Chapter 20 - THE BOY WHO REMEMBERED EVERYTHING
Nobody moved.
Noah stood in the doorway holding the red key.
He looked impossibly young.
Yet his eyes carried something far older.
Eleanor slowly approached him.
“Noah.”
He nodded.
“You remember me?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You were the only person who was kind to me.”
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
“I don't remember.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“What happened to you?”
Noah looked at him.
“They replaced me.”
“With whom?”
“Another boy.”
Daniel froze.
“The boy they said was my twin.”
Noah nodded.
“Michael.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Then Michael isn't my brother.”
“No.”
“Who is he?”
Noah looked toward Thomas.
“Ask him.”
Thomas looked away.
Eleanor turned.
“Tell us.”
Thomas sighed.
“Michael was created as a legal replacement.”
Daniel stared.
“Created?”
“Not genetically.”
“Then what?”
“Identity.”
Thomas explained.
“After the original heir disappeared, Edward found a boy who resembled Daniel.”
“Michael.”
“Yes.”
“He trained him.”
“Yes.”
“To replace me.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked devastated.
“So my entire childhood…”
“Was built around a lie.”
Eleanor touched his shoulder.
Noah watched them.
“Your family has been lying since before you were born.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“What happened to the original children?”
Noah looked down.
“They were moved.”
“Where?”
“Different facilities.”
“How did you escape?”
“I didn't.”
Eleanor frowned.
“What?”
Noah pointed toward Thomas.
“He helped me.”
Thomas looked at the floor.
“I was too late for the others.”
Eleanor understood.
“You've been protecting him.”
“Yes.”
“For twenty years?”
“Yes.”
“Why hide him?”
“Because Henry Vale was still searching.”
Eleanor's heart pounded.
“Henry Vale is alive.”
Thomas nodded.
“He controls the network.”
“What network?”
“The people who funded the research.”
Eleanor looked at Noah.
“Why do they want Lily?”
Noah answered.
“Because she has the missing sequence.”
“What sequence?”
“The one that completes the research.”
Eleanor felt sick.
“Where did she get it?”
Noah looked at her.
“From you.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I don't understand.”
“You carry the original.”
She stared.
“I've never been tested.”
“You were.”
“When?”
“When you were five.”
Eleanor remembered the red door.
The needle.
The white room.
Her mother crying.
She covered her mouth.
“I remember.”
Thomas nodded.
“You were tested.”
“What did they find?”
“The marker.”
Eleanor looked at Noah.
“And Lily inherited it.”
“No.”
Noah shook his head.
“She inherited the mutation.”
Eleanor's heart raced.
“Then Emily?”
“Emily inherited the opposite.”
“What does that mean?”
Noah looked at her.
“One can repair.”
“The other?”
“Can destroy.”
Eleanor stared.
“And which is which?”
Noah didn't answer.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Tell us.”
Noah looked toward the hallway.
“They're coming.”
Footsteps echoed outside.
Thomas grabbed Eleanor.
“Move.”
They ran through the courthouse.
Doors slammed behind them.
Men entered the building.
Eleanor held Noah's hand.
“Where are we going?”
“Underground.”
They descended a staircase.
At the bottom was an old subway tunnel.
Noah stopped.
“This way.”
They moved through darkness.
Then headlights appeared.
A black SUV blocked the tunnel.
Men stepped out.
One raised a weapon.
“Stop.”
Thomas pushed Eleanor behind him.
Noah stepped forward.
The men froze.
A voice came from the SUV.
“Bring the boy.”
Henry Vale stepped out.
He looked exactly like the photograph.
Older.
But alive.
Eleanor stared.
“You're Henry.”
He smiled.
“You've grown up beautifully.”
“Where are my daughters?”
“They're safe.”
“Bring them to me.”
“Not yet.”
Eleanor's anger rose.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Henry laughed.
“You're finally beginning to understand your place.”
“I don't have a place in your experiment.”
“You are the experiment.”
“No.”
“You were the beginning.”
Eleanor stepped forward.
“And my daughters?”
“The future.”
Noah suddenly grabbed Eleanor's hand.
“Don't listen to him.”
Henry looked at Noah.
“You've caused enough trouble.”
Noah stared back.
“You never found the fourth room.”
Henry's smile disappeared.
“What did you say?”
Noah smiled.
“The fourth room.”
Henry's face changed.
Eleanor noticed.
“What is the fourth room?”
Henry looked at her.
“Something that doesn't exist.”
Noah shook his head.
“It does.”
Henry stepped toward him.
“Where?”
Noah looked at Eleanor.
“Inside her memory.”
Eleanor froze.
“What?”
Noah raised the red key.
“You've been carrying the door with you.”
Suddenly, Eleanor remembered.
The red door.
The boy.
Her father's office.
The hospital.
The accident.
Then another memory surfaced.
A woman handing her a baby.
The baby had a yellow blanket.
Eleanor gasped.
“That was Lily.”
Noah nodded.
“You saw her before you knew her.”
Eleanor's mind raced.
“How?”
“Because Lily was taken from you once before.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“What?”
Noah continued.
“When Eleanor was five, her father showed her the children.”
Eleanor's eyes widened.
“You mean…”
“Yes.”
“Lily was already born?”
“No.”
Noah shook his head.
“It was another baby.”
Eleanor stared.
The room went silent.
“Then who was that baby?”
Noah looked toward Henry.
Henry's expression finally revealed fear.
Noah whispered,
“The first daughter.”
Eleanor's heart stopped.
“The fourth child.”
Noah nodded.
“She survived.”
Henry stepped backward.
“No.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Where is she?”
Noah pointed behind Henry.
A woman stood in the shadows.
She slowly stepped into the light.
Eleanor recognized her face.
She had seen her in photographs.
The first daughter.
The woman looked at Eleanor.
May you like
And whispered,
“I'm your sister.”
