Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 61 - Chapitre 70

Chapter 62 No one moved. The footsteps outside stopped a few units away. Then they started again, slower, coming back along the row. Whoever it was wasn’t searching at random. They were checking doors. Caius’s hand found my wrist in the dark and pressed once. Stay still. I nodded even though he couldn’t see it. Alaric was close enough that I could hear him breathing, controlled and shallow. Valen had positioned himself against the wall beside the door, listening. The footsteps reached our unit and stopped. A soft metallic sound came — fingers testing the edge of the door, then the lock. The combination dial clicked once as someone turned it without success. They didn’t try again. A moment later the footsteps moved on. We waited. Only when the sound had faded toward the far end of the row did Caius speak, very quietly. “They know someone opened it. They’re checking if we’re still inside.” Valen’s voice was just as low. “There’s probably more than one of them. People don’t come

. Chapter 64 We reached the broken section of railing without speaking. Caius went through first, then me, then Alaric. Valen came last and eased the loose iron back into place as quietly as the rust allowed. On the street side the air felt wider, less trapped, but the quiet from the waiting footsteps still pressed against the back of my neck. No one appeared at the corner. Caius pointed us toward the darker stretch of pavement that led away from the archive and toward the side street where we had left the truck. We kept to the shadows of the low wall, moving fast but not running. Running made noise. Halfway to the corner, a second set of footsteps joined the first. These ones were lighter and came from the opposite direction, cutting off the route we had intended to use. Valen swore under his breath. Caius changed direction without discussion, steering us into a narrow service alley that ran parallel to the water. The alley was clogged with old crates and the smell of stagna

Chapter 66 The truck’s engine strained as Caius pushed it harder than it was built for. No one spoke for a long time. The name sat between us like a live wire. Lyris. I kept repeating it under my breath so it would not slip away when I needed it most. The mark on the third step, the three numbers, and now the name. If my mother was right, that combination would open whatever the older record truly was. The sky had not yet begun to lighten, but the dark felt thinner around the edges. First light was close. Too close. Valen watched the mirrors without resting. His voice was low. “If the concrete trucks have already left their depot, we may arrive only minutes before them.” “Then we don’t wait for minutes,” Caius said. His hands stayed steady on the wheel, but the tension in his shoulders was easy to read even in the dark. Alaric sat beside me in the back, silent. He had given us the location of the rented box — the one held under the name Ellis — where we found the note that revea

Chapter 68 The truck moved through the dark streets in silence. No one spoke for a long time. The concrete trucks were far behind us now, but the sound of them still sat in my ears. The mark on the third step was gone, or would be by morning. The name Lyris had done nothing. And the person who had stood in the headlights had spoken with the certainty of someone who already knew the ending. Caius drove without headlights until the north bank was well behind us. Only then did he switch them on and take a longer route through quieter districts. Valen watched the mirrors. Alaric sat beside me, his hands closed tightly together. I kept seeing the figure’s face. The recognition was still there — incomplete, frustrating, real. I could not place it, and that failure felt like another kind of loss. Caius finally pulled into the shadow of a disused loading bay and cut the engine. The sudden quiet pressed against the windows. “We need to decide what that was,” he said. Valen answered first

Chapter 70 The road north thinned after the first hour. City gave way to industrial outskirts, then to longer stretches of open land broken by clusters of warehouses and low fencing. Caius drove. Valen sat beside him, checking the mirrors at regular intervals. Alaric remained in the back with me. The card with the coordinates rested in my coat pocket beside the letters. I did not take it out. I already knew the numbers by heart. No one spoke much. The silence was not empty. It carried the weight of the person who had reached Cole three days before us, the same person who had stood at the foundation and told me the older record was never meant for me. The recognition I could not name sat between every mile marker. Valen broke the quiet first. “If they have the same information we do, they may already be there.” “Then we assume they are,” Caius said. “And we decide in advance what we do if the site is not empty.” Alaric looked out at the passing fields. “Cole said the land is hel