The figure steps into better light, and I finally see them clearly.
They look maybe sixteen, seventeen at most. Short silver hair that catches the gray light like moonbeams. Skin so pale it's almost translucent. But the most striking thing is their eyes – they keep changing color. Blue, then green, then gold, then back to blue again.
"You're just a kid," I say.
"Age is relative when you exist between timelines." Their voice has this weird quality, like there's an echo even though we're in open space. "I'm Echo. And I've been waiting to meet you for a very long time."
"How long?"
"About eight hundred and forty-seven loops. Give or take." Echo smiles, and it's neither male nor female. Just... human. "I've been watching your story unfold, Luna. All of your stories."
They gesture at the windows floating around us. In one, I see myself arguing with Adrian in what looks like a courtroom. In another, we're dancing in a nightclub, both of us laughing. In a third, I'm holding his hand while he lies in a hospital bed.
"These aren't just random possibilities," I realize. "They're all connected somehow."
"Very good. Yes, they're all you. Different versions, different choices, but the same soul at the core." Echo moves between the windows like they're walking through an art gallery. "And in every single reality, there's one constant."
"Adrian."
"Not just Adrian. Your connection to him. No matter what role he plays, what life he lives, what species he is... you love him. And he loves you."
I watch the hospital scene. The me in that window is crying, squeezing Adrian's hand. He looks sick, dying. But when he opens his eyes and sees her face, he smiles.
"How many realities are there?"
"Infinite. Every choice creates a new branch. Every possibility spawns a new world." Echo touches one of the windows and it expands, showing me more detail. "But most of them are unstable. They flicker in and out of existence like candle flames in the wind."
"What makes some more stable than others?"
"Strong emotions. Powerful connections. Love." Echo looks at me directly. "Grief."
The way they say grief makes my skin crawl. Like they know something I don't.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"I'm telling you everything I can. But some knowledge has to be earned." Echo walks to a window I haven't looked at yet. This one shows Adrian alone, sitting in what looks like the same gray space we're in now. "Would you like to know what he remembers?"
"What do you mean?"
"The Adrian in your loops. The one you've been killing. He has memories from all these other realities bleeding through. Fragments of lives he's lived, deaths he's died, love he's shared." Echo taps the window. "Would you like to see what he sees?"
I hesitate. Part of me wants to know. But another part is terrified of what I might find.
"How?"
"I can let you borrow his memories. Experience what he's experienced. See yourself through his eyes." Echo's voice drops to almost a whisper. "But there's a cost."
"What kind of cost?"
"Every memory you take makes it harder to remember which ones are really yours. Take too many, and you might lose yourself completely."
I stare at the window showing Adrian alone in the gray space. He looks so sad. So tired.
"How many can I take safely?"
"There's no safe number. Every person is different. Some can handle dozens. Others lose themselves after just one." Echo shrugs. "The only way to know is to try."
I think about everything that's happened in the past twenty-four hours. Hunter Luna, Maria's warnings, the countdown timer, the revelation that my entire life has been a lie. How much worse can things get?
"Show me."
Echo nods and reaches out to touch my forehead. Their fingers are ice cold.
"Choose a window. Any window. The memory will come to you."
I look around at all the possibilities floating in the gray space. There are so many. Finally, I point to one that shows Adrian wearing a doctor's white coat, the same one from my earlier vision.
"That one."
Echo touches the window, and suddenly I'm not Luna anymore.
I'm Adrian.
