“Bring me my son.”The words echoed through the chamber.Jack couldn't breathe.Not because of fear.Because something about the voice felt familiar.Not familiar in the way a person recognizes someone they have met before.It was deeper than that.Something inside him recognized it.His heart began beating faster.The voice came again.“Bring me my son.”Ethan grabbed Jack's shirt.“Jack…”Jack looked down at him.“What?”“I know that voice.”Jack froze.“You do?”Ethan nodded slowly.“I heard it before.”“Where?”Ethan pointed toward the floor.“Inside the room.”Jack remembered.The glass room.The voice Ethan had heard when he was younger.The voice that had called him from inside his own memories.Jack looked toward Jace.Jace was already staring at Ethan.“You heard it too?”Ethan nodded.Jace's face tightened.“What did it say?”Ethan swallowed.“It said…”He hesitated.Then whispered:“Don't let them take your brother.”Jack felt a chill move through him.“Which brother?”Etha

The gunshot echoed through Ravenwood High.Jack's body reacted before his mind did.He turned toward the ceiling.Everyone in the chamber had heard it.A second shot followed.Then shouting.Then the unmistakable sound of people running.Ethan flinched.Amy grabbed his shoulder.“Stay with me.”Another burst of noise came from above.Marcus immediately moved toward the sealed entrance.“Everyone stay together.”Jack looked at him.“That's the Council.”Marcus nodded.“I know.”“Adrian said five minutes.”“He wasn't giving us five minutes.”Marcus looked toward the ceiling.“He was giving himself five minutes.”Jack understood.The Council wasn't waiting outside.They were already inside the school.A heavy impact shook the chamber.Dust fell from the ceiling.Danny looked upward.“Please tell me that wasn't what I think it was.”Malcolm shook his head.“Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.”Jack looked at Amy.“Can the journal help us find another exit?”Amy opened it.The p

Jack couldn't move.At the end of the hospital corridor stood Elena.His mother.Except she wasn't the mother he knew.She looked seventeen years younger.Her hair was longer. Her face was thinner. She wore a pale hospital gown beneath a dark cardigan, and she was holding a newborn baby against her chest.Jack stared at the baby.Then at Elena.“Mom?”She looked directly at him.Her eyes filled with tears.“Please.”Jack took one step forward.“Mom?”Elena's lips trembled.“Don't let them take him again.”Jace appeared beside Jack.The moment he saw Elena, he stopped.His expression changed completely.“Mom?”Elena looked at him.For several seconds, she said nothing.Then she smiled.It was a small, exhausted smile.“You're both here.”Jace's eyes widened.“Both?”Elena looked down at the baby.Then back at them.“Yes.”Jack's heart began pounding.The hospital corridor remained completely silent.No alarms.No nurses.No footsteps.Nothing.It was as if the entire building had been

The lights went out.For a moment, nobody moved.Jack heard the breathing around him.Marcus.Elena.Jace.Ethan.Amy.Adrian.Sarah.Miriam.And several others farther down the corridor.Then he heard something else.A heartbeat.Slow.Steady.Coming from somewhere directly behind Sarah.Jack's eyes adjusted to the darkness.He could barely make out the outlines of the people around him.“Don't move,” Marcus said.Jack didn't.A faint click sounded.Then another.Emergency lights flickered on.The corridor returned in dim red light.Sarah was gone.Jack immediately looked toward the place where she had been standing.Empty.“Where did she go?”Marcus looked around.“She was right there.”Miriam was still standing near the wall.She wasn't surprised.Jack noticed.“You knew she'd leave.”Miriam looked at him.“Yes.”“Why didn't you stop her?”“Because you wouldn't have wanted me to.”Jack frowned.“You keep saying things like that.”“I know.”“And somehow everyone seems to know more a

Jack stared down into the opening.The man's face was pale.His hair was longer than Jack remembered from the photographs, his cheeks thinner, and there were faint scars running along his jaw and neck.But the eyes were unmistakable.The same Carter eyes.The same expression Jack had seen in old family photographs.The man looked at him.“Jack.”Jack couldn't answer.Jace stepped closer.“Elias?”The man looked at him.“Yes.”Jace stopped breathing for a moment.The silver-eyed boy standing behind them said nothing.Neither did Marcus.That silence told Jack more than any explanation could have.Jack looked at his father.“Is that him?”Marcus stared into the opening.His eyes filled with tears.“Yes.”Jack turned back.Elias slowly pulled himself out of the underground passage.He struggled to stand.Marcus immediately moved forward to help him.Elias pushed his hand away.“I can stand.”Marcus stopped.For several seconds, the two brothers simply stared at each other.“You're alive,