Chapter 11 - The Girl Inside Noah’s Memories
The Vale Center stood beyond an abandoned town in the Adirondacks.
Snow covered the road even though winter had nearly ended.
Police vehicles stopped two miles from the facility to avoid detection.
Adrian and Mara continued in an armored transport with Detective Brooks.
The building appeared through the trees just before dawn.
Its upper floors were burned and roofless.
But electricity illuminated the basement windows.
A black bird symbol was painted over the entrance.
Mara’s memories grew stronger with every step.
She had been brought here at fourteen.
Gideon called it a hospital.
The children called it the forgetting house.
Inside, the corridors smelled of antiseptic and wet concrete.
A speaker crackled.
“Lillian,” Celeste said. “Come to the red room alone.”
Adrian touched Mara’s arm.
“You are not going alone.”
“She’ll watch the cameras.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
Mara looked at him.
“If she sees police moving before Noah is safe, she may start the procedure.”
Adrian struggled with the decision.
Finally, he removed a small transmitter from his watch and placed it beneath her collar.
“Say the word moonlight if you need us to move.”
Mara walked through the lower corridor alone.
The red door stood at the end.
Inside, Noah lay strapped to a medical chair.
Electrodes covered his temples.
He was awake.
“Mommy.”
Mara’s heart broke at the sound.
“I’m here.”
Celeste stood beside the control system.
Marcus held a gun near the opposite wall.
His face was bruised.
“You came,” Celeste said.
“Release him.”
“After you finish the sequence.”
“What have you done to him?”
“Only a preliminary synchronization.”
Noah looked at Mara.
“There’s a girl crying in my head.”
Celeste touched his hair.
“Sophie.”
Mara fought the urge to attack her.
“You stored your daughter’s memories.”
“My father recorded neural patterns during her treatments.”
“A recording is not a person.”
“It is more of her than I have had for eight years.”
“And you want to place those patterns inside Noah?”
“His brain is young, adaptable and genetically compatible with yours.”
“He is not an empty container.”
“No one is empty. That is why identity must be weakened first.”
Marcus looked away.
Mara understood.
“You did this to me.”
Celeste’s expression became defensive.
“You were supposed to forget Adrian and the foundation evidence. Marcus increased the dosage without authorization.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“You ordered the increase.”
“You failed to monitor her vitals.”
“You wanted her dead when the first treatment didn’t hold.”
Celeste aimed her weapon at him.
“Be quiet.”
Mara stepped between Celeste and Noah.
“Why did Jonas take me?”
Marcus answered.
“He planned to expose the program. He thought keeping you alive would protect him.”
“Then why hide me for three years?”
“Because your memory never stabilized. Every time you remembered the twins, Orpheus triggered seizures.”
Mara looked at Celeste.
“You conditioned my mind to punish me for remembering my children.”
Celeste’s eyes filled with resentment.
“You had everything.”
“I had a husband and two sons.”
“You had my father’s attention. My inheritance. Adrian. Even the research responded to you.”
“None of that excused what you did.”
“You stole my life before you ever knew me.”
Mara shook her head.
“No. Gideon stole both our lives, and you continued his work because blaming me was easier than admitting he never loved either of us.”
Celeste struck her.
The blow split Mara’s lip.
Noah screamed.
Marcus raised his gun.
“Enough.”
Celeste turned.
“Put the weapon down.”
“Release the boy.”
“You are forgetting who protected you.”
“You never protected anyone.”
Marcus moved toward the chair.
Celeste fired.
The bullet struck his abdomen.
He fell against the wall.
Mara lunged for Celeste.
They crashed into the control console.
Alarms began sounding.
Noah’s chair activated.
A mechanical voice announced:
TRANSFER SEQUENCE INITIATED.
Celeste shoved Mara away.
“It has started. Only the song can guide the neural pattern.”
Noah began convulsing.
Mara grabbed his hand.
“Look at me.”
His eyes opened.
For a moment, the child looking back at her was not Noah.
A small voice whispered, “Aunt Lillian?”
Celeste froze.
“Sophie?”
Noah turned toward her.
“Why did you leave me with Grandpa?”
Celeste dropped the gun.
Mara stared.
The memory inside Noah had spoken.
Then the machine announced:
PRIMARY HOST REJECTED.
SEARCHING FOR SECONDARY MATCH.
Every screen in the room changed.
SECONDARY HOST LOCATED.
May you like
ETHAN HAWTHORNE.
The system had connected remotely to the hospital.
