Chapter 16 – The Awakening
The roar beneath the floorboards grew until it drowned out the storm outside. Dust rained from the ceiling. Damian pulled Amara close as the light seeping through the cracks turned blinding white.
Kerrin shouted over the noise. "It's too late to stop it!"
"What did you do?" Damian yelled.
Kerrin's grin was sharp, almost joyous. "I didn't build this house to hide the past, boy—I built it to wake it."
A section of the cellar wall slid open, revealing a hidden chamber lined with steel and glass. Inside, glowing tubes flickered to life one by one, each filled with shapes that looked almost human.
Amara covered her mouth. "What are those?"
"Prototypes," Kerrin said. "The first attempts. Before you, before Lydia."
Lydia stepped forward, her face pale in the white light. "You said they were destroyed."
"I lied," Kerrin said simply.
The ground heaved again, throwing them all against the wall. One of the glass tubes cracked, spilling blue fluid across the floor. A hand pressed against the inside of another tube—thin, trembling, alive.
Amara whispered, "They're waking up."
Damian staggered to his feet. "Turn it off!"
"I can't," Kerrin replied. "The system only answers to the original code… and that's inside you."
Damian stared at him, disbelief turning to horror. "Inside me?"
"You were the key from the start," Kerrin said. "You just never remembered."
The light flared, and the first tube shattered. A figure stepped out, eyes open, breath steaming in the cold air. It looked at Damian—then smiled with his exact face.
For the first time, Damian wasn't sure if he was the real one anymore.