The road to the abandoned capital had disappeared years ago.
Not completely.
That would have been easier.
Instead, pieces of it remained.
A cracked highway running through fields.
A bridge that ended halfway across a river.
A concrete overpass leading nowhere.
And stretches where the road looked perfectly intact until the vehicle reached them and the asphalt simply…
changed.
Elias slowed the truck.
Rowan leaned forward from the passenger seat.
“That’s new.”
Elias kept his eyes on the road.
“It wasn’t there yesterday.”
Mara’s voice came through the radio.
“What’s wrong?”
“The road.”
“That’s not very specific.”
“The road is moving.”
A pause.
“Moving?”
Elias watched a section of asphalt ripple several hundred meters ahead.
Like water.
“Yes.”
Rowan stared.
“I officially hate this place.”
Selene, sitting behind them, looked through the windshield.
“The Aether density?”
“Probably.”
Elias stopped the truck.
The road settled.
Silence returned.
Rowan opened the door.
Elias grabbed his shoulder.
“No.”
“I was just going to look.”
“No.”
“You’re becoming predictable too.”
“I’ve been predictable for thirty years.”
Selene smiled faintly.
“He’s got you there.”
Elias sighed.
He picked up the Aether meter.
The display climbed.
LEVEL 2
Then—
LEVEL 3
Then—
LEVEL 4
He shut the door.
“We wait.”
Rowan leaned back.
“How long?”
“Until it drops.”
“How long is that?”
Elias looked at the meter.
“Could be ten minutes.”
“And?”
“Could be three hours.”
Rowan groaned.
Mara’s voice came through.
“Did you bring food?”
Rowan immediately answered.
“Yes.”
Elias looked at him.
“You didn’t.”
“I brought biscuits.”
“Those are Mara’s.”
“I brought them for emergencies.”
Mara’s voice sharpened.
“Rowan.”
“Yes?”
“If you eat my biscuits, I’ll send you nothing but turnips for a month.”
Silence.
Rowan slowly placed the biscuit tin on the dashboard.
“Understood.”
Selene laughed.
Elias shook his head.
For a few minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Mara said quietly:
“Elias.”
“Yes?”
“Are you scared?”
He looked through the windshield.
The road ahead was empty.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He thought about it.
“Yes.”
Mara was quiet.
Then:
“Me too.”
Something in his chest loosened.
Not because the danger had changed.
Because he wasn’t carrying it alone.
The road stabilized forty minutes later.
They continued.
As the truck moved deeper into the old city, signs of the past became more frequent.
A rusted transit station.
A collapsed shopping center.
An apartment tower split cleanly down the middle.
A school surrounded by trees whose trunks had grown through the windows.
Seven years had not erased the city.
They had simply allowed something else to grow over it.
Mara watched through the mirror from Whitmore House.
Elias’s camera transmitted a live view from the truck.
“Was this city always this big?”
“Yes.”
“You lived here?”
Mara paused.
“Before?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t ask anything else.
She knew there were memories he wasn’t ready to touch.
Instead she said:
“Tell me something normal.”
“What?”
“Something from before The Falling.”
Elias smiled slightly.
“Why?”
“Because everything we’re looking at is depressing.”
He considered.
“I hated grocery shopping.”
Mara laughed.
“That’s your normal memory?”
“I hated crowds.”
“You survived an apocalypse but grocery stores were your enemy.”
“Absolutely.”
“What did you buy?”
“Coffee.”
“Of course.”
“And cereal.”
“Any particular kind?”
“Whatever was on sale.”
Mara smiled.
“Very romantic.”
“I’m not sure grocery shopping qualifies as romance.”
“It does if you’re sharing the cereal.”
He was quiet.
Then:
“I’d share.”
Mara looked away from the mirror.
Her face felt warm.
The truck stopped outside the Meridian facility.
Or what remained of it.
The building had once been enormous.
Now only three sections remained standing.
A tower.
A buried research wing.
And a circular structure that looked like an underground vault.
Elias stepped out.
Rowan followed.
Selene checked her medical pack.
