The breathing beneath the staircase stopped.
No one moved.
The silence that followed felt heavier than the noise that came before it. Ethan could hear the faint ticking of cooling metal, Mara's uneven breathing and the soft electrical hum coming from the walls.
Seth kept his eyes fixed on the darkness.
"There are two of them."
Fortea looked at him.
"You can still sense them?"
"Yes."
Erena stepped toward the staircase.
"Then we don't have much time."
Ethan blocked her path.
"You aren't going anywhere until you explain what is down there."
Erena stared at him.
"If I explain it here, we all die here."
"Try me."
Fortea touched Ethan's arm.
"Let her go."
Ethan looked at her.
"You trust her?"
"No."
Fortea swallowed.
"But I know what she's afraid of."
Erena started down the stairs.
Seth followed.
Ethan hesitated for only a moment before going after them. Mara stayed close to Fortea while Halden brought up the rear.
The staircase descended farther than the structure above should have allowed.
The walls changed as they went deeper.
Steel disappeared first.
Then cables.
Then machinery.
Soon there was nothing except pale crystal embedded in rough stone.
Ethan ran his fingers across one exposed section.
It was warm.
"How is this warm?"
Halden looked at it.
"It wasn't always."
"What changed?"
Halden glanced toward Seth.
"His connection."
Seth ignored him.
At the bottom of the stairs they reached a circular chamber.
There was no equipment inside.
No monitors.
No glass tanks.
Only a huge white crystal rising from the floor.
It was cracked down the center.
Two silhouettes stood behind it.
One stepped forward.
Ethan's hand moved instinctively toward the weapon at his side.
The figure stopped beneath the pale light.
It was a girl.
She looked about Fortea and Erena's age.
But her face was unfamiliar.
Her clothing looked old.
Much older than the college uniforms.
The second figure remained behind the crystal.
Seth stared at them.
"The two signals."
The girl looked directly at him.
"You hear us."
Seth nodded.
"Who are you?"
She looked toward Erena.
"Ask her."
Ethan turned.
Erena's face had gone pale.
"You know her."
Erena didn't answer.
Fortea did.
"Her name is Lyra."
The girl smiled faintly.
"You remembered."
Fortea looked down.
"I remembered everything."
Lyra stepped closer.
"You remembered the room?"
"Yes."
"The table?"
"Yes."
"The promise?"
Fortea's voice broke.
"Stop."
Lyra's expression softened.
"You promised you would come back."
Erena finally spoke.
"She was never supposed to wake."
Lyra looked at her.
"Neither were you."
The room fell silent.
Ethan looked between them.
"Someone want to explain?"
Erena slowly turned toward him.
"The first experiment wasn't the twins."
Halden closed his eyes.
"It was her."
Lyra smiled.
"I was the first."
She placed her hand against the white crystal.
The surface rippled.
Images appeared inside it.
A laboratory.
Researchers.
Two young girls sitting in separate chairs.
A much younger Halden standing behind a glass partition.
And Lyra strapped to a table.
Ethan stared.
"What are we looking at?"
"The beginning," Lyra said.
The image changed.
The researchers placed a fragment of crystal against Lyra's chest.
Her body convulsed.
The room in the vision erupted into alarms.
A researcher shouted something Ethan couldn't hear.
Then everything went black.
Another image appeared.
Lyra standing.
Her eyes glowing white.
Every machine in the laboratory shutting down.
Ethan looked at Halden.
"You knew."
Halden's voice was quiet.
"I was there."
"You let them do this."
"I was twenty-six."
"So?"
"I thought we were going to cure disease."
Lyra looked at him.
"And then you learned what recovery meant."
Halden couldn't meet her eyes.
Erena stepped forward.
"The crystal didn't heal her."
"No," Lyra said.
"It learned her."
Seth's expression tightened.
"That's what Point Veert has been doing."
Lyra nodded.
"It observes biological responses. It copies them. It adapts."
Seth looked at the crystal.
"And the students?"
"Test subjects."
"The hunting grounds?"
"Stress trials."
"The flowers?"
"An activation medium."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"Then the college has been experimenting on students for decades."
Lyra shook her head.
"Not exactly."
Ethan frowned.
"Then what?"
Lyra looked toward Fortea.
"Some of the students are experiments."
She looked at Erena.
"Some are caretakers."
Then she looked at Seth.
"And some are keys."
The crystal pulsed.
Seth suddenly doubled over.
Ethan caught him.
"What's happening?"
Seth gripped his arm.
"I can feel the network."
"Tell me what it's doing."
"It is looking for a replacement."
Erena's face changed.
"For me."
Seth shook his head.
"No."
His eyes lifted.
"For both of you."
Fortea stared at him.
"What?"
"The system doesn't want one anchor."
Seth looked toward the two sisters.
"It wants the original pair."
Erena stepped backward.
"No."
The crystal cracked again.
A white line spread through the chamber.
Lyra smiled sadly.
"That's why it brought you here."
Ethan looked at her.
"Who brought us?"
Lyra didn't answer.
The speakers embedded inside the crystal activated.
Fargrave's voice emerged.
"You finally understand."
Ethan turned sharply.
"Fargrave!"
His voice echoed through the chamber.
"You've been listening."
"Since the beginning."
Seth looked toward the crystal.
"Why didn't you stop the binding?"
Fargrave paused.
"Because it had to happen."
Ethan's expression hardened.
"You knew Seth would connect to the system."
"Yes."
"And you knew he'd reach this chamber."
"Yes."
"Then this whole escape was planned."
Silence.
Fargrave answered.
"Not by me."
The transmission cut out.
Erena stared at the crystal.
"Who, then?"
The second figure behind the crystal finally moved.
A hand appeared against its surface.
Small.
Human.
Fortea took a step backward.
"No."
Ethan looked at her.
"What?"
She shook her head.
"I know that hand."
The crystal brightened.
The figure stepped forward.
A face emerged through the white glow.
Ethan stared.
Seth's breathing stopped.
Erena whispered a single word.
"Mother."
The figure opened her eyes.
The entire underground network activated.
And somewhere far above them, every student at Point Veert stopped moving at the same time.