The sound of the gunshot echoed long after the smoke faded.
Ayla dropped to her knees beside Elian. Blood soaked through his uniform shirt, warm
and thick against her hands.
"Elian!" Her voice cracked. "Stay with me."
His eyes fluttered open. "Get…the drive."
The man stepped forward, gun still raised. "Too late."
Ayla's heartbeat pounded in her ears. She saw the flash drive near the fountain, glinting
faintly under the moonlight. She needed to move, but her body wouldn't listen.
The man crouched and reached for it.
Elian coughed, then grabbed the man's ankle, jerking it hard. The gun slipped. A shotfired into the air.
Ayla didn't think. She dove for the drive, hit the ground, and rolled behind a stone pillar.
"Stay down!" Elian yelled, voice rough.
The man cursed and kicked him aside. "You should've stayed quiet, boy."
He raised the gun again.
Ayla leapt up from behind the pillar, holding a broken shard of glass from the fountain.
Without thinking, she swung it across the man's arm.
He howled and dropped the gun.
She kicked it away, grabbed Elian's hand, and pulled him toward the gate.
"Move!" she shouted.
They ran, stumbling through the courtyard as the fire alarms blared around them.
When they reached the back exit, Elian collapsed against the wall, breathing hard.
"You're bleeding too much," she said. "We need help."
"No hospitals," he rasped. "They'll find us."
"Who?" she demanded.
He looked up at her, eyes glassy with pain. "Whoever sent him. Whoever wants that
drive destroyed."
She glanced at the small black device in her hand. "What's on it that's worth killing
for?"
He swallowed. "Names. Accounts. Experiments."
Her blood ran cold. "Experiments?"
He nodded. "Your name is in there too."Ayla froze. "What are you saying?"
He pushed himself upright, gripping her shoulder. "The fire ten years ago wasn't the
first one. It was a cover-up."
Her throat tightened. "Cover-up for what?"
"For the files on you."
The world tilted. The smoke. The lost years. The nightmares. "You're lying," she
whispered.
"I wish I was," he said. "You weren't supposed to remember. That's why they erased
you."
Ayla staggered back. "You're making no sense."
He took a step forward. "Ayla, you were never supposed to come back to this school."
She shook her head, her pulse racing. "Stop."
He reached for her, but she stepped away. "You've been lying since the start. Every
secret, every half-truth—it all leads back to you."
His voice cracked. "I was trying to protect you."
"By keeping me blind?" she said bitterly.
He looked broken. "By keeping you alive."
Before she could respond, flashing lights cut through the smoke. Police cars. Sirens
blared.
Elian's expression hardened. "They'll take me in. You have to go."
"No," she said. "I'm not leaving you again."
He grabbed her wrist, pressing the flash drive into her palm. "You have to find what's
inside. It's the only way to stop this."
"Where do I go?""Room 403," he said. "The old archive. Everything starts there."
"Then come with me," she pleaded.
He gave her a faint smile. "Not this time."
The sound of footsteps closed in. Officers shouting.
"Elian!" she screamed as they surrounded him.
He raised his hands, blood still dripping down his arm.
They dragged him away while she stood frozen in the dark, clutching the flash drive like
a lifeline.
The fire raged behind her, lighting up the night sky.
Her mind spun with his words. Your name is in there.
If that was true, everything she believed about herself was a lie.
She looked at the flash drive in her hand. "Room 403," she whispered.