Mara couldn’t breathe.
Something was watching her.
At the end of the corridor, two pale points of light hovered in the darkness.
Not red.
Not blue.
Silver.
They blinked once.
Mara raised her flashlight.
The beam struck the far wall.
Nothing.
She lowered it.
The eyes were still there.
“Elias.”
“I’m here.”
“There’s something in the corridor.”
“I know.”
“You can see it?”
“No.”
Mara’s grip tightened around the flashlight.
“Then how do you know?”
“I can feel the structure moving.”
Her heart sank.
“Moving?”
“Something heavy is standing on the floor.”
The eyes disappeared.
Mara took one step backward.
Then another.
The corridor remained silent.
“Elias.”
“Don’t run.”
“I’m not running.”
“You are absolutely thinking about running.”
“I am considering my options.”
“Your options currently include standing still.”
“Noted.”
A faint scraping sound came from the darkness.
Mara raised the flashlight again.
This time, something moved.
A long shape unfolded from behind a support column.
It was thin.
Too thin.
Its limbs were unnaturally long, and its skin reflected the overhead lights like wet stone.
But it didn’t charge.
It simply stood there.
Watching her.
Mara’s voice dropped.
“What is that?”
Elias was silent for a moment.
Then:
“A Hollower.”
Mara remembered the creature she’d seen on her first night.
The one that had been stalking the edge of the property.
She swallowed.
“You said they detect Aether.”
“They detect Aether concentrations.”
“So it followed the Moonvine?”
“Maybe.”
The creature tilted its head.
Mara noticed something strange.
It wasn’t looking at her.
It was looking at the symbol on the wall.
The four circles.
Then the creature turned toward the terminal.
The dead screen flickered.
The Hollower recoiled.
Mara stared.
“It doesn’t like the machine.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because neither do I.”
Despite everything, Mara almost laughed.
The Hollower stepped backward.
Then disappeared into the darkness.
Mara waited.
Nothing happened.
“Is it gone?”
Elias shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“You can still sense it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
A pause.
“Above you.”
Mara looked up.
The ceiling tiles exploded downward.
She screamed and jumped back.
A dark shape dropped into the corridor.
It landed on four limbs.
For one terrifying second, Mara thought it would attack.
Instead, the creature turned toward the mirror.
Toward Elias.
Its pale eyes narrowed.
Elias reached for his rifle.
“Don’t.”
Mara’s voice stopped him.
“What?”
“It’s not attacking.”
“How do you know?”
Mara pointed.
The Hollower was trembling.
Not with aggression.
Fear.
The lights overhead began flickering.
The four-circle symbol on the wall brightened.
The creature backed away.
Then it ran.
Not toward Mara.
Not toward the exit.
Deeper into the facility.
Elias lowered his rifle.
“That’s new.”
Mara nodded.
“Very.”
The terminal woke again.
This time, no warning appeared.
Instead, four words.
STABILIZATION SEQUENCE READY
Mara stared at the screen.
A second line appeared.
ANCHOR FOUR AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED
“Elias.”
“I see it.”
“How do I authorize it?”
“I don’t know.”
The machine chimed.
A small panel opened beneath the screen.
Inside was a shallow depression.
Four circles surrounded it.
Mara recognized the shape immediately.
The Moonvine flower.
She looked toward the stairs.
Then toward the mirror.
Then back at the panel.
“I think I know.”
She ran upstairs.
Elias followed her with his eyes through the mirror.
Mara reached the greenhouse.
The Moonvine had grown another twenty centimeters.
Its silver flower was fully open.
She carefully cut the flower.
The moment the stem separated, the plant stopped glowing.
Mara carried it back downstairs.
“Elias.”
“Careful.”
“I’m being careful.”
She placed the flower into the depression.
Nothing happened.
Then the four circles lit up.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
The terminal spoke.
ANCHOR FOUR IDENTIFIED.
Mara stared.
“That’s all?”
The machine continued.
BIOMETRIC SIGNATURE REQUIRED.
Mara blinked.
“Biometric?”
“That’s probably you.”
“I figured that part out.”
She placed her palm over the flower.
Warmth spread through her hand.
The room disappeared.
For a moment, Mara saw stars.
Thousands of them.
Then four enormous structures.
One stood beneath a city.
One stood beneath the ocean.
One stood inside a mountain.
And one stood beneath her home.
