The first thing she heard was the rain.
Soft, steady, rhythmic. Not like outside rain this one sounded contained, like it was falling just above her, trapped behind something glassy.
Then came the smell: antiseptic and something faintly metallic.
Then the light dull yellow, a bare bulb swinging slowly above.
And finally, the pain.
Maya groaned, pressing a hand to her temple. Her fingers brushed a bandage. The air was cool on her skin. She sat up too fast and the room swayed, color bleeding at the edges.
A voice broke through the hum. "Careful."
Rowan.
He was seated in a chair by the window, half in shadow. His shirt was torn, a bruise darkening the edge of his jaw.
She blinked. "Where are we?"
He didn't look at her immediately. "Safe enough for now."
"That's not an answer."
He sighed, then finally faced her. His eyes looked heavier somehow. "An abandoned medical post near the border. No one comes here anymore."
"How long?"
"Eighteen hours."
Her breath caught. "Eighteen hours?"
"You were unconscious."
"And you stayed?"
He gave a half-smile. "You say that like I had better company waiting outside."
She pressed her palm against her forehead. "The car"
"Gone," he said. "Left it on the main road. Someone will find it, but not us."
Her voice trembled. "The recorder?"
That made him pause. Just a second but it was enough.
"Rowan," she said. "Where is it?"
He looked at the floor. "It wasn't with you when I pulled you out."
"You're lying."
"No."
"Then where"
"I don't know, Maya." His voice rose for the first time. "When I came to, the windshield was gone, the rain was coming in sideways, and you were bleeding. The recorder wasn't in the car."
She swallowed hard. "So, it's out there."
He didn't answer.
Her pulse began to race. "You don't understand. She's out there with it."
"Maya"
"You said it yourself! The echo follows the signal. I'm the signal. If she's got the recorder"
He stood suddenly, crossing the space between them in three steps. "Stop. You need to breathe."
"Don't tell me to breathe," she snapped. "You should've destroyed that thing the night we found it."
He stared at her for a long moment. Then, quietly, "And would you have let me?"
The question hit her like a slap.
She looked away. "I don't know."
"Yes, you do."
"Don't."
"You wanted to hear her again."
"Rowan."
"You needed to hear her again."
"Stop it."
"She said your name. She made you feel"
"Enough!" she shouted, the word cracking through the still air.
Silence swallowed them both.
Maya stood, the sheet falling from her lap. Her legs shook but she held. "You think I want this?"
"I think you want answers."
"Then give me one," she said. "What happens if she finds me before we find her?"
Rowan exhaled, rubbing his neck. "Then she completes the loop."
"The loop?"
"She becomes what she was built to mirror."
"Which is?"
"You."
Her breath hitched. "You mean she'll replace me."
He didn't speak.
"Rowan," she whispered. "You mean she'll erase me."
"Not erase," he said softly. "Rewrite."
Something cold slid down her spine.
She sank onto the bed again, her hands trembling. "So that's why you came for me. You didn't want me you wanted to control her."
"That's not true."
"Then tell me why, Rowan. Tell me why the man who ruined her thinks he can save me."
His jaw clenched. "Because I couldn't save her, Maya. And I'm not going to lose you too."
She blinked. "You don't even know me."
He took a step closer. "Don't I?"
"No."
"I've listened to your voice for months," he said, voice low, rough. "I know the way you inhale before you lie. The way you say fine when you mean don't ask. The way you fall silent when you're breaking."
She didn't move. "That's not knowing someone. That's surveillance."
"It's survival."
Her throat tightened. "Is that what this is to you?"
He didn't answer. The silence between them was heavy, electric.
She could feel his heartbeat from across the room or maybe it was hers echoing too loudly.
Maya whispered, "Why does it feel like we've had this conversation before?"
He met her eyes. "Because maybe we have."
Her pulse skipped. "What do you mean?"
He hesitated. "Amelia used to ask me the same thing."
Maya's stomach turned. "Don't."
"She said it after the second simulation right before she"
"Don't," she said again, louder.
He stopped.
They stood in that fragile quiet, breathing the same air but not touching it.
Then faintly, from the corner of the room came a whisper.
"You left me behind."
Maya froze. "Rowan."
He turned toward the sound.
"You said she'd be safe."
Her voice. Not Amelia's. Hers.
Maya clutched the bed frame. "Tell me you hear that."
Rowan's face drained of color. "It's the radio."
"There's no radio."
He looked around the empty room except for the single bed, the chair, the faint swing of light.
The whisper again, clearer now, curling under the sound of rain.
"You said she wouldn't remember."
Maya backed away until she hit the wall. "Rowan, what is happening to me?"
"It's residual auditory imprint," he said automatically, like reciting a textbook to keep from believing.
"Say it in English."
"It means she's found a way to speak through you."
Maya's breath came in short bursts. "No."
"She's syncing."
"No."
He stepped closer. "Listen to me"
"I can't."
"You never listen," the whisper said, right behind her ear this time.
She spun. Nothing.
Her chest rose and fell too fast.
Rowan reached for her arm; she jerked away. "Don't touch me."
"Maya"
"She's inside me!" she screamed.
His hands went up. "I know."
"You know?"
"I saw it happen to Amelia."
That name again. That ghost between them.
Her voice cracked. "Then why didn't you warn me?"
"I thought I could stop it before it reached this point."
"Liar."
"Maya"
"You thought you could fix your guilt through me."
He didn't deny it.
Tears blurred her vision. "What happens now?"
Rowan's voice broke. "We find Voss. He's the only one who can sever the connection."
"And if we don't?"
He hesitated. "Then she'll take over."
Maya laughed but the sound wasn't laughter at all. "So that's it? She replaces me and I become the echo?"
His silence was answer enough.
"Unbelievable," she muttered. "You built a ghost and now you can't tell which one of us is real."
He closed the distance between them. "I know exactly which one is real."
She looked up at him. "Prove it."
For a moment, neither of them breathed.
Then he kissed her.
It wasn't gentle, it was desperation disguised as relief. Her hands went to his shirt, clinging. The world outside disappeared into heartbeat and heat and the sound of two people trying to forget where they began.
When they broke apart, her voice was barely there. "Did that help you decide?"
He touched his forehead to hers. "No," he said. "It made it worse."
Lightning flashed outside the window, splitting the sky white.
The whisper came again closer this time, inside her pulse.
"He always chooses the echo."
Maya's body went rigid.
Rowan's eyes widened. "Maya?"
She clutched her head. "She's speaking through me."
"He'll never save you," the voice said.
Her lips moved, but it wasn't her.
Rowan stepped back. "Stop please stop."
"He killed me once. He'll do it again."
"Shut up!" Maya shouted.
"He doesn't love you."
"Stop!"
The light overhead flickered, then burst. Glass rained onto the floor.
Rowan lunged forward, catching her as she fell. Her body shook, eyes wide open but unfocused.
He whispered her name repeatedly until the shaking stopped.
She blinked up at him, dazed. "Rowan?"
"I'm here."
"What happened?"
"You fainted."
"No." Her voice cracked. "She spoke."
"I know."
The window shuddered. The rain had stopped.
Maya turned her head slowly toward it and froze.
Outside, through the cracked pane, stood a figure.
Female. Still. Watching.
Her face was blurred, but the outline was unmistakable.
Maya whispered, "Amelia."
Rowan followed her gaze. "No."
The figure lifted her palm open, almost tender.
Then, in a voice that was both inside and outside the room
"Time to remember."
The bulb above them flickered once, twice.
Then everything went dark