جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

The mansion was no longer just a building. It was a labyrinth of tension, fear, and latent energy, alive in ways Evelyn had never imagined. Every corridor pulsed, every shadow writhed, and every reflective surface shimmered with an awareness that made the hair on the back of her neck rise.Evelyn’s hands were clammy, her grip tight on Alexander’s. The warmth of his hand was the only anchor she had in the chaos that surrounded them. He moved with cautious precision, scanning the hallways, the ceilings, the walls as if even the mansion itself might betray them.“She’s awake,” Alexander muttered, voice low but tense. “And she knows we’re coming.”Evelyn swallowed, feeling a surge of fear that was both instinctual and rational. The mansion seemed to whisper around her, echoes of Afterlight’s presence brushing the edges of her mind. She’s everywhere. In every shadow, in every reflection… inside me.The grand central hall loomed before them. Cracked chandeliers swayed slightly, casting jagg

FOR HERThe countdown reached 00:09:47.Evelyn stared at the screen, unable to move.The mansion had gone completely silent.Not the peaceful kind of silence.This was the kind that came before something terrible.The black symbol remained on every screen in the room a dark circle crossed by three thin white lines.The same symbol Afterlight had warned her about.The same symbol that had appeared in fragments throughout the memories she had tried so desperately to understand.Behind her, Alexander stepped closer.“Evelyn.”She didn’t answer.Her eyes remained fixed on the screens.00:09:21.“What does that mean?” Alexander demanded.Afterlight stood several feet away, her expression unusually still.“They’re close.”Alexander’s jaw tightened.“Who?”Afterlight looked at Evelyn.“The people who made me.”A chill moved through Evelyn’s body.“They made you?”Afterlight nodded slowly.“They didn’t create me because they wanted another person.”Her voice dropped.“They created me because

For several seconds, nobody moved.The holographic message remained suspended above the ruined control panel.SUBJECT C HAS BEEN WAITING FOR EVELYN TO RETURN HOME.The words seemed to burn themselves into Evelyn’s mind.She stared at them.Then at the photograph.The woman in the picture looked almost exactly like the woman Evelyn remembered from the fragments of her childhood.Her mother.Or at least, someone who looked like her.Dark hair.Sharp cheekbones.The same pale complexion.The same eyes.Even the tiny scar beneath the left eyebrow was there.Evelyn had spent years remembering that scar.She had seen it whenever she closed her eyes and tried to remember the face of the woman who had held her as a child.Yet Afterlight had looked at the photograph and immediately said it wasn’t her.Evelyn turned slowly.“Explain.”Afterlight didn’t answer.“Afterlight.”“I can’t.”“You just told me that woman created you.”“I said she was involved.”“That isn’t the same thing.”Afterlight l

Evelyn forgot how to breathe.Her father’s face was right there.Not in a photograph.Not in a damaged memory.Not in a recording.Alive.Standing at the end of the hallway.Looking at her.Watching her.And smiling with the same tired smile she remembered from childhood.The same smile that had once made every nightmare disappear.The same eyes she had searched for in strangers for years.The same man she had buried in her heart long before she had ever understood what death meant.Her father.Alive.“No.”The word escaped her lips.It was barely a whisper.Her mother stood beside him.Neither moved.Alexander looked at Evelyn.He immediately understood what she was seeing.“Evelyn…”She raised a hand.“Don’t.”Her voice shook.“Don’t say anything.”Her father took one step forward.“Evelyn.”She stepped backward.“No.”“Sweetheart”“No!”Her voice echoed through the mansion.Everyone stopped.Even the gunfire outside seemed distant.She stared at him.“You’re dead.”Her father swall

Alexander disappeared.One second, he was standing in front of Evelyn.The nextNothing.No body.No shadow.No scream.Only the black doorway remained, suspended in the center of the laboratory like a wound torn into reality.“Alexander!”Evelyn ran toward it.Seraphine caught her arm.“Don’t!”“Let me go!”“You can’t go through.”“He’s in there!”“I know.”Evelyn spun around.“You knew?”Seraphine’s expression was unreadable.“You knew he was Subject A?”“I knew what he was.”“That isn’t an answer.”“It is the only answer I can give you right now.”Evelyn shoved her away.“My husband just disappeared into a machine that shouldn’t exist, and you’re telling me you can’t answer me?”Seraphine didn’t move.“He didn’t disappear.”“Then where is he?”“Inside.”“Inside what?”Seraphine looked toward the doorway.“The Echo.”Evelyn stared at the black ring.A faint vibration traveled through the floor.“Get him back.”“I can’t.”“You brought me here.”“No.”“You erased my memories.”“Yes.”