That night, I couldn't stop thinking about what Ava said.
"They showed me something I can't unsee."
I kept getting flashes of her. Talking to someone. Smiling like she belonged.
I didn't want to believe it.
But the more I saw, the more I realized—
She might already be gone.
So I did the one thing I hadn't done in a while.
I called Lena.
She answered on the second ring.
"You okay?" she asked.
"No," I said. "I need to know what happens to people who walk through that door."
There was a pause.
Then she said, "Come over."
I did.
She was waiting at the door, wrapped in a hoodie, eyes dark.
"I told you about my friend," she said as soon as I walked in. "The one who went back."
I nodded. "You said she didn't have a choice."
"She thought she did." Lena sat down. "Her name was Mira."
I stayed quiet.
"She started seeing things before I did," Lena said. "Flashes. Warnings. But hers were different. More intense. Like she could feel the weight of every possible future."
I swallowed. "What happened?"
"She resisted the Institute. For a while. Then she got a message like yours."
I closed my eyes.
"She said she just wanted answers," Lena whispered. "Then she walked in."
"And?"
Lena looked at me. "She never came out the same."
I didn't speak for a long time.
Then I asked, "Do you think Ava is next?"
Lena didn't answer.
But she didn't have to.
I already knew.