Whitmore House.
The vision shifted.
She saw four people standing inside four different rooms.
Their faces were blurred.
Their hands rested against identical machines.
A voice spoke.
Four anchors.
The vision changed.
The four people disappeared.
The structures remained.
Then everything fractured.
Mara saw the sky of Veyra split apart.
Bands of white light crossed the atmosphere.
Buildings twisted.
Roads moved.
Trees erupted through concrete.
People ran.
She saw Elias.
Younger.
Covered in dust.
Carrying a child.
Then the vision ended.
Mara fell backward.
Elias’s voice reached her through the mirror.
“Mara!”
She blinked.
“I’m here.”
“What happened?”
“I saw…”
She struggled to breathe.
“The Falling.”
Elias went still.
“What did you see?”
“Four structures.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Anything else?”
Mara looked at the flower.
“I saw you.”
He froze.
“What?”
“You were younger.”
His expression changed.
“Where?”
“In a city.”
Mara swallowed.
“You were carrying someone.”
Elias looked away.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it Anna?”
“I couldn’t see.”
He closed his eyes.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Elias whispered:
“I remember that day.”
Mara waited.
“I was carrying a little boy.”
Her eyes widened.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“He was separated from his parents.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“I carried him for three hours.”
“What happened?” Find the original chapter at g.com.
“He died.”
Mara’s heart sank.
“I’m sorry.”
“I couldn’t save him.”
“You were a stranger.”
“I was an engineer.”
“That doesn’t mean you could save everyone.”
“I know.”
His voice was quiet.
“But knowing something and believing it are different things.”
Mara understood that better than she wanted to.
She sat on the floor.
“Maybe that’s why the mirror connected us.”
Elias looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re trying to protect everything.”
“And you’re trying to fix everything.”
Mara smiled faintly.
“Sounds exhausting.”
“It is.”
“Good.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Good?”
“Now you have someone else to help.”
For the first time, Elias laughed.
It was brief.
Quiet.
But real.
The terminal chimed.
They both looked toward it.
The vision had unlocked another file.
MERIDIAN INCIDENT LOG
Mara opened it.
A date appeared.
Seven years earlier.
Then a message.
PROJECT STATUS: FAILED
Another line appeared.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: ESTABLISH STABLE INTERDIMENSIONAL TRANSIT
Mara’s stomach tightened.
“They weren’t studying the mirror.”
“No.”
“They were trying to build one.”
Elias nodded.
“Keep reading.”
The next line appeared.
RESULT: FOUR ANCHORS REQUIRED
Then:
ANCHOR ONE — FAILED
ANCHOR TWO — LOST
ANCHOR THREE — UNRESPONSIVE
ANCHOR FOUR — UNEXPECTED
Mara stared at the final word.
“Unexpected.”
Elias’s voice was low.
“What does that mean?”
The terminal answered.
ANCHOR FOUR WAS NOT PART OF THE ORIGINAL DESIGN.
Mara felt cold.
“Then why am I here?”
The screen flickered.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then a new message appeared.
EXTERNAL VARIABLE DETECTED.
Mara stared.
“What external variable?”
The terminal went black.
Elias frowned.
“Mara.”
“Yes?”
“Look behind you.”
She turned.
The four-circle symbol on the wall had changed.
There were now five circles.
Four around the outside.
One in the center.
Mara’s voice barely came out.
“That wasn’t there before.”
“No.”
The symbol pulsed.
The Moonvine flower turned black.
Mara stepped backward.
The terminal came alive one final time.
Not with text.
With a voice.
A woman’s voice.
Calm.
Exhausted.
Afraid.
“If you’re hearing this…”
Static interrupted her.
“…then Meridian has failed.”
Mara froze.
The voice continued.
“And if Anchor Four has awakened…”
A long pause.
“…then the experiment didn’t end.”
The recording crackled.
The woman’s final words were almost a whisper.
“It only moved.”
The screen went dark.
Mara stared at Elias.
“What does that mean?”
He didn’t answer.
Because somewhere far above them—
the house creaked.
Then the mirror flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Four.
And on the other side of the glass, something appeared behind Elias.
A shadow.
Too tall to be human.
Elias slowly turned.
The shadow was gone.
But written across the mirror in pale silver letters were three words:
THE FOURTH REMEMBERS.
END OF CHAPTER EIGHT