Chapter 4: The Memory Key
My own voice continued speaking from the tiny device beneath my skin.
“If you're hearing this, it means Margaret has finally betrayed me.””
The recording crackled.
I stared at the mirror.
The woman reflected there had my face, but she sounded like a stranger.
“First, don't trust Victor. Don't trust Margaret. And whatever you do, don't let them take Lily.””
My knees nearly buckled.
“Lily,” I whispered.
The recording continued.
“If you've forgotten her name, that's intentional. If you've forgotten her face, that's intentional too.””
Adrian looked at Margaret.
“Who is Lily?””
Margaret was crying now.
“She was Evelyn's daughter.””
I turned toward her.
“Was?””
Margaret shook her head.
“I don't know where she is.””
“You keep saying that.””
“Because it's true.””
The device clicked.
My recorded voice returned.
“I made this recording because I knew I wouldn't be able to trust my own memories.””
A pause.
“You need to understand something. The person who caused all of this isn't Victor.””
My stomach tightened.
“It's someone inside Meridian.””
The recording stopped.
Adrian stared at the implant.
“That was it?””
A tiny electronic chirp answered him.
Then the device began blinking faster.
Adrian grabbed a medical scanner from the counter.
“Everyone step back.””
“What is it doing?”” I asked.
“I don't know.””
The scanner emitted a high-pitched tone.
Numbers flashed across its display.
Adrian's expression changed.
“Evelyn…”
“What?””
“This thing is transmitting.””
“To who?””
“I don't know.””
Margaret immediately moved toward the windows.
“Turn it off.””
Adrian shook his head.
“I can't.””
“Then remove it.””
“If I remove it without knowing what it's connected to, I could destroy whatever data is stored inside.””
“I don't care about the data.””
I touched the scar.
“I want it out.””
Adrian looked at me.
“Are you sure?””
“Yes.””
He nodded.
“Then we do it here.””
Margaret grabbed his arm.
“No.””
Adrian pulled free.
“She gets to decide.””
Margaret stared at him.
“You don't understand what you're dealing with.””
“I understand that she's spent ten years trapped in a life she didn't choose.””
He looked at me.
“That's enough for me.””
Twenty minutes later, I was lying beneath a surgical lamp.
The salon no longer looked like a salon.
Adrian had transformed a private treatment room into a makeshift surgical space.
He cleaned the back of my neck.
“It's going to hurt.””
“I've survived worse.””
He paused.
“You remember something?””
“Not yet.””
“Then maybe don't force it.””
I looked at him.
“That's what everyone has been doing. Telling me what I can remember.””
He smiled faintly.
“Fair point.””
He made the first incision.
Pain flashed through my skull.
I clenched my teeth.
“Breathe,” Adrian said.
“I am.””
“Not very convincingly.””
I almost laughed.
Then he reached deeper.
The pain sharpened.
And suddenly—
A baby crying.
A woman's hands.
A hospital bracelet.
A blue blanket.
Victor's voice.
“You promised me.””
My eyes flew open.
“Evelyn?”” Adrian said.
“I saw her.””
“Who?””
“My daughter.””
“What did she look like?””
“Blue blanket.””
Adrian stopped.
“That's all?””
“No.””
I swallowed.
“She had a birthmark.””
“Where?””
“Behind her left ear.””
Margaret made a strangled sound.
I looked toward her.
“What?””
She had gone white.
“You know that mark.””
Margaret didn't answer.
“Margaret.””
“I've seen it.””
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“When?””
She backed away.
“Years ago.””
“Where?””
Margaret's lips trembled.
“At a Meridian facility.””
The room went silent.
“You saw my daughter?””
“I saw a child with the same mark.””
“How old?””
“About four.””
My breath caught.
Lily had been four when I disappeared.
“You knew she was alive.””
“I suspected.””
“You saw her.””
“Yes.””
“And you did nothing?””
“I tried.””
“You lied to me.””
“I was afraid.””
“Of who?””
Margaret looked at the closed door.
“Her.””
I followed her gaze.
The woman on the phone.
The voice from the recording.
The woman who had called me sweetheart.
“Who is she?””
Margaret whispered a name.
“Dr. Helena Voss.””
The moment she said it, something inside my head snapped.
A memory surfaced.
A white laboratory.
A woman in a navy dress.
Dark red lipstick.
A silver pendant shaped like a circle split by a line.
Helena standing over me.
And a syringe in her hand.
I remembered her smile.
“You're going to thank me someday, Evelyn.””
Then another memory.
Me screaming.
“Give me my baby!””
Helena leaning close.
“You don't understand what your daughter is.””
I gasped.
Adrian looked down.
“I have it.””
He held up a tiny metal capsule between his forceps.
The implant was out.
For one second, nothing happened.
Then the capsule lit up.
A miniature screen appeared.
One line of text.
*MEMORY FILE: E.H.-07*
Adrian stared.
“What does E.H.-07 mean?””
I knew.
I didn't know how.
But I knew.
“I'm number seven.””
Margaret looked at me.
“No.””
“Yes.””
I sat up.
“There were six before me.””
Adrian frowned.
“What were they testing?””
I looked at the glowing capsule.
“Not memory.””
“What, then?””
I remembered Helena's voice.
You don't understand what your daughter is.
I whispered the answer.
“Inheritance.””
The capsule suddenly displayed a second message.
*PRIMARY SUBJECT STATUS: DECEASED*
My stomach turned.
“Primary subject?””
Adrian looked at me.
“Who is the primary subject?””
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
It showed a little girl with dark hair.
A blue blanket around her shoulders.
A tiny birthmark behind her left ear.
Underneath the photograph was a name.
*LILY HART.*
And beneath that:
*CURRENT LOCATION: BELLAMY HOUSE — SUBLEVEL 3.*
Margaret screamed.
Because beneath the address was a second line.
May you like
*SUBJECT AWAKE.*
Then, somewhere beneath our feet, a child began crying.
