CHAPTER 55 — THE CHILD CALLED CLAIRE
The door opened a few inches.
A girl no older than ten stood on the other side.
She resembled Lily more than Claire.
Her gray eyes were wide and cautious.
“You are C-Two?” Sarah asked.
The girl nodded.
“That would make you more than thirty years old,” Rebecca said.
“I sleep most of the time.”
Miriam had placed her in suspended development.
Claire knelt.
“Do you know Lily?”
The girl looked at Lily.
“She came to my room.”
Lily nodded.
“She taught me the star song backward.”
The girl began singing softly.
Free stays one.
Home comes one.
Sea the above stars little two.
The registry pages reversed themselves.
Hidden text appeared.
LOCATION OF PRIMARY ARCHIVE: SAINT ORISON.
Thomas had mentioned the name in a memory Claire once dismissed as a dream.
Sarah closed the book.
“Saint Orison was an orphanage.”
Elias shook his head.
“It was Gray Tide’s first human research site.”
C-Two touched the door scanner again.
“The boats will not open without all the hands.”
“Where are the remaining subjects?” Mason asked.
C-Two pointed beneath the floor.
“In the cold room.”
Claire did not want to go.
The water was already rising around their ankles.
But more than one hundred children were trapped with them.
Mason, Daniel, Sarah, and the three adult Claires entered the cold room.
Rows of frozen medical containers filled the darkness.
They found preserved tissue marked C-One and C-Four.
C-Five placed the samples against two scanners.
Six lights turned green.
Only C-Seven remained.
A sealed container stood at the end of the room.
Its label had been scratched away.
Daniel opened it.
It was empty.
A message had been written inside.
C-SEVEN LEFT WITH MARGARET.
Claire looked through the cold-room window.
Margaret was holding Rose.
Sarah whispered, “Rose is not only our sister.”
Rose placed her hand on the final scanner.
It turned green.
The transport doors opened.
But the Vane registry changed again.
May you like
ROSE BENNETT.
IDENTITY CLASSIFICATION: CLAIRE C-SEVEN.
