"And I was there," Sarah repeated.
Elias stood beneath the silver plates, his face pale in their unnatural light.
"Yes."
"What happened to me?"
"I told you. The experiment failed."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I can give you."
Sarah drew her dagger and pressed its tip against his chest.
"Try again."
Elias glanced at the blade.
"You always did this when you were frightened."
Sarah's hand tightened.
"Don't pretend you know me."
"I knew you before you knew yourself."
"Then you should know I'm running out of patience."
For a moment, Elias looked as though he wanted to say something. Instead, he reached into his coat and removed a small brass key.
The black door at the end of the hall began to tremble.
Sarah lowered her dagger slightly.
"What is that key for?"
"The room where the experiment took place."
"You said everyone involved was declared dead."
"They were."
"Then why is there a room?"
"Because the room was never destroyed."
Elias inserted the key into a lock that hadn't been there a moment earlier.
The door opened.
Cold air swept through the hall.
Beyond it lay a circular chamber filled with broken instruments, shattered glass, and long strips of black cloth hanging from the ceiling. Symbols had been carved into every wall.
Sarah stepped inside.
The moment her boots crossed the threshold, the symbols glowed blue.
A memory struck her.
A little girl screaming.
A man shouting her name.
A woman crying, "Close the door!"
Sarah stumbled backward.
Elias caught her arm.
"What did you see?"
She pulled away.
"A girl."
"What else?"
"A room. Fire. Someone was screaming."
Elias looked toward the far wall.
"Then it's beginning."
"What is?"
"Your memory."
Sarah seized his collar.
"Did you know this would happen?"
"Yes."
"Did you bring me here because you wanted me to remember?"
"I brought you here because someone else is trying to make you remember."
A metallic click echoed from the other side of the chamber.
Sarah turned.
A recording device sat on a dusty table. Its small glass indicator flickered to life.
Then a girl's voice filled the room.
"Test number thirteen. Subject: Sarah Blackwood."
Sarah went completely still.
The recording continued.
"Memory suppression successful. Subject believes she is twenty-four years old. Subject's magical abilities remain unstable. Subject must never be allowed to approach the doorway again."
The recording crackled.
A second voice spoke.
Sarah recognized it immediately.
Her own.
"If you're hearing this, Elias has failed."
She stared at the device.
Her recorded voice continued.
"Don't trust him. Don't trust the council. And whatever you do, don't open the door when it calls your name."
The recording stopped.
A slow knock sounded from the black door behind them.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Sarah looked at Elias.
"What door?"
He didn't answer.
She turned toward the center of the chamber.
A second door had appeared in the far wall.
It was tall, made of dark stone, and covered in the same ancient runes that had marked the dead woman in the alley.
Something scratched at the other side.
Sarah raised her dagger.
"Elias."
"I know."
"Tell me there's a reasonable explanation for this."
"There isn't."
"You're becoming remarkably unhelpful."
The scratching stopped.
Then a voice spoke from behind the stone.
"Sarah?"
Her heart lurched.
It was a woman's voice, soft and familiar.
Sarah had heard it in dreams for as long as she could remember.
"Sarah, darling. Please open the door."
She couldn't move.
Elias stepped between her and the doorway.
"Don't listen to it."
Sarah stared at him.
"Who is that?"
"Someone who died thirteen years ago."
The voice on the other side began to cry.
"Please, sweetheart. I'm so cold."
Sarah's dagger trembled in her hand.
"Who is she, Elias?"
He swallowed.
"Your mother."
The chamber fell silent.
Sarah took one step toward the door.
Elias grabbed her wrist.
"She isn't your mother anymore."
Sarah struck his hand away.
"You don't get to decide that."
"Sarah, listen to me! The thing behind that door can use the memories of the dead. It can imitate their voices, their faces, everything you loved about them."
"And how would you know?"
"Because I opened it once."
The runes flared red.
A woman's hand appeared beneath the door, fingers reaching into the room.
Sarah stumbled backward.
The hand was pale, with a thin silver ring around its fourth finger.
She knew that ring.
She had seen it in a photograph in the only childhood book she owned.
Her mother's ring.
The fingers curled against the stone.
Then the woman's voice whispered, no longer crying.
"Ask Elias what he did with your sister."
Sarah turned slowly.
Elias looked as though the floor had vanished beneath him.
"My sister?"
He said nothing.
Sarah raised her dagger again.
"Who is my sister?"
The door shuddered.
From behind it came a laugh, low and delighted.
Then another voice joined the first.
A girl's voice.
"Hello, Sarah."
The runes on the door went dark.
A single line of silver writing appeared across the stone.
SUBJECT THIRTEEN HAS AWAKENED.
Sarah looked at Elias.
For the first time, he wasn't looking at the door.
He was looking at her.
"Sarah," he whispered, "whatever you hear next, don't believe that you're the original."
The chamber lights went out.
And in the darkness, someone who sounded exactly like Sarah began to scream.