CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
1316 Words
Sophia couldn't breathe.
She stared at the photograph on the screen.
There she was.
A little girl with dark hair, standing beside Lily.
Except the girl beside Lily wasn't Lily.
Sophia's eyes moved between the photograph and her sister.
“Who is she?”
Lily didn't answer.
“Lily?”
Her sister looked at the screen, completely pale.
“I don't know.”
Sophia shook her head.
“You do.”
“No.”
“You just said you remembered four rooms.”
“I remember four rooms. I don't remember her.”
Sophia stepped closer to the screen.
The little girl looked about six years old.
She wore a white dress and a blue ribbon.
Sophia's stomach tightened.
“The ribbon.”
Elias looked at her.
“What?”
“The blue ribbon.”
She pointed at the photograph.
“I remember it.”
Her grandfather's expression remained unreadable.
Sophia turned toward him.
“Who is she?”
He said nothing.
“Tell me.”
Still nothing.
Sophia raised her gun.
“Tell me!”
Eleanor suddenly grabbed her arm.
“Sophia, stop.”
Sophia pulled away.
“You knew about her.”
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
“I knew there was another child.”
“Another child?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you let me believe Lily was my twin?”
Eleanor looked at Lily.
“Because that was what they wanted you to believe.”
The room became silent.
Lily stared at her mother.
“So I wasn't her twin?”
Eleanor shook her head slowly.
“You were.”
Sophia frowned.
“What?”
“You and Lily are twins.”
Sophia looked at the photograph again.
“Then who is she?”
Eleanor couldn't answer.
Victor finally spoke.
“She was born after you.”
Sophia froze.
“After me?”
“Twenty minutes later.”
Lily's eyes widened.
“You mean…”
Victor nodded.
“There were three girls.”
Sophia's mind went blank.
Three.
She looked at the photograph.
Three children.
Three identities.
But only two had survived.
Or so they had believed.
“What's her name?”
Victor looked at Eleanor.
Eleanor whispered,
“Anna.”
Sophia repeated it.
“Anna.”
Something inside her shifted.
The name felt familiar.
Not like a stranger's name.
Like a memory she had forgotten.
She closed her eyes.
A little girl laughing.
A bedroom.
Three beds.
A woman singing.
Then a man's voice.
Only two of them leave this room.
Sophia opened her eyes.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“I remember.”
Elias stepped closer.
“What?”
Sophia stared at the photograph.
“Anna wasn't taken.”
Eleanor's face changed.
“What do you mean?”
“She was hidden.”
“By whom?”
Sophia looked at her grandfather.
“By you.”
The old man smiled.
“Very good.”
Lily stepped forward.
“Where is she?”
He looked at her.
“Closer than you think.”
Daniel immediately raised his weapon.
“Where?”
The old man didn't answer.
Cassian moved toward him.
“You've been playing with us from the beginning.”
“No.”
The old man looked at Sophia.
“She has.”
Sophia felt a chill.
“Who?”
Her grandfather's eyes shifted toward Eleanor.
Sophia turned.
Her mother was crying.
“Mum?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
“Where is Anna?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear I don't.”
Sophia stared at her.
Then she noticed something.
Eleanor's hands were shaking.
Not from fear.
Recognition.
Sophia looked down.
On Eleanor's wrist was a thin silver bracelet.
Sophia had seen it before.
In the photograph.
On the little girl's wrist.
“Take it off.”
Eleanor froze.
“What?”
“The bracelet.”
Eleanor slowly covered it with her sleeve.
Sophia's heart dropped.
“You've had it all these years.”
“It was hers.”
“Anna's?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Why do you have it?”
“Because I promised her mother I would keep it.”
Sophia stared.
“Her mother?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“I was her mother.”
The room went completely silent.
Sophia felt as if the ground had disappeared.
“What?”
Eleanor's voice broke.
“Anna was my daughter.”
Sophia stared at her.
“You said you had twins.”
“I did.”
“Then how was Anna born twenty minutes later?”
Eleanor looked at Victor.
Victor lowered his head.
“Because she wasn't supposed to exist.”
Sophia couldn't understand.
“What does that mean?”
Eleanor wiped her tears.
“The doctors told me I was carrying twins.”
She paused.
“But there were three.”
Sophia's blood ran cold.
“They didn't tell me until the delivery.”
“Why?”
“Because someone had already arranged for the third child to disappear.”
Sophia looked at her grandfather.
He didn't deny it.
“You,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because three children were too dangerous.”
Elias stepped forward.
“You wanted only two subjects.”
“No.”
His grandfather's eyes moved toward him.
“I wanted one.”
Sophia frowned.
“One?”
“One perfect subject.”
He looked at Sophia.
“The others were insurance.”
Lily's face hardened.
“We were experiments.”
“You were possibilities.”
“And Anna?”
The old man smiled.
“She was the one who escaped.”
Sophia's heart began pounding.
“Escaped where?”
He didn't answer.
Sophia turned toward Eleanor.
“Mum.”
Eleanor looked terrified.
“I thought she was dead.”
“You thought?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I watched them take her.”
Sophia's eyes filled with tears.
“Who took her?”
Eleanor's voice became barely audible.
“Your grandfather.”
Sophia turned toward the old man.
“You took my sister.”
“I saved her.”
“You stole her.”
“I protected her from what you became.”
Sophia's blood ran cold.
“What I became?”
He nodded.
“You were Subject 017.”
Lily was 018.
Elias was 019.
“And Anna?”
The old man smiled.
“020.”
Every screen in the room suddenly flashed.
SUBJECT 020 — ACTIVE
Sophia stared at the words.
Then another message appeared.
LAST KNOWN LOCATION: LONDON
Cassian's expression changed.
“London.”
Daniel looked at him.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
Cassian pointed at the screen.
“Because someone matching her description has been living there for years.”
Sophia turned toward him.
“Who?”
Cassian hesitated.
“A woman I've been investigating.”
“Her name?”
He looked at Sophia.
“Anna Vale.”
Sophia's breath caught.
Anna Vale.
The name from the file.
The woman whose photograph had appeared beside the Project Echo records.
The woman Cassian had claimed was dead.
The woman Sophia had seen in her memories.
Her sister.
Alive.
Sophia looked at Eleanor.
“You knew.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I didn't.”
Sophia looked at her grandfather.
He smiled.
“You're finally ready to meet her.”
The archive doors suddenly locked.
Red lights began flashing.
Then every speaker in the room came alive.
A woman's voice filled the chamber.
Soft.
Calm.
Familiar.
“Sophia?”
Sophia froze.
The voice continued.
“I've been waiting for you.”
Lily grabbed Sophia's hand.
Sophia stared at the speaker.
“Anna?”
A pause.
Then the woman laughed softly.
“No, little sister.”
Sophia's heart stopped.
“That's not my name.”
The lights went out.
And the last thing Sophia heard was the woman's whisper:
“My name is Lily.”
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