Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 61 - Chapitre 70

Kayla’s POVThe storm didn’t let up. It was as though the sky itself refused to release us. Every drop that hit my skin was a reminder of everything that had been burned away behind us—Damien, the cabin, the fragile safety we thought we had left.Liam and I stumbled through the trees until the forest thinned into a clearing. The cold gnawed at my bones. My clothes clung to me, heavy with water, and every breath came out in painful gasps.When we finally stopped, the horizon was beginning to pale—the first ghost of morning creeping into the sky. But there was no comfort in the light. Only the brutal truth of what we’d lost.I sank to my knees, mud soaking through my jeans. My chest heaved, and a sob tore from me before I could stop it.“Damien’s gone,” I whispered, the words feeling hollow. “He’s really gone.”Liam crouched beside me, his hand brushing mine but not quite holding it. “He made his choice, Kayla.”“He shouldn’t have had to.” My voice broke. “He only wanted to help.”He lo

Kayla’s POVThe sun rose behind a wall of clouds, a faint smear of light that did nothing to warm the chill in my bones. The road to the coast stretched ahead of us, cracked and narrow, bordered by fields of tall, swaying grass that whispered like ghosts.Liam drove in silence, his hands gripping the wheel tightly, his eyes fixed on the horizon. I sat beside him, staring at the silver locket in my hand. I must have opened and closed it a hundred times, as if I could will the photo inside to speak.The faces of the two little girls—mine and hers—smiled up at me, innocent and untouched by the chaos that came after. I couldn’t look away.I finally broke the silence. “Do you think she’s really there?”Liam’s jaw flexed. “If she sent that message, she wants you to come. And Helen doesn’t bluff.”I nodded faintly. “What if this is the last time we see each other?”He looked at me then, his eyes softer than they’d been in days. “Don’t say that.”I held his gaze. “You know it could be true.”

Kayla’s POVWhen the light faded, I was no longer standing on the cliff. The air was colder, heavier. The sound of crashing waves was gone, replaced by the low hum of electricity and the rhythmic beeping of machines.The floor beneath me was metal. The walls, lined with glass and steel, reflected the dull blue glow of monitors that pulsed like a heartbeat. I staggered back, disoriented, my pulse thundering in my ears.I was inside a lab.My father’s voice came from somewhere behind me. “Welcome home, Kayla.”I spun around. He stood by a console, his reflection fractured across a dozen glass panels. “What did you do?” My voice trembled. “Where are we?”He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he pressed a series of buttons on the screen. The room responded with a soft hum, lights shifting to a faint white glow. “You activated the sequence. The failsafe was built to bring you here—the core of Project Aevum.”I turned in a slow circle, my breath catching as I took in the rows of containmen

Kayla’s POVThe machines crackled back to life, and a massive roar shook the ground beneath me, with a vibration of deep hum in the floor of the broken laboratory. The broken panels spurt out sparks which light up the room in flashes of red and white. The reset sequence. My father’s failsafe. The thing he was saying would bring balance.But I didn’t see balance. I saw chaos. I watched Liam shaking on the floor, breathing in rough harsh gasps. And the clone--my image--was curled over there, blood streaming out of her chest, her lips trembling with what I should have sworn were prayer or prayer.“Liam,” I gasped, crawling toward him, my hands trembling as I reached for his face. “Stay with me, please.”His skin was hot, sweat clinging to his temple. His pupils were dilating. The syringe. Whatever she had injected him with—it wasn’t meant to kill him quickly. It was meant to rewrite him.“Kayla…” he rasped, gripping my wrist weakly. “Don’t… let it… take you too.”“What are you talking ab

Kayla’s POVFor a moment, I couldn’t breathe. The sterile white room seemed to shrink around me, the walls pressing closer as I stared at the woman standing across from me, my mirror image.Same face. Same voice. Same trembling in her hands.But her eyes were wrong. They weren’t mine anymore. They shimmered like liquid silver, too bright, too sharp.“Who are you?” I whispered.Her lips curved into a faint smile. “I could ask you the same question.”My heart pounded. “I’m Kayla.”She tilted her head slightly, studying me. “Are you sure about that?”The air felt too thin. “What do you mean?”She stepped closer, bare feet silent against the smooth white floor. “You think you’re the original, don’t you? That everything you’ve felt, your pain, your love, your memories, makes you real.”Her tone was soft, almost kind, but her eyes burned with something cruel.“I am real,” I said, my voice trembling.She smiled again, this time colder. “Then tell me, Kayla. What’s the first thing you remembe