The Man in the PhotographThree months after Blackwood Station, Ethan Carter had almost convinced himself that his life was finally becoming ordinary.Almost.The Meridian investigation had consumed the headlines for weeks. Hundreds of classified files had been recovered, powerful officials had resigned, several senior officers had been arrested, and Marcus Hale was awaiting trial.Richard Carter was being held in a maximum-security facility.Daniel Reed had entered witness protection.Amelia was rebuilding the life she had lost.And Lily—Lily had finally stopped asking Ethan whether he was going to disappear again.For the first time in years, Ethan allowed himself to believe that the nightmare was over.He was wrong.The first sign came at 2:17 a.m.Ethan woke to the sound of his phone vibrating on the bedside table.He stared at the screen.UNKNOWN NUMBERHe almost ignored it.Then another message appeared.You buried the wrong man.Ethan sat upright.A second message followed.Lo

The Brother Who StayedThe lights returned.Ethan stood frozen in the middle of the corridor.Lily was gone.For one terrible second, his mind refused to accept it.Then he shouted.“Lily!”His voice echoed through the abandoned hospital.No answer.Rachel ran toward the end of the corridor.“Check every exit!”Ethan followed.The hallway was empty.A door at the far end swung slowly on its hinges.Rachel reached it first.She looked outside.Nothing.Rain fell over the hospital courtyard.Ethan's breathing became faster.“She was right here.”“I know.”“He couldn't have taken her without us seeing.”Rachel looked back at him.“Unless he wasn't alone.”Ethan stopped.The security monitors along the corridor suddenly came alive.Every screen displayed the same image.Lily.She was sitting in a dark room, apparently unharmed.Ethan moved toward the nearest monitor.“Lily!”She looked toward the camera.“Daddy?”“I’m here.”A voice came from behind her.Ethan's own voice.“Hello, brother

The Woman Behind the MirrorThe rain had stopped, but Ethan Carter could still feel the cold beneath his skin.He stood across the street from the abandoned Project Mirror facility, staring at the place where he had spent the last several hours discovering that almost everything he believed about his life had been carefully constructed.His father had lied.His mother had lied.Meridian had lied.His own memories had lied.And now there was a photograph in his hand that threatened to destroy the last certainty he had left.Six people stood in the picture.Richard.Amelia.Daniel.Sarah.Victoria.And a sixth figure whose face had been deliberately scratched away.On the back were four words:THE FIRST MEMORY WAS NEVER ERASED.Ethan read them again.Then he looked at the message on his phone.SHE IS STILL WATCHING.Rachel stood beside him.“You saw her.”Ethan nodded.“I think so.”“Do you believe it was Victoria?”“I don't know what I believe anymore.”Rachel studied his face.“That w

The City of EchoesEthan Carter stared at the screens.Everywhere he looked, he saw his own face.Thousands of them.Perhaps millions.Some appeared on government buildings. Others on apartment towers, public transport displays, phones, and enormous digital billboards.The same eyes.The same jaw.The same expression.But they weren't him.They were copies of an idea.A system.An army.Ethan turned toward Lily.“What happened to this world?”Lily didn't answer immediately.She walked toward the hospital window and looked down at the city.“Your father won.”Ethan's stomach tightened.“Richard?”“Yes.”“When?”“Not yet.”Ethan frowned.“What do you mean?”Lily looked back at him.“This isn't the future you remember.”“I don't remember any future.”“You will.”She placed the file in his hands.“That's why you're here.”Ethan opened it.The first pages contained photographs of people he recognized.Richard Carter.Victoria Carter.Amelia.Sarah.Rachel.His brother.And himself.But the

The Man Inside the MachineFor three days, the world waited for Ethan Carter to return.He didn't.The Mirror Network had collapsed, but its consequences were everywhere.Governments that had been controlled by the network were struggling to regain authority. Thousands of Mirror subjects had awakened without the artificial commands that had governed them. Some remembered fragments of Ethan's memories. Others remembered nothing at all.For the first time in decades, people were free to make their own choices.But freedom came with confusion.And grief.Lily stood alone on the roof of the resistance headquarters, looking over the city.The skyline was different now.The giant Mirror symbols were gone.But she still searched every rooftop.Every street.Every crowd.For one face.Her father's.Rachel approached quietly.“You haven't slept.”Lily didn't turn.“He promised he wouldn't disappear.”Rachel stood beside her.“He didn't.”“You don't know that.”“No.”Rachel looked at the city.