I didn't sleep that night.Not because of the voice.Not because of the island.Not even because of the file with my name on it.I couldn't sleep because of Marcus.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the look on his face when he had asked me one question.Tell me it’s nothing.I had failed to answer.And now there was no way to take that moment back.I sat alone in the secure facility's observation room, staring through reinforced glass at the empty corridor beyond.The clock on the wall read 03:17.The same number printed on the final page of the file.Seventeen.I rubbed my eyes.Then looked at the folder again.The photograph on top showed an ocean.Nothing remarkable.Dark water.Gray sky.A horizon that could have belonged anywhere.But written beneath it was a coordinate.The same coordinate the voice had called from.The same place connected to missing aircraft, vanished researchers, dead radio signals, and a facility that had supposedly disappeared seventeen years ago.And som

By sunrise, I no longer had a career.By noon, I no longer had a home.By evening, the military was looking for me.And by midnight, I was sitting in a motel room with a forged passport, a stolen identity, and a pilot's license that said I was someone I had never been.My name was still Ethan Cross.But the world was already beginning to forget it.I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the license in my hand.DANIEL REED.Age thirty-four.Commercial pilot.Private aviation certification.Clean medical record.No criminal history.No military connection.A man who had apparently spent the last six years flying charter aircraft across three continents.A man who didn't exist.I turned the card over.The hologram caught the weak yellow light above me.For several seconds, I simply stared at it.Then I laughed under my breath.I'd spent twelve years learning how to identify forged documents.Now I was holding one.Mine.My phone buzzed.I didn't answer.It buzzed again.Then again.I

The creature stepped out of the jungle.I forgot to breathe.It was enormous.Not the largest animal I'd ever seen, but large enough to make every survival instinct in my body scream at me to run.Its shoulders rose above the lower branches.Its body was covered in dark, wet-looking fur that seemed almost black beneath the moonlight.Four legs.Long claws.A head shaped like something nature had designed without ever asking permission.Its eyes were the worst part.Pale.Almost silver.They reflected the runway lights as it watched me.It didn't charge.It simply stood there.Watching.Waiting.My pistol remained raised.Aria's hand tightened around my arm.“Don't.”“You said that already.”“And I'm saying it again.”“What is it?”She swallowed.“I don't know.”I glanced at her.“You expect me to believe that?”“I've lived here for three years.”That stopped me.“Three years?”She nodded.“And you've never seen it before?”“I've seen it.”Her eyes remained fixed on the creature.“Just

The island screamed.Not metaphorically.Not in some distant, imagined way.It screamed.The sound came from beneath our feet and above our heads at the same time, a vibration so deep that I felt it in my teeth.People scattered.Stone cracked.Blue fire erupted along the walls.Someone shouted for everyone to get back.Another voice screamed that the chamber was collapsing.I stood frozen.The enormous eye beneath the floor stared upward.It wasn't an eye in the normal sense.There was no visible creature attached to it.No eyelid.No face.Just a massive golden iris embedded beneath layers of ancient stone.And it was looking directly at me.Not at the people around me.Not at Aria.Me.My body reacted before my mind did.I grabbed Aria and pulled her backward.“Move!”We ran.The crowd surged toward the corridor.Stone fell from the ceiling.I grabbed an old man before a piece struck him and shoved him forward.“Keep moving!”He stumbled.“Where?”“Anywhere away from this!”A crack

The woman was gone.No footprints.No movement.No sound.Just trees.Endless trees.I stood there staring into the darkness long after everyone else had stopped looking."Which one of you is real?"Her words wouldn't leave my head.I looked at the two women beside me.Both were breathing.Both were watching me.Both looked terrified.And both had the same name.Aria.That wasn't possible.But then again, nothing about this island was possible."Ethan."I turned.The hostess was staring at me."Are you all right?""Yes."It was a lie.She knew it.So did the other Aria."You're lying," she said.I looked at her."You've known me for three years."She nodded."Then you know I lie when I'm scared."Her expression softened."I know."The hostess looked between us."Three years?"The other Aria hesitated."Yes.""How long have you been here?""Three years."The hostess swallowed."That's impossible.""Why?""Because I was on that plane."She pointed toward the empty runway."I took off le