ログインAriana’s POV“It’s time you came home.”The words echoed through the chamber.Nobody moved.I stared at the screen, unable to look away from the man I’d spent seventeen years believing was dead.My father.He looked older than I remembered from the few photographs I’d seen. His hair was streaked with gray, a deep scar ran from his temple to his jaw, and those silver eyes…Those eyes were the same ones that had haunted my nightmares.Damien moved closer to me.“You don’t have to listen to him.”My father smiled on the screen.“Still protecting her?”Damien’s jaw tightened.“Still hiding behind screens?”My father actually laughed.“I like you.”“Everybody keeps saying that.”Christopher muttered, “It’s getting annoying.”I almost laughed.Almost.Then my father’s expression changed.“Ariana, you have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment.”I stepped forward.“You’re dead.”“No.”“You died seventeen years ago.”“That is what your mother wanted you to believe.”I turned sharply to
Ariana’s POVI couldn’t breathe.The silver eye beneath the floor was enormous. It wasn’t attached to a body I could see. It simply floated beneath the fractured platform, surrounded by darkness and streams of blue energy.And it was looking at me.Not Damien.Not my mother.Not Adrian.Me.The moment our eyes met, every sound in the chamber disappeared.I couldn’t hear Christopher shouting.I couldn’t hear the alarms.I couldn’t even hear my own heartbeat.Then the creature spoke.Not aloud.Inside my mind.Little star.My knees nearly gave out.Damien caught me. “Ariana!”I grabbed his shirt.“It’s talking to me.”His expression changed. “What is it saying?”Before I could answer, the eye blinked.The entire chamber exploded with light.Everyone was thrown backward.I hit the floor hard and heard Damien curse somewhere beside me.When I looked up, the eye was gone.In its place stood a figure.A woman.She looked almost human.Almost.Her skin shimmered faintly beneath the blue ligh
Ariana’s POVI couldn’t move.Three of us.The words kept repeating in my head as I stared at the man standing across the chamber.My brother.The brother they erased.Damien’s hand found mine. “Ariana.”I barely heard him.I was staring at the stranger’s face, trying to force my mind to remember something—anything.Nothing.Just flashes.A little boy running through a garden.A small hand wrapped around mine.A voice laughing as we drew stars on the wall.Then screaming.Always screaming.“What’s your name?” I finally asked.He smiled sadly. “Adrian.”My mother stepped forward. “Adrian…”He looked at her.“You still remember.”She swallowed. “Of course I do.”“Then tell her.”My mother couldn’t.Adrian’s expression hardened. “Tell her what you did.”I looked between them. “What did she do?”Before my mother could answer, Victor’s voice came through the speakers.“This is becoming unnecessarily emotional.”Damien looked up. “Shut up.”Victor laughed.Adrian’s eyes narrowed. “He’s afra
Ariana’s POVThe first scream came from somewhere behind us.Then another.Then hundreds.I turned toward the glass capsules as one after another began opening. Silver eyes blinked behind the glass, confused and frightened. Some subjects stumbled out. Others remained frozen, staring directly at me.And somehow, I could feel all of them.Their fear.Their pain.Their confusion.Their hope.It crashed into my mind so violently that I stumbled backward.Damien caught me around the waist. “Ariana?”“Too much,” I whispered, pressing my fingers against my temple.He tightened his grip. “Then don’t listen to them.”I looked at him. “That’s not exactly how it works.”“Then we’ll figure it out.”“You always say that.”He gave me a small smile. “I’m very talented.”Despite everything, I almost laughed.Christopher rushed past us. “Can we flirt after we survive the apocalypse?”Damien glanced at him. “We’re not flirting.”“You’re literally holding her waist.”“She was falling.”“Right. And I’m t
Ariana’s POVThe floor moved.Not shook.Moved.Like something underneath the laboratory had rolled over in its sleep.Everyone froze.Then the entire building groaned.A deep, monstrous sound traveled through the walls.Christopher slowly raised one finger.“I’m just going to say it.”Nobody looked at him.“This place has way too many things living underneath it.”Alina grabbed his shoulder.“Run.”We ran.The laboratory doors burst open as we rushed into the corridor.Behind us, something crashed.Then came another roar.My mother grabbed my hand.“Don’t look back.”Naturally—I looked back.A crack had opened across the laboratory floor.Blue light poured through it.Something was climbing out.I couldn’t see its face.Only its enormous hand.Metal.Flesh.Covered in glowing symbols.My stomach twisted.“What is that?”My mother didn’t answer.“Mom.”She pulled me faster.“Ariana, we need to get you out before it wakes completely.”“What is it?”Her eyes filled with fear.“The reas
Ariana’s POVThe voice echoed through the darkness.Calm.Almost amused.“After seventeen years… my family is finally together.”My entire body went cold.I knew that voice.I had heard it before.Not in a memory.Not in a dream.In the dark corners of my childhood.A man standing beside my bed.A hand brushing my hair.A voice whispering—Sleep, little star.I stumbled backward.Damien caught me.“Ariana?”I couldn’t answer.My mother was staring at the door.My father had gone completely still.Even Ethan looked afraid.That scared me more than anything.“Who is he?” I whispered.My father looked at me.“The man who started all of this.”A metallic click sounded from the other side of the door.My father stepped toward the console.“Gabriel.”“I know.”“Get them out.”Gabriel nodded.My mother grabbed my arm.“Come with me.”I pulled away.“No.”She froze.“I need answers.”“You’ll get them.”“No.”I shook my head.“I’m done being protected by lies.”Her eyes filled with tears.“I w
My father stood next to me with his shoulders straight, and his face calm but agonizingly firm. He cleared his throat. “Damien… I owe you an explanation.”Damien didn’t respond. He was upset, with his hands crossed, his jaw set, and his eyes steadfastly focused on my father with a warning that was s
The church was more stunning than I had dreamed yet I was unable to appreciate it.I grabbed the arm of my father and my fingers shook as I tried to calm my heart. Each beat was louder than the music that was playing in the background and resonating in my chest.“You ready, huh?” my father said, his
“Where is she?” I questioned myself when I emerged out of the last house on my list, and, as usual, she was not there. “Where are you Alina?” I mumbled.I had already checked all possible places I could think of last night after father had left my room. I had called at the houses of the friends o
I walked to the bathroom. I had to take a hot bath to get myself calmed. My body was weak and my chest was sore whenever I inhaled. I switched on the shower and got into the shower gradually. The hot water flowed along my skin, but it did not soothe me. It just made me remember that I had turned so







