"Wait, are you sure you want to go in there?" Lulu asked again as they neared the looming C Building.
Her voice wavered, but her steps did not. "Why don't we wait for Seamus, just in case?"
"No. If we wait, they'll vanish again," David said, his jaw tightening.
This could be the answer he had been searching for. Elle… his daughter. She must be the perfected experiment, the one that finally succeeded.
The thought alone was a blade twisting in his chest. He couldn't imagine the torment she must have endured inside that place.
"You're just a human! You'll die!" Lulu suddenly snapped.
The timid, awkward girl who usually kept her head down was gone; in her place stood someone fierce enough to make the group halt.
"Chief, maybe you should listen to her," Maria said softly, her voice trembling. "I… I feel the same way."
David stopped at last, the building's shadow stretching toward him. He let out a slow, heavy breath. "Fine. You and Lulu go find Seamus. I'll go in alone."
