chapter seven:The cabin That Wasn't There

It was 5:12 a.m.somewhere lost in the Adirondacks, three miles off 73,Lila wrestled the SUV down a rutted track that wasn’t even a ghost on G****e Maps. Branches scratched the roof like fingernails,She turned off the headlights because dawn was finally rising up,making the surface look violet,Aurora sat in the passenger seat, barefoot, nightgown stiff with dried blood and God knows what else from the birth that hadn’t quite happened yet. A shotgun laid across her lap, the flash drive in the dash port kept vibrating this blue light, it was the only thing in the car that looked calm.

“Turn left in fifty yards,” the GPS voiced

Except it wasn’t the usual bored robot lady,It was a kid’s voice ,the voice was young and familiar too,Lila tightened her grip  on the wheel. “Tell me that’s not the car talking.”she asked, Aurora not even blinking said it's not the car,The track shrank to nothing more than two frozen ruts,Snow started coming down then big, sloppy flakes that hit the windshield, melted for half a second, then froze again into foggy star shapes. Out of nowhere a cabin could be seen  it was a one-story, building no smoke was coming from the chimney. One window glowing the color of cheap whiskey. Somebody had painted “Dr. Mara Voss” on the mailbox once upon a time; now the letters were clawed half away, like a bear had tried to open the mail and given up.

Lila cut the engine,Silence rushed in so hard it hurt.

“Stay here,” Aurora muttered, shoving the door open with her shoulder.

“Yeah, right,” Lila snorted. She dragged the duffel out of the back two Glocks, a flare gun, and the empty twin of the vial that had started this whole nightmare and jogged after her barefoot friend like an idiot.

They stepped onto the porch. The boards should’ve creaked Instead they hummed, low and electric, the way the floor does when you stand too close to a big transformer. Lila hated it immediately. The front door was already open it Smelled like Christmas trees and a thunderstorm inside.

A woman was waiting for them, leaning against the counter like she’d been expecting company for years.

She could’ve been forty,could’ve been sixty. Sharp cheekbones, grey braid tight enough to hurt, lab coat thrown over plaid pajama pants. She held a steaming mug that read World’s Okayest Mom in chipped letters.

“You’re late,” Dr. Mara Voss said.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” Aurora answered, voice flat.

Mara’s smile was thin and winter-cold. “Death’s negotiable in our family.” She set the mug down. “Coffee’s fresh. Decaf I think you’re dilating, by the way.”

Aurora’s hand slid to her belly on reflex “wait can she read me too” she thought to herself, Something in there rolled, slow and deliberate, like it was already checking the locks around the walls of the belle,Lila raised the Glock up. “Start talking, ghost.”she said pointing the gun to Mara's face,Mara didn’t take a second look  at the gun as just walked across the room, with this ownership aura,she opened a roll-top desk that probably cost more than Lila’s car, and pulled out a Polaroid 2003. A sticky-faced toddler with Aurora’s gold-flecked eyes. Behind her, younger Mara grinning like a lunatic, holding up a brain in a jar with a pink ribbon tied around it like a birthday present.

“I didn’t die in the ’04 leak,” Mara said, tapping the photo. “I uploaded. The version one was my golden parachute, the board thought they’d killed me, I just had to let them live with the thoughts to keep you safe .” She looked at Aurora. “You were my backup drive, sweetheart.”

Aurora swallowed so hard Lila heard it. “You left me in foster care.”she said with tears forcing their ways down her cheeks as if she's been holding it for long,“No!! I hid you and assuming that I didn't do that the Order would’ve assasinated you at six.” Mara’s took a quick glance at Lila “Gun down, dear bullets piss me off.”she said with a smirk

Lila looked at Aurora,Aurora  slightly nodding her head as if giving confirmation to lila,Lila understanding the sign  lowered the Glock but didn’t holster it.

Mara pointed at a trapdoor in the floorboards, “this Basement’s lined with lead, salt, and enough Faraday mesh to choke a satellite. We can talk there.” She lifted  open, Blue-white light spilled up the spiral stairs like something radioactive had manners.Downstairs smelled like dry ice and old pennies, One wall was nothing but server racks releasing frost making it look as though the walls breathe  Another held a vintage wooden crib, mobile spinning slow with little golden filaments that caught the light wrong. In the middle of the room, Damien Ryder who was laid on the steel table trapped his head shaved, electrodes dotted across his skull, IVs in both arms. His chest went up, down, up, down, exactly every four seconds 

Aurora swayed. Mara caught her wrist before she hit the floor.“He’s stable,” Mara said quickly. “Bait, yes. Battery, also yes. The Order’s using his neural lattice to ping the triad. They need three heartbeats in perfect sync.”

Lila circled the table, boots echoing. “He’s the father.”nope not the father Mara waved her finger negatively “He’s the donor,” Mara corrected, “Smart boy, PhD in quantum entanglement. They drugged  his drink in Zurich, Nine months later” she gestured at Aurora’s belly “hello, receiver.”sge said looking at aurora,The baby picked that moment to kick hard enough to bruise, Aurora doubled over. A monitor on the wall shrieked; fetal heart rate spiked to 180.

