Chapter 8
466 Words
CHAPTER 8
THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR
Elara couldn't breathe.
The woman on the screen looked exactly like her.
Same dark eyes.
Same sharp cheekbones.
Same small scar above the left eyebrow.
Even the slight tilt of her head was familiar.
But it was impossible.
“My mother died when I was five.”
Victor smiled.
“That is what your father wanted you to believe.”
Elara stared at the screen.
“Who is she?”
The woman finally spoke.
“Elara.”
Her voice broke something inside her.
She knew that voice.
Not from memory.
From dreams.
A lullaby she had forgotten.
A whisper that had followed her through childhood.
Sleep, little star. The world is not ready for you.
Elara stepped toward the screen.
“Mother?”
The woman closed her eyes.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
“Yes.”
Lucian moved closer to Elara.
“Don't trust anything she says.”
Her mother opened her eyes.
“Lucian Vale.”
He froze.
“You know me?”
“I know everything about you.”
Victor smiled.
“She designed the original intelligence network that became ORACLE.”
Elara shook her head.
“No.”
Her mother continued.
“ORACLE was never supposed to control governments. It was created to prevent wars.”
“Then what happened?”
“Your father changed the project.”
“Why?”
“Because he discovered what I had hidden.”
Elara's heart pounded.
“What?”
Her mother looked directly into the camera.
“You.”
Silence.
“I designed ORACLE to learn from human intelligence,” she said. “But when you were born, the system began learning from you.”
Elara stared at her.
“You're saying ORACLE learned from my brain?”
“Not exactly.”
Her mother's expression became solemn.
“You learned from it.”
Elara's mind raced.
Suddenly, fragments returned.
A laboratory.
A glowing screen.
Her tiny hands moving across a keyboard.
Numbers appearing faster than she could understand them.
Her father screaming.
Her mother crying.
Then darkness.
Elara staggered.
Lucian caught her.
“Easy.”
She pushed against his chest.
“I remember.”
“What?”
“My father wasn't protecting me from ORACLE.”
Lucian's expression hardened.
“What was he protecting you from?”
Elara looked at the screen.
Her mother's eyes filled with tears.
“The people who wanted to turn you into one.”
The screen went black.
Every helicopter above them suddenly powered down.
Then every phone, vehicle and computer within miles displayed the same message.
ELARA VEYNE HAS BEEN LOCATED.
Lucian looked at her.
“We have three minutes.”
“Until what?”
He pulled her toward the Ferrari.
“Until the entire world comes looking for you.”
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