The voice on the radio sliced through the silence like a blade. Static followed—cold, hissing, and full of something unsaid. I backed away slowly as Elias stared at the speaker, his expression unreadable.
"Elias," I whispered, "what do they mean... you should've left me where I was?"
He didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
His clenched jaw and the tremble in his fingers told me he knew exactly what they meant.
Before I could ask again, the door burst open. Vance stormed in, holding a tablet lit up with security footage.
"They've found us," he said flatly.
"What? How?" Elias barked.
"They tapped into the old landline. Traced the signal."
I stared at them, my heart pounding.
"Why are people tracing me? I'm not a spy or an agent or anything! I'm just a girl who—" My voice cracked. "—had a crush on a guy who now fights like he's in a movie."
Vance and Elias exchanged a look.
And that's when I knew.
There was more.
A lot more.
Elias turned to me, his voice softer now. "Amara... remember when we met two years ago? When you accidentally spilled juice on me in the hallway?"
I blinked. "Of course. It was the most embarrassing day of my life."
"That wasn't our first meeting," he said.
The room swayed.
"What?"
He took a shaky breath. "You and I met when you were five. You were part of a trial. A group of children with rare—abilities. Your memories were erased after the program collapsed. They called it Echo Frequency — the ability to remember moments you never lived, and live moments you never remembered."
I stumbled backward.
"No. No, no, no. I would've remembered something like that."
"You weren't supposed to. But whoever's behind that notebook wanted you to remember... now."
My throat went dry.
"Are you saying I'm not... normal?"
"You're more than normal," he said gently. "And that's exactly why they want you."
I stared down at the leather notebook, suddenly ice cold in my hands.
Suddenly the room tilted again — not physically, but emotionally. My mind began connecting dots: the dreams I kept having of people I didn't know... déjà vu in places I'd never visited... answers to questions I was never asked.
Memories that didn't belong to me.
Or maybe they did.
But the moment shattered when a brick flew through the window.
A paper was tied to it.
Elias grabbed it and unrolled it quickly. His face went pale.
"They've taken your mom," he said, voice tight. "They're using her as bait."
Everything in me froze.
Mom.
No. Not her.
"They're asking you to trade yourself in," Elias added. "Tonight."