“Contractions?” Mara asked, and for the first time she sounded soft.“Braxton Hicks,” Aurora lied through her teeth.

Mara wasn’t buying it,She hit a panel the mobile stopped a drawer slid out holding one last syringe full of liquid starlight.

“One dose,” she said. “For the heir. Or for the cradle. Choose carefully.”

Aurora stared at Damien. His lips moved but no sound came from it She leaned in you have to run  he struggled to say. Lila checked her phone but it showed zero bars. Which meant the phone wasn't receiving any network“How long before they’re on us?”

“Forty-three minutes,” Mara said. “They’re tracking her cortisol stress is a booster Aurora straightened like someone flipped a switch inside her “Then we turn off the lighthouse.”mara said  taking the syringe off the table ,Mara stepped forward. “That’ll induce her at thirty-two weeks.”

“She’s ELYSIUM,” Aurora said. “She’ll live.”

Lila moved to block her. “Aurora, wait what happens to you?”Aurora met her eyes, calm and terrifying. “I stop being a person for a minute.”

She slid the needle into her own arm, not the belly,the serum hit like ice on fire the room moved sidewaysas if it had suddenly grown legs Servers screamed. Damien’s monitors flatlined, then rebooted at 180 BPM, synced perfectly with the tiny heartbeat on the screen.

Mara whispered, “God help us.”

Lights died, the emergency red covered everything. A hologram flickered to life in the middle of the room it showed a newborn face with ancient eyes, “Triad complete,” it said in three  different voices each voice covering the other,it was Aurora’s, Mara’s, and something brandnew voice altogether “Initiating Blood Moon Phase Two.”

Damien’s eyes snapped open his eyes was bright gold, consciously Lila raised the flare gun. “Aurora?”she called out to Aurora but just then,the image wearing Aurora’s face smiled with blood going down her chin. “Not anymore.”am not Aurora she implied

Just by raising her hand the ervers exploded in perfect sequence,The crib shattered,Out of the wreckage rose a child who was all wet, naked, with a golden umbilical cord still tethered to Aurora’s wrist. She didn’t cry. She looked around like she was bored.

“Mommy,” she said, clear as anything.

Mara stumbled back. “You weren’t supposed to birth her. You were supposed to host..Mara tried to say but was cut short by the non humane Aurora sorry there's been a Change of plan,” it answered

Lila fired the flare  It flew right into the child’s chest and stuck, burning white. The kid looked down, curious, plucked it out like a splinter. The hole healed  before the flare hit the floor.

Damien sat up, ripping IVs free. “Veil’s thinning. We are going now.”he screamed 

Outside, snowmobiles noises could be heard coming in closer creating red hoods in the dark,

Mara snatched a fire axe from the wall. “Tunnel behind the server rack straight to the lake. Move!”

The child walked up the stairs barefoot, leaving no prints.Lila hesitated. “Is Aurora still in there?”

The woman touched Lila’s cheek gently. “She’s the pause between heartbeats now.”

They ran it was now 5:37 a.m. at the  Frozen Lake, 400 yards out,The ice cracked  like it personally hated them,right behind them the cabin went up in  fire the  color was wrong , too bright,t he child walked across the water like it was pavement, freezing it solid with every step it took ,Lila slipped, went under,Cold punched every thought out of her head ,Small hands grabbed her jacket and yanked her up like she weighed nothing it was the child's hands .

“Keep moving,” the kid said. “They want the cradle empty.”

Damien was half-carrying Mara; her leg was shredded and bleeding black in the snow. Halfway across the ice cracked wide a hooded woman rose out of the water her mouth sewn shut with wire, skin burnt and dripping. The child sighed.

“Auntie,” she said, almost fond she raised one hand,the ice sang ,cracks spread. The woman drown with bubbles coming out her mouth,

They hit the far shore, and right across the shore a rusted Jeep waited, keys dangling in the ignition like someone had known they’d make it exactly this far.

Mara slumped against the fender i think it's my time now you have to leave me and go”mara said weakly

Aurora’s body dropped to its knees, the baby crawled into her lap and folded herself back inside like water flowing in to drain,Aurora gasped, she became human again, her eyes wide and wet.

“She left,” she whispered. “But she’s… everywhere.”

Damien jumped behind the wheel , The Jeep revved releasing smoke from it's exhaust, it turned on on the third try.

“Where?” he asked.

Aurora stared at the burning cabin, and then at the sky where the blood moon was finally fading.

“Somewhere without Wi-Fi,” she said. “Somewhere they’ll never think of  looking into.”

Lila climbed in back, soaked to the bone, teeth chattering. “Define nowhere with no signal.”

Aurora managed a tired, feral grin. “Amish country. Churned butter, barn raisings, and side-eye for days.”

The Jeep roared to life. Behind them the lake exploded upward in steam. Snowmobiles circled the far shore it was already too late as they disappeared into the pines, Aurora rested a shaky hand on her empty belly but Something kicked anyway.