He was younger than I remembered but exhausted, as though he had not slept in days. Behind him was the same laboratory in which we were standing.
“Mara,” he began, “if you are watching this, then I am gone. You have found the drive, which means Project Eclipse survived. It also means your children are in danger.”
His voice shook.
“I am sorry I could not explain this while I was alive. They were watching us constantly.”
He glanced behind him.
“The project was never truly about creating soldiers. That was only the explanation given to government officials. Its real purpose was to preserve something much older—something discovered before my lifetime.”
My heart hammered against my ribs.
“The shield engraved on the drive is not merely an emblem. It is a map. The four sections represent four separate locations. Each location contains part of the original research. When the pieces are brought together, they reveal the truth.”
He leaned closer.
“But gathering them will make you a target.”
His next words nearly stopped my heart.
“The children you will one day carry are not accidents, Mara. They are the final result of everything Eclipse attempted to produce. They are the first fully successful generation.”
I looked at my children.
Caleb held Ivy’s hand.
Noah stared at the screen.
Emma stood close to Ethan.
“The people behind Eclipse will believe the children belong to them,” my father continued. “They will use every military, political, and scientific connection they possess to reclaim them.”
He looked over his shoulder again.
“I have created safeguards. There are people who may help you. But you must never trust anyone completely.”
He paused.
“Not even yourself.”
Then, impossibly, he smiled.
That expression broke something open inside me.
“I love you, Mara. I have always loved you. And I am proud of the woman you became.”
The recording cut to black.
No one moved or spoke.
For twenty years, I had believed my father died without leaving me an explanation.
Now his voice had left me a map, a warning, and a war.
I drew out the drive and closed my hand around it.
“Tessa, bring up offline maps of the western territories. Search for four facilities positioned in a pattern matching the shield.”
She moved toward the terminal.
Ethan stood beside me.
“What did your father mean by something older?”
“I do not know.”
“But you intend to find out.”
“Yes.”
He looked at the children.
“Then we are going with you.”
I studied him.
Eight years of silence remained between us.
One night of truth could not erase it.
But the future belonged to all of us now.
“We go together,” I said.
Outside, the wind rose through the mountain valley.
Four locations were waiting somewhere beyond the snow.
My father’s final warning echoed in my mind.
Trust no one completely.
Not even yourself.I closed my fist around the drive and faced the door.
