Chapter 13 - The House That Remembered
Theo went first.
He carried a flashlight, although the underground chamber was already illuminated by panels embedded in the walls. Mara followed with June behind her. Evelyn remained locked outside.
At the bottom, they found a circular room filled with transparent cabinets.
Inside each cabinet rested a glass moth.
Hundreds of them.
Some were clear. Others glowed with faint blue or green light. Thin wires connected their bodies to a central black column.
Theo approached a monitor.
A video began playing before he touched it.
Mara appeared on the screen.
She looked younger, exhausted and terrified. A woman in a silver coat stood beside her.
“If this recording activates,” the younger Mara said, “then Lattice has found June.”
Present-day Mara stepped backward.
On-screen Mara continued.
“The glass moths do not record conversations. They record choices—the moment before someone lies, runs, betrays or obeys.”
Theo looked at his wife.
“You knew about this.”
“I don’t remember.”
“That doesn’t mean you didn’t know.”
The recording flickered.
A second Mara appeared behind the first.
Same face.
Same voice.
But the second woman smiled.
May you like
“Do not listen to her,” she said. “She is the copy.”
All the glass moths opened their wings at once.
