“Don’t let him see you.”The whisper came from behind me.I froze.For half a second, I forgot how to breathe.Marcus raised his weapon.Kane turned toward the sound.Aria grabbed my arm.The corridor outside was dark.The emergency lights had stopped flashing.Only a thin red strip along the floor remained, throwing enough light across the concrete for me to see the doorway.Nothing moved.Then I heard footsteps.Slow.Measured.Coming toward us.Not from outside.From deeper inside the facility.I looked at Marcus.He shook his head once.No sound.No movement.Wait.The footsteps stopped.A man's voice came from the darkness.My voice.“Ethan.”Aria's fingers tightened around my arm.The voice came again.“You shouldn't have opened that door.”My stomach turned.It sounded exactly like me.Not similar.Not close.Me.The same pitch.The same slight rasp in my throat.The same pause before the final word.Marcus moved in front of us.“Stay behind me.”I almost laughed.Not because a

The engine grew louder.Not fast.Heavy.Deliberate.Something large was moving through the jungle.Marcus immediately stepped away from the monitors.“Lights off.”Kane killed the main switch.The room disappeared into darkness.Only the emergency strip along the floor remained.Red.Thin.Barely enough to see.I looked at Aria.She was still pointing toward the jungle.“Under the place where we first met,” I whispered.She nodded.“You're sure?”“No.”Her voice was barely audible.“But I remember being there.”Daniel moved toward the window.“Then we don't have much time.”Marcus looked at him.“Why?”Daniel pulled back the curtain by an inch.Outside, between the trees, a light moved.White.Then another.Headlights.Three vehicles.“No,” Daniel said.“Who are they?” I asked.He released the curtain.“Meridian.”Kane shook his head.“Meridian was dismantled.”Daniel looked at him.“Officially.”Marcus reached for his radio.Nothing.He tried again.Static.“Jammed.”Kane checked hi

The floor moved.Not much.Just enough to make the lights swing overhead.A low vibration traveled through the concrete beneath my boots.I felt it in my knees.Then my chest.Then my teeth.Whatever was below us was enormous.Marcus looked at Daniel.“What exactly is Leviathan?”Daniel didn't answer.The vibration increased.A pipe above us rattled loose.Water sprayed across the wall.Kane grabbed the edge of the control console.“That's not a generator.”“No,” Daniel said.“Then what is it?”Daniel looked at me.“An underwater platform.”I frowned.“That doesn't explain the size.”“It wasn't built as a ship.”He pointed toward the floor.“It was built as a weapon.”Another tremor.Aria grabbed my arm.“Ethan.”“I know.”“No.”She looked frightened.“I've heard that sound before.”“Where?”She closed her eyes.“Under the water.”My stomach tightened.The ocean.The creature we'd seen.The impossible roar.The silver eyes.The words you returned.Maybe none of it had been supernatura

I saw myself.Not a photograph.Not a recording.A man.Sitting in a chair.Alive.He was behind a thick glass partition.His wrists were strapped down.His head hung forward.His hair was longer than mine.His face was thinner.But there was no mistaking him.Me.Or someone who looked exactly like me.Aria stopped beside me.“No.”Her voice barely existed.Marcus raised his weapon.Kane stepped closer.Daniel didn't move.The man behind the glass slowly lifted his head.His eyes opened.He looked directly at me.For several seconds, neither of us spoke.Then he smiled.Not happily.Sadly.Like someone seeing an old friend after years of waiting.“Ethan.”My skin went cold.I stepped toward the glass.“Who are you?”The man laughed quietly.“You still ask that.”“I've never met you.”“You have.”“When?”He looked at Aria.She was frozen.Then back at me.“Before they changed you.”My heart began pounding.Marcus moved beside me.“Step away from the glass.”The man ignored him.“Did th

The screen went black.For several seconds, nobody moved.I stared at my own reflection in the dead monitor.Same eyes.Same scar beneath my left eyebrow.Same face I had seen in mirrors for thirty-two years.Except now I didn't know if it belonged to me.Behind me, Aria whispered my name.“Ethan.”I didn't answer.My eyes remained fixed on the screen.ORIGINAL SUBJECT: ETHAN CROSS.The words had stopped being words.They had become a weapon.A clean, precise blade driven between my ribs.I stepped closer to the monitor.My reflection stepped closer too.I raised my hand.It did the same.“It's lying,” Aria said.Her voice was steady.Too steady.I turned toward her.“You believe that?”“I believe Meridian lies.”“That isn't what I asked.”She hesitated.That was enough.Something inside my chest tightened.“You don't know either.”“No.”The honesty hurt more than a lie.I looked away.Behind the reinforced glass, E.C.-01 stood completely still.He had been watching us the entire time