CHAPTER 31 — THE THIRD DOOR
The floor split open beneath the chamber.
Metal stairs descended into darkness as the lullaby rose from somewhere below.
Two little stars above the sea.
One comes home.
And one stays free.
Claire stared at Margaret’s pistol pressed against her back.
“You said neither girl is Lily.”
“They are copies of her behavior,” Margaret whispered. “Not her blood.”
The two children behind the glass continued screaming for Claire.
Sarah’s voice crackled through Margaret’s phone.
“Bring me the real heir.”
Margaret slowly raised the pistol away from Claire.
Then she fired.
The bullet struck Sarah’s phone.
It shattered in her hand.
Cole aimed at Margaret.
“What are you doing?”
“Buying you thirty seconds.”
Margaret grabbed Claire’s wrist and pulled her toward the stairs.
Mason remained beside the two glass rooms.
“We cannot leave these children.”
“Break the doors,” Claire ordered.
Cole fired at the locking mechanism. The first door opened, but the second began filling with white vapor.
Rebecca struck the control panel from inside her enclosure.
“The isolation system is activating!”
Daniel, bleeding from his shoulder, dragged himself toward the memory card.
Rose suddenly placed her palm against the panel.
The vapor stopped.
Every screen in the chamber turned black.
A message appeared.
SUBJECT SEVEN RECOGNIZED.
Rose stared at the words.
Margaret went pale.
Claire looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret pushed Claire toward the stairs.
“It means Sarah was never searching for Lily.”
The lights below suddenly came on.
At the bottom of the stairwell stood a transparent medical capsule.
Inside it was a sleeping little girl.
Lily.
The capsule began moving away on a rail.
Claire ran down the stairs.
But before she reached it, a steel wall dropped between them.
Lily opened her eyes.
“Mommy?”
The wall sealed completely.
May you like
And a countdown began above the door.
00:29.