*I'm sitting in a hospital cafeteria, picking at a turkey sandwich I don't want to eat. It's been three days since Luna was admitted to the ICU. Three days since the car accident that should have killed her but somehow didn't. The doctors say it's a miracle she's alive. I say it's a curse.*
*She doesn't remember me. Doesn't remember anything from the past five years. Brain trauma, they call it. Selective amnesia. She looks at me like I'm a stranger.*
*"Who are you?" she asked when I first walked into her room.*
*"I'm Adrian. Your... friend."*
*Friend. Not boyfriend. Not the man who's been in love with her since college. Not the person who was planning to propose next month. Just a friend.*
*Because how do you explain to someone that you're a vampire who's been hiding your true nature for half a decade? How do you tell the woman you love that everything she thought she knew about you was a lie?*
*I finish the sandwich and walk back to her room. She's awake, staring at the ceiling. When she sees me, she smiles. Not the smile she used to give me – the one that lit up her whole face – but a polite, distant smile. The smile you give to strangers.*
*"Hi," she says. "Adrian, right?"*
*"Right." I sit in the chair next to her bed. "How are you feeling?"*
*"Like I got hit by a truck. Which, according to the doctors, is pretty close to what happened." She tries to laugh, but it comes out hollow. "They say you've been here every day."*
*"I have."*
*"Why?"*
*The question hits me like a punch to the gut. Why? Because I love you. Because losing you would destroy me. Because even if you never remember what we had, I can't stop hoping.*
*"Because you're important to me," I say instead.*
*She studies my face like she's trying to solve a puzzle. "I feel like I should remember you. There's something... familiar. But every time I try to focus on it, it slips away."*
*"The doctors said the memories might come back. It just takes time."*
*"What if they don't?"*
*I take her hand. She doesn't pull away, but she doesn't squeeze back either. "Then we'll make new ones."*
*The memory shifts. Now I'm standing outside her hospital room, talking to her doctor.*
*"The experimental treatment has a thirty percent success rate," Dr. Chen is saying. "But the risks are significant. If it doesn't work, she could lose even more memories. Or worse."*
*"What's worse than forgetting everything?"*
*"Forgetting how to be human."*
*I look through the window at Luna. She's reading a magazine, her brow furrowed in concentration. She looks so normal. So fragile.*
*"Do it," I say.*
*The memory shifts again. I'm in a laboratory now, watching Luna sleep on a metal table. She's connected to machines I don't recognize, wires running from her head to computers that hum and beep.*
*"The memory implantation is working," a technician says. "She's accepting the new narrative."*
*"What about the enhanced abilities?"*
*"Activated. She'll be stronger, faster, and her werewolf instincts will be heightened. Perfect for what you need."*
*I watch Luna's face twitch as they pump artificial memories into her brain. Memories of a life she never lived. Memories of loving me in a way she never did.*
*"Is she in pain?"*
*"She won't remember it. When she wakes up, she'll think she's always been this way. Always been yours."*
*Always been mine. But not really. The Luna who loved me is gone. This is just a copy built from her broken pieces.*
*I lean down and kiss her forehead. "I'm sorry," I whisper. "But I couldn't let you go."*
The memory ends, and I'm myself again, standing in the gray space with Echo watching me carefully.
"That's horrible," I breathe.
"That's love," Echo says simply. "Or one version of it. Obsessive, possessive, destructive love."
"He... he made me into this? He's the one who had my memories changed?"
"In that reality, yes. In others, you chose it yourself. In some, you forced him to undergo the same process." Echo moves to another window. "Would you like to see more?"
I'm shaking. The memory felt so real, so vivid. For a moment, I was completely Adrian, feeling his guilt and desperation and twisted love.
"One more. Then I need to understand what this means."
Echo nods and touches another window. This one shows Adrian in what looks like a modern office building.
Again, I become him.
*I'm sitting across from Luna in a conference room. She's wearing a business suit, her hair pulled back in a professional bun. There are papers scattered across the table between us.*
*"The evidence is overwhelming, Mr. Blackwood," she's saying. "Your company has been illegally experimenting on supernatural beings for decades."*
*"I know." I lean back in my chair. "I've been trying to stop it from the inside."*
*"Then why not come forward sooner? Why wait until we caught you?"*
*"Because they have my sister. If I talk, they'll kill her."*
*Luna's expression softens slightly. "What do you want from me?"*
*"Help me get her out. Then I'll give you everything. Names, dates, locations. The whole operation."*
*"This could be a trap."*
*"It could be. But it's not." I slide a photograph across the table. It shows a young girl with my eyes and Luna's smile. "Her name is Rose. She's eight years old, and she's been in their custody for three years."*
*Luna picks up the photograph. "She looks like..."*
*"Like you. I know. It's not a coincidence." I meet her eyes. "Luna, there's something I need to tell you. Something about why I really asked for this meeting."*
*"What?"*
*"I've been dreaming about you for months. Dreams where we know each other. Where we're... together. I know it sounds crazy, but—"*
*"I've been having the same dreams." Her voice is barely a whisper.*
*We stare at each other across the table. The air feels electric, charged with possibility.*
*"What does this mean?" she asks.*
*"I don't know. But I think we're supposed to help each other."*
*The memory shifts. Now we're in a car, driving through the city at night. Luna is in the passenger seat, a gun in her lap.*
*"The facility is heavily guarded," she's saying. "Military-grade security. Are you sure your access codes still work?"*
*"They better. Rose doesn't have much time left."*
*"What are they doing to her?"*
*"Testing her abilities. She can see through time, catch glimpses of different realities. They want to weaponize it."*
*Luna touches my arm. "We'll get her out."*
*"And if we don't?"*
*"Then we die trying."*
*The memory shifts again. We're inside the facility now, alarms blaring. Luna is fighting three guards at once, moving with inhuman speed and strength. I'm carrying Rose, who's unconscious and pale.*
*"This way!" Luna shouts over the noise.*
*We run down a corridor lined with cells. In each one, I see another supernatural being. Werewolves, vampires, witches, all being held against their will.*
*"We can't leave them," I say.*
*"We can't save them all. Not tonight."*
*"Luna—"*
*"We get Rose out first. Then we come back for the others."*
*The memory shifts one last time. We're in a safe house, Rose sleeping in my arms. Luna is pacing by the window, keeping watch.*
*"They'll never stop hunting us," she says.*
*"I know."*
*"We'll always be running."*
*"I know."*
*She turns to look at me. "Are you okay with that?"*
*"As long as we're running together."*
*She smiles, and it's the same smile I fell in love with in my dreams. "Together."*
I'm back in the gray space, gasping. That memory felt different. Warmer. Like a partnership instead of an obsession.