Mara watched.
“Where is the entrance?”
Elias pointed.
“Under the tower.”
“Then why are you standing outside?”
“Because there’s someone inside.”
Mara froze.
“Elena?”
“We don’t know.”
Rowan raised his rifle.
Elias stopped him.
“Lower it.”
“Why?”
“If it’s Elena, we don’t want to greet her with a gun.”
Rowan lowered it reluctantly.
“And if it’s not?”
“Then we adapt.”
Mara sighed.
“You really do say that like it’s easy.”
“It’s easier than panicking.”
They entered.
The first hallway was dark.
Their flashlights swept across the walls.
Old warning signs.
Broken glass.
Water stains.
A faded symbol.
Four circles.
Elias stopped.
Mara saw it through the camera.
“That’s the symbol.”
“Yes.”
“Same as the Moonvine.”
“Yes.”
Selene crouched beside the wall.
“These markings aren’t paint.”
“What are they?”
“Burn marks.”
Elias touched one.
“Energy discharge.”
Rowan looked down the hallway.
“Can we please find the person making all the mysterious noises and leave?”
A sound came from ahead.
Footsteps.
Everyone froze.
One step.
Another.
Then a woman’s voice.
“You’re late.”
Elias raised his flashlight.
The beam revealed a woman standing at the end of the corridor.
White coat.
Dark hair.
Bloodstained sleeve.
Exactly as Mara had seen her.
Elias lowered his weapon.
“Dr.
Vale?”
The woman smiled weakly.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether you’re here to kill me.”
Rowan whispered:
“Why would we kill you?”
“Because everyone else did.”
Selene stepped forward.
“You’re injured.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“You need treatment.”
“I need a great many things.”
Her eyes moved toward the camera mounted on Elias’s chest.
Then toward the communication device.
“Mara.”
Mara stared at the mirror.
“You know me?”
Dr.
Vale looked directly into the camera.
“I know your grandfather.”
Mara’s breath caught.
“What did he tell you?”
“Everything.”
The connection crackled.
Elias looked toward the ceiling.
“Is the signal unstable?”
Dr.
Vale shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at Mara.
“Something is listening.”
The lights overhead flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire facility came alive.
Machines began powering up around them.
Dr.
Vale’s expression changed.
“Oh no.”
Elias turned.
“What?”
“The network found you.”
Mara looked at the mirror.
“What does that mean?”
Dr.
Vale answered.
“It means you activated the fourth anchor.”
Mara stared.
“We already knew that.”
“No.”
Dr.
Vale’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“You don’t understand.”
The floor trembled.
The four-circle symbol on the wall began glowing.
Then a fifth circle appeared.
Rowan took a step back.
“What is that?”
Dr.
Vale looked at it.
“The mistake.”
Mara’s heart began pounding.
“The fifth anchor?”
“No.”
Dr.
Vale shook her head.
“The fifth was never an anchor.”
Elias stepped forward.
“Then what is it?”
Dr.
Vale looked toward the underground chamber.
“An observer.”
The machines screamed to life.
A map appeared on the nearest screen.
Five points.
Four stationary.
One moving.
The moving point crossed the map.
Then stopped.
Right above the Meridian facility.
Mara whispered:
“It’s here.”
Dr.
Vale looked directly at the camera.
“Yes.”
A deep metallic sound came from somewhere beneath them.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then four.
The same four knocks Mara had heard beneath Whitmore House.
Elias raised his weapon.
Dr.
Vale closed her eyes.
“It’s waking up.”
The fifth point on the map changed.
ANCHOR FIVE — AWAKE
Then another line appeared.
IDENTITY: UNKNOWN
A second.
ORIGIN: UNKNOWN
A third.
DIRECTION: WHITMORE
Mara went cold.
Elias stared at the screen.
“Why is it coming to her?”
Dr.
Vale answered without looking away.
“Because it isn’t coming for the mirror.”
The lights went out.
Dr.
Vale whispered:
“It’s coming for the custodian.”
END OF CHAPTER FOURTEEN