"That's why she tested on me."

"No."

Mira shook her head.

"She protected you from it."

Elena's eyes widened.

"Then why was I in Blackridge?"

"Because other people discovered what you were."

Mira glanced at Adrian.

"He was one of them."

Elena turned toward Adrian.

"Is that true?"

Adrian looked at her.

"I found out when you were eighteen."

"And you never told me."

"I was trying to keep you safe."

"By keeping me ignorant?"

"Yes."

Elena laughed bitterly.

"That worked perfectly."

Adrian flinched.

Mira watched them silently.

Elena looked back at her.

"If you aren't my mother, how do you have her memories?"

Mira reached into her coat and removed a small silver pendant.

Elena's eyes widened.

She knew it.

She had seen it in childhood photographs.

Her mother had worn it every day.

"Where did you get that?"

"She gave it to me."

"When?"

"Before she died."

Elena stepped forward.

Mira held out the pendant.

Elena hesitated before taking it.

The moment her fingers touched the metal, pain shot through her head.

She gasped.

The room disappeared.

She was somewhere else.

A younger version of herself was sitting on the floor.

She couldn't have been more than six years old.

Her mother knelt in front of her.

"Mama?"

Mira smiled.

"Listen to me, Elena."

The little girl nodded.

"If anyone ever tells you that you are different, don't believe them."

"Why?"

"Because different doesn't mean broken."

Her mother touched the pendant around her neck.

"One day, they will come looking for you."

The little girl frowned.

"Who?"

Her mother looked toward the door.

"The people who are afraid of what you can become."

The memory changed.

Elena saw her mother running through a corridor.

Blood covered her white coat.

Someone was chasing her.

She turned a corner and found a younger Adrian standing there.

"Adrian!"

He grabbed her arm.

"You need to come with me."

"I can't."

"They'll kill you."

"They already know about Elena."

Adrian's face changed.

"Where is she?"

"Safe."

"Where?"

Mira looked toward him.

"Somewhere they will never think to look."

The memory broke apart.

Elena gasped and returned to the room.

The pendant fell from her hand.

Adrian caught it.

She stared at him.

"You knew."

His eyes filled with guilt.

"You knew my mother was trying to hide me."

"Yes."

"Where did she hide me?"

Adrian didn't answer.

Elena stepped toward him.

"Where?"

Mira suddenly spoke.

"That isn't the question you should be asking."

Elena turned.

"Then what should I ask?"

Mira's expression became serious.

"Why did Adrian find you?"

Elena frowned.

"What?"

Mira looked at Adrian.

"You told her you found her when she was eighteen."

Adrian remained silent.

Mira continued.

"But that's not true."

Elena's heart began to race.

She looked at Adrian.

"When did you find me?"

He swallowed.

"When you were six."

Everything went silent.

Elena stared at him.

"Six?"

"Yes."

"You found me when I was six years old?"

Adrian nodded slowly.

"Then why did you wait until I was eighteen?"

His face tightened.

"Because I wasn't allowed to take you."

"By whom?"

Adrian didn't answer.

Elena's voice rose.

"By whom?"

Mira looked at her.

"Your father."

Elena froze.

"My father?"

Mira nodded.

"Your father was the one who gave you to Blackridge."

Elena's blood ran cold.

"No."

"Yes."

"My father loved me."

"He did."

Mira's voice softened.

"And that's why what he did was worse."

Elena stepped backward.

Her mind spun.

Her mother.

Her father.

Adrian.

Blackridge.

Every person she had trusted seemed connected to the nightmare.

Then the monitor behind them suddenly turned on.

A message appeared.

MEMORY RECOVERY: 89%.

Everyone went still.

Another message appeared beneath it.

FINAL MEMORY ACCESSING.

Adrian's face drained of color.

"No."

Elena turned toward him.

"What?"

He stared at the screen.

"The final memory."

"What about it?"

Adrian looked at her.

"If you remember that one, you'll know who actually killed you."

The screen flickered.

A video began loading.

Elena stepped closer.

The first image appeared.

It was her.

Lying on a hospital bed.

Six years earlier.

But she wasn't alone.

A man stood beside her.

Elena's breath caught.

She knew that man.

It was her father.

And in his hand was a syringe.

The video paused.

A single sentence appeared across the screen.

YOUR FATHER DIDN'T GIVE YOU TO BLACKRIDGE.

HE GAVE BLACKRIDGE YOUR LIFE.

Then the screen went black.

Elena stared at the message.

For the first time since waking up, she felt something stronger than anger.

Fear.

Because if the recording was real, then the person she had spent her entire life believing was her protector had been the one who handed her over.

And somewhere in the darkness behind the walls, seven knocks sounded again.

This time, Elena understood what they meant.

Someone was counting down.