"They were fighting together," I say.
"They were. That Adrian and Luna were allies before they were lovers. Built on trust instead of control." Echo shows me more windows. "Every reality has a different dynamic. Different obstacles. Different endings."
"Do any of them have happy endings?"
"Define happy."
I think about the wedding scene from earlier. "They get to be together. Really together. Without lies or manipulation or endless death."
"Some do. But happiness is rare in any reality. Most love stories are tragedies."
"Why?"
"Because love is powerful. And powerful things are dangerous. The people who control these realities don't like dangerous variables."
The people who control the realities. Like whoever built my prison.
"Echo, who are you really? And don't tell me you're just some kid who exists between timelines."
Echo is quiet for a long moment. When they finally speak, their voice is different. Older. Sadder.
"I'm what happens when someone takes too many memories that aren't theirs."
"What do you mean?"
"I used to have a name. A past. A reality of my own. But I got curious, like you. Started borrowing memories from other versions of myself. Trying to understand why I kept making the same mistakes in every timeline."
"What happened?"
"I borrowed too many. All those different lives, different personalities, different choices... they mixed together until I couldn't tell which ones were mine. I became a composite. A patchwork person made of stolen experiences."
The warning hits me like ice water. "That's what will happen to me if I keep doing this."
"Maybe. Or maybe you're stronger than I was. Maybe you can handle it." Echo's eyes cycle through colors rapidly. "But Luna, the more memories you take, the harder it becomes to trust your own instincts. Your own feelings."
"What do you mean?"
"Right now, you love Adrian. But is that love yours? Or is it borrowed from all the other Lunas who loved all the other Adrians?" Echo moves closer. "How do you know what's real?"
The question terrifies me because I don't have an answer. The love I feel for Adrian, the pain of killing him over and over, the desperate need to save him – how much of that is mine and how much is programming?
"How do I find out?"
"You have to make a choice based on who you are, not who you've been told to be. Not who other versions of you were. Just you." Echo points to the countdown timer in my pocket. "And you have to make it soon."
I pull out the timer.
54:17:29... 54:17:28... 54:17:27...
Less than fifty-five hours.
"What happens when it hits zero?"
"They reset everything. New programming, new memories, new personality. The Luna standing here right now will cease to exist."
"And Adrian?"
"Probably reset too. Back to the beginning of the loops, but with stronger controls. They'll make sure neither of you ever wake up again."
I look around at all the windows, all the possibilities, all the different versions of love and loss and hope and despair.
"How do I stop it?"
"By finding the source. The original trauma that started all of this. The moment when your reality first cracked and let the others bleed through."
"Where is it?"
Echo points to a window I haven't noticed before. It's smaller than the others, darker, harder to see. But as I get closer, I can make out shapes. A younger me, maybe eighteen or nineteen. And Adrian, but different somehow. More real.
"That's where it all began," Echo says. "The first meeting. The first choice. The first death."
"Who died?"
"You'll have to see for yourself. But Luna..." Echo grabs my arm as I reach for the window. "Be careful. That memory isn't just borrowed. It's yours. And if you experience it fully, you might not be able to come back."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you might get stuck in the past. Lost in what was instead of fighting for what could be."
I stare at the dark window. Inside, I can see the younger me reaching for Adrian's hand. Both of them are smiling.
"But if I don't look, I'll never understand why this is happening to me."
"No. You won't."
I take a deep breath and reach for the window.
"Luna." Echo's voice stops me. "Promise me something."
"What?"
"Promise me that no matter what you see in there, you'll remember that you have a choice. The past doesn't have to determine the future."
"I promise."
I touch the dark window, and the gray space disappears.
I'm eighteen years old, and I'm about to meet Adrian for the first time.
End of Chapter 6