Chapter 3

Torrential rain. Endless, merciless rain.

On the holographic screen, the view shook violently. This was my point of view.

Static burst across the display, a shriek of electricity like a blade dragged over glass. The brainwave readout spiked and convulsed, red lights flashing in alarm.

"Breakthrough... first layer..." The lead technician's voice trembled.

No one spoke. There was only the rain hammering the roof and the low, droning hum of the machines.

Agony surged through me—like someone was carving into my skull with a rusted knife, inch by inch.

Blood slid from my nostrils, dripping onto the silver-white restraint suit.

The static thinned.

An image appeared.

In it, I was running through the rain under an umbrella, sprinting toward the abandoned old research building behind the campus.

"Laura! Laura, where are you!" My voice, in the memory, cracked with despair.

Out in the real world, on the plaza, everyone held their breath.

Because everyone knew—that rainy night, in that derelict building, was where Laura had encountered the monster.

"Finally, we're getting somewhere." Zayne's eyes were locked on the screen, his hands gripping the edge of the console so hard his knuckles had gone white.

The memory pushed forward. I shoved open the rusted iron door.

A flash of lightning lit the room, and what appeared on the screen made everyone gasp.

Laura lay sprawled on the dust-covered floor, her clothes in tatters. Her fair skin was mottled with bruises and streaked with blood. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, like a broken doll.

"Laura!" In the memory, I threw myself down beside her, tearing off my coat to wrap around her trembling body.

"Helen..." Laura's voice was barely a whisper, swallowed by the rain. She clutched my arm, her nails digging into my flesh. "Save me... it hurts so much..."

Muffled sobs rippled through the crowd of girls in the audience.

Zayne's eyes went red instantly, and a tear slid down his cheek. His jaw clenched so tight the muscle stood out.

"Who did this? Who did this to her?!" In the memory, I roared with fury.

Laura raised a trembling hand and pointed weakly down the endless corridor.

The viewpoint on the screen snapped around.

At the far end of the hallway, swallowed in deep shadow, stood the silhouette of a tall man. He was calmly straightening his expensive suit jacket.

"Stop right there!" In the memory, I charged forward like I'd lost my mind.

The man turned—

And in that exact instant, in the real world, I let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"AAAAAH—!"

With the last shred of clarity and strength left in my soul, I slammed my subconscious defenses up to their absolute limit.

The moment the man's face began to turn toward the camera, the image dissolved into a storm of static! The screech of electricity tore through the plaza's speakers.

"What's happening?!" Zayne slammed his fist on the console. "Get the image back! Now!"

"Zayne, her subconscious is fighting back—it's a suicide defense!" The technician was drenched in sweat, fingers flying over the keyboard. "She's built a logic lockdown in her brain. If we force through it, the blood vessels in her brain will blow. She'll die on the spot!"

"Then let her die!"

Zayne had completely lost control. He lunged forward like an enraged animal and grabbed the technician by the collar. "I just need that man's face! I need to know who destroyed Laura! Increase the output! Break through it!"

"But—"

"No buts! That's an order!"

The technician's hands shook as he punched in the command to force the override at full power.

A high-pitched whine surged through the equipment.

Even higher-frequency current tore into my brain without mercy. The pain ripped through my nerves, and blood began seeping from all seven orifices of my face.

Warm blood trickled from the corners of my eyes, my nostrils, my mouth, my ears, dripping down onto the silver-white restraint suit—a horrifying sight.

My heart slammed against my ribs like it might burst any second.

I could feel the metal restraints rattling against my convulsing body, the joints groaning as if they were about to snap.

My muscles spasmed beyond my control, and my bones twisted beneath my skin with a sound that made my stomach turn.

"Helen, why are you protecting him?!"

Zayne rushed to me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me violently, nearly out of his mind.

"How much did he pay you?! Enough that you'd throw away your own life to protect him?! Laura treated you like a sister! You're a heartless monster!"

I forced my eyes open through the blur of blood and looked up at him.

His handsome face was streaked with tears, twisted with a wild, uncontainable rage.

Zayne, you're wrong.

I never betrayed Laura.

And this was never about money—not some filthy payoff.

But I had no choice.

Even if you hate me for the rest of your life, even if everyone brands me a heartless monster, I have to keep this rotting secret buried in my own subconscious, and drag it down to hell with me.

"Just... just kill me..." My voice was a broken, barely audible plea. "Zayne... please... end this..."

"You think you get to die that easy?"

Zayne's jaw was clenched so tight the words came out strangled. "I'm going to make you watch that bastard get dragged out into the light with your own eyes. I'm going to make you kneel at Laura's grave and beg for forgiveness."

Just then, the static on the screen flickered strangely.

My body's systems were on the verge of total collapse, and Zayne's scalding tears fell heavily onto the back of my hand—

In that one unguarded second, that single crack of disorientation, the unbreakable wall of my subconscious finally split open with a fatal fracture.