CHAPTER 88 — THE CALL OF PELAGOS
Claire dreamed of an ocean city.
White corridors.
Children laughing.
No locked doors.
No false families.
When she woke, she was standing beside the underground river.
She had no memory of leaving Sarah’s bedside.
Mason found her before she entered the water.
“Pelagos is calling you.”
“I heard a voice.”
“So did Rose and Iris.”
C-Two had disappeared.
Security footage showed her walking calmly out of the Council chamber.
Four-B and six other Blackwater children had gone with her.
They were heading toward the Atlantic coast.
Prime’s signal did not command them violently.
It created a sense of belonging they had never experienced.
Ward proposed blocking all coastal routes.
Claire refused.
“You will turn them into prisoners again.”
“Then how do we stop them?”
“We find out what Pelagos really is.”
The real president authorized a small diplomatic mission.
Claire, Mason, Daniel, Olivia, Rose, Iris, Lily, and Ward would travel.
Rebecca remained with Sarah.
Before they left, Sarah woke briefly.
Her own voice returned.
“Do not let Prime touch Lily.”
“Why?”
“Prime is not calling the children home.”
Sarah struggled to speak.
“She is gathering enough minds to rebuild Silas.”
Claire realized the released subjects carried fragments of Gray Tide’s network.
Prime wanted to combine them.
Sarah held Lily’s hand.
“You can stop her song.”
“How?”
“Sing your own.”
Sarah lost consciousness again.
A naval aircraft carried the group toward Pelagos.
Halfway across the Atlantic, every instrument failed.
The aircraft began descending.
A Pelagos signal guided it safely onto the ocean platform.
Thousands of people waited.
All remained silent.
Prime approached Claire.
They looked like mirror images.
Prime embraced her before Claire could react.
The moment they touched, Claire saw memories that were not hers.
A nursery.
Seven infants.
Miriam standing beside Margaret.
Silas selecting one child.
Claire pulled away.
Prime whispered, “You were not C-Six.”
Claire stared at her.
“Then who was I?”
May you like
Prime smiled.
“You were the child they built the entire project to find.”
