Chapter 17 - The Child Wearing Lily’s Face Knew Elena’s Secret NameMara traced the message through seven countries and three dead servers.
The origin remained Ashcombe.
At dawn, Lily sat alone in Belladonna’s kitchen. Workers moved quietly around her, pretending not to stare.
Elena approached with two cups of tea.
Lily did not touch hers.
“When I was little,” Lily said, “you called me Sparrow when no one else was around.”
Elena lowered her eyes.
“My mother called me that.”
“Did Lucy know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Beatrice?”
Elena did not answer.
Lily looked at the hospital bracelet again. “Then ask the girl.”
Gabriel objected immediately. A live call could expose Belladonna’s location, though Beatrice clearly already knew where they were.
Mara built an isolated terminal in the private room. No network connected to the restaurant’s internal system. Tomas created a single-use transmission route.
At noon, a call arrived.
The child appeared on-screen.
She looked nine years old. Dark hair. Serious eyes. Blue coat. Silver bell necklace.
Lucy stood behind her with one hand on the child’s shoulder.
“Hello, Lily,” the girl said.
Her voice was Lily’s voice at nine.
Elena made a broken sound.
The child turned toward her.
“Hello, Sparrow’s daughter.”
Elena’s hand flew to her mouth.
No record contained that name.
“Who are you?” Lily asked.
The child smiled without warmth.
“Beatrice calls me Lillian.”
“Are you my sister?”
“Sometimes.”
The answer frightened them more than a refusal.
Lucy leaned closer to the camera. Her face carried exhaustion and carefully controlled panic.
“Do not come to the First House,” she said. “That is what Beatrice wants.”
A buzzer sounded somewhere off-screen.
Lucy’s expression changed.
The child continued as if repeating a lesson.
“Lily remembers emotional patterns. I remember factual patterns. When joined, we open the Carter Record.”
Tomas whispered, “Two-part encryption.”
“What is the Carter Record?” Mara asked.
Lucy looked toward Elena.
“The record of every child Saint Orison transferred, every official they purchased, every identity they erased, and every family they replaced.”
Samuel gripped his cane.
“That could destroy half the organization.”
“All of it,” Lucy said. “Including the people who inherited it.”
Gabriel understood first.
“Beatrice is not preserving Saint Orison. She is trying to identify everyone who can expose it.”
The girl called Lillian touched the bell around her neck.
“Bring Lily to the First House before midnight tomorrow.”
“And if we refuse?” Lily asked.
Lillian looked toward someone outside the frame.
Then she spoke Elena’s secret name.
Not Sparrow.
A name Elena had never told Lily.
“Eleanor Vale.”
The room fell silent.
Elena’s identity documents had always named her Elena Carter.
Lucy closed her eyes.
Lillian continued.
“Eleanor Vale died nineteen years ago. Elena Carter was created the same night Lily was born.”
The screen went black.
Mara turned toward Elena.
“Who was Eleanor Vale?”
May you like
Elena’s voice was barely audible.
“I think she was me.”
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