Feriha stared at the map as though it were a living thing;something breathing, pulsing, dragging her back into a past she didn't want.
Five circles.
Five children.
One missing. ❓
And she was the only one who had survived.
Her throat tightened until she could barely form words.
"I don't know anything about another child," she whispered. "I can't remember… I can't remember any of this." 😖
"That's what terrifies them," Ravi said gently. "Memories come back. Even the ones we try to forget."
He placed the map on the desk and stepped back to give her space. But the room felt too small. The air too thick. The silence too loud.
Feriha pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to chase away the fragments flickering in and out of her mind—cold metal floors… a dark corridor… the faint sound of someone sobbing…
"I don't want to remember," she said, voice trembling.
Ravi watched her with quiet sympathy. "I know. But if you don't… someone else will control your truth."
She sank onto a chair, gripping its edge.
"What happened to the other children?" she asked.
Ravi hesitated. His silence told her everything before he spoke.
"They all died," he said quietly. "Except you."
A cold shiver crawled across her skin.
"How did I survive?"
"That's the part no one could explain. You were found alone. Locked in a room that had already been cleaned out. Empty. As if they planned to move you—or kill you—but someone intervened."
"Someone?" Feriha whispered. "Who?"
Ravi shook his head. "No fingerprints. No DNA. No entry on any camera. The facility was abandoned the next day."
"So someone helped me escape."
"Yes."
"Who? A guard? An insider? Someone from the Circle?"
"No," Ravi said, voice lowering. "Someone more dangerous."
"Who?" 😥
Before he could answer, Feriha's eyes caught something on the map;something strange.
A symbol. 📌
Near the unmarked location,the place where the missing child had never been found;there was a tiny mark in pencil. A small shape.
A half-drawn circle with a line through it.
Her heart stilled. 💓
"I've seen this before," she whispered.
Ravi leaned closer. "Where?"
Feriha swallowed hard. Her voice cracked.
"When I was eight… or maybe nine… I used to draw this symbol in my notebooks. My mother asked me once why I kept drawing it, but I didn't know why."
Her fingers shook as she traced the symbol on the map.
"It felt… familiar. Like I had seen it somewhere."
"It's the mark of the Glass Circle," Ravi said. "The line through the circle. Their oldest symbol;used before they ever changed their name."
Feriha felt her stomach drop.
"I knew it as a child," she whispered. "How is that possible unless… unless I had seen it during the kidnapping?"
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Ravi said.
A faint buzzing suddenly filled the room.
Ravi tensed immediately.
The security pager on the desk flashed red.
Someone was outside the safe house. 😧
Ravi moved quickly, switching off the lamp and pulling Feriha behind a shelf filled with dusty binders.
The underground room plunged into darkness.
Footsteps echoed from above. 👣
Slow.
Deliberate.
Like someone who already knew the layout.
Feriha's breath caught.
"Is it The Echo?" she whispered. 😩
Ravi didn't answer;his silence was enough.
He pulled out a small handgun and held it low, his breathing controlled. Feriha gripped his jacket, trying to steady herself.
Above them, something metallic scraped against the floor.
A hatch.
Being forced open. 🛠
Ravi leaned close and whispered in her ear:
"When I say run, you run. Don't look back."
Her pulse hammered so loud she was sure whoever was above them could hear it.
The hatch creaked open.
Dust rained from the ceiling. 🏚
A figure dropped down silently.
Tall.
Black coat.
Face hidden in shadow.
Feriha's lungs froze. 😬
And then—
The figure spoke.
Not loudly.
Not threateningly.
Just calm.
Cold.
"Feriha," he said.
Her blood turned to ice. 😥
It was the same voice from her apartment window.
The Echo.
He stepped forward, slow and unhurried.
"I've been waiting a long time," he said. "You survived once. You won't survive again."
Ravi tightened his grip on his gun.
Feriha felt the world tilt.
Then The Echo lifted something in his hand.
Not a weapon.
A small, blue ribbon.
Old. Faded. Torn. 🎗 🔘
Feriha stared at it—and suddenly a memory hit her, sharp and painful:
A child crying.
A hand tugging a blue ribbon.
A whisper;
"Don't leave me. Please."
Her eyes widened with horror.
"That ribbon…" she whispered, "it belonged to the missing child."
The Echo smiled beneath the shadows. 😅
"I knew you'd remember."
Ravi whispered urgently: 🔉
"Run." 🏃