Through the small window in the door, she caught the last glimpse of Diana raising a small weapon, her expression twisted in fury.
Pfft.
The sound was soft—barely audible.
Her breath hitched as she glimpsed the room behind the one-way glass: two men in lab jackets had jumped to their feet. A third—the man who had ordered Diana to stand down—stood expressionless.
The man beside her simply continued walking as if nothing had happened. As if a man hadn’t just been murdered in cold-blood in the room where she was kept caged like an animal.
“He isn’t worth your sympathy. He was sloppy, disloyal,” he said calmly, not looking at her. “Unfit for their role. Your care requires a higher standard. You’ll learn to be grateful for that, in time.”
She saidnothing.
“Diana and Oscar will now be your guardians. You can think of them as your mother and father if it helps,” he added, his tone coldly practical.
Kiki’s fists curled.
Mother? Father?
Her mother was dead.
Her father was a ghost her mom barely spoke of—an American soldier who didn’t care about anyone but himself.
Now, she was supposed to act like these people were her family?
Never.
Rage and grief collided inside her chest, but she swallowed them down like poison. He didn’t deserve to see it.
No one here did.
They passed through two security doors, deeper into the compound. The lights grew softer, the scent of pine replacing bleach and steel. She tracked each turn—left, right, long corridor, stairs—etching the path into her mind like a map she might one day need.
“You are special, Kiki,” the man said as they turned another corner. “The research being done here—our work—is to protect the world from chaos. You and the others… you’re the future. One day, you’ll understand.”
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming she would never understand why they would murder her mother—murder Anne and who knew how many others—just to gain power.
He stopped in front of a pair of reinforced glass doors guarded by two soldiers. A scanner passed over his face. The lock disengaged with a mechanical chime.
The doors opened.
Kiki blinked at the change.
Beyond the threshold was sunlight.
No… not real sunlight, she realized. But an illusion so good it made her eyes water. A massive atrium stretched out before her—lush with green vines, fruit trees, and flowering bushes. It looked like a jungle someone had tamed into something beautiful.
A false paradise.
A fountain bubbled in the center, its gentle music oddly soothing. A wooden swing hung nearby from a tree, and on the swing sat a young girl with hair the color of sunlight.
She was slightly older—maybe eleven. Her legs kicked gently, her head tilted, her eyes dreamy as she stared at the water. There was something about her that felt… steady. Strong.
Kiki’s heart panged.
Then a sharp presence pulled her gaze.
A tall, teenage boy with an olive complexion stood just beyond the fountain, half-shrouded in shadow. He was lean, with dark eyes and black hair cut short. His arms were crossed, and he watched her like a predator trying to decide if she was prey or a threat.
