Chapter 13 - What My Mother Remembered
I ran to the glass and pounded until my palms burned.
"Mom!"
Elena struggled against the straps. The needle stopped inches from her skin when June yanked a service breaker. Darkness swallowed half the chamber.
"That buys us a few minutes," June said. "The backup battery will kick in."
Jonah led us to a panel beside the door. I pressed Evelyn's copper key into the slot. The metal warmed beneath my fingers, but the lock stayed red.
"It needs a living match," he said. "One of the daughters."
I placed my palm against the glass. A scanner crossed my wrist.
DENIED: SUBJECT 0B, DUPLICATE STRAIN.
For a second I couldn't breathe. That old word was there again, telling me I was second best.
0C stepped forward. "Try me."
"It might lock you inside," Jonah warned.
She looked at Elena, then at me. "I want to meet the woman whose face people say I came from."
Her palm touched the scanner.
MATCH CONFIRMED: FAMILY LINE.
The door opened. No one was trapped.
I rushed to Elena's bed and pulled the straps aside. She was older than the photographs, with silver in her hair and thin skin stretched over strong cheekbones.
"Clara," she said again. "My little girl."
"Which one?" I asked before I could stop myself.
Her eyes found 0C. Confusion crossed her face, but not disgust.
"I had two babies," she whispered. "I held them both. A and B were their numbers. I named them Cora and Clara."
"You named us?" I asked.
"Before Victoria stole the names."
Jonah bent over her. Elena touched his cheek, then jerked her hand away.
"You promised you'd shut it down," she said.
He could barely answer. "I tried."
"You waited too long."
A siren rose behind the wall. The backup battery had returned.
May you like
The machine spoke over us: "PRIMARY HOST RECOVERY COMPLETE. TRANSFER TO ARRAY INITIATED."
Elena clutched my wrist. "Don't let it take me again."
