The van drove through the night.
Aria sat in the front seat. Lucas drove. Behind them, the others slept or stared out the windows. The city was far behind now. The mountains rose ahead, dark shapes against the starry sky.
Mina sat in the back. She was not sleeping. She was watching the road. Her green eyes never blinked.
"How much longer?" Aria asked.
"Two hours," Mina said. "The Nursery is deep in the mountains. No roads on any map. August built it himself. Forty years ago."
"Why there?"
"Because no one goes there. No police. No reporters. No curious hikers. August can do whatever he wants. No one will ever know."
Aria looked at the dark trees passing by. Somewhere out there, a monster was waiting. An old man who had been hunting her kind for sixty years.
"What is he like?" she asked. "August. What kind of man is he?"
Mina was quiet for a moment. Then she said: "He is not a man. Not anymore. He died too many times. Came back too many times. Each time, he lost a piece of himself. His kindness. His love. His fear. Now there is nothing left but hunger."
She looked at Aria. "He wants to live forever. He wants to be the only one who remembers. He will kill anyone who gets in his way. Including you. Including me. Including every person in this van."
Aria felt cold. "Then we kill him first."
Mina smiled. It was a sad smile. "Many have tried. All have failed."
"Then they did not have me."
The Checkpoint
The road ended.
Aria stopped the van. Ahead was a gate. Tall. Metal. Barbed wire on top. Two guards stood in front. They held guns. Big ones.
"This is the first checkpoint," Mina said. "There are three more after this. Each one harder than the last."
"How do we get past?"
Mina reached into her bag. She pulled out a folder. Victor's folder. The one Sloane gave them.
"Victor was supposed to visit today. August does not know he is in jail. We use his pass. His codes. His face." She looked at Lucas. "You look like him. Same height. Same build. You go first. Talk to the guards. Give them the pass."
Lucas's face was pale. "What if they know? What if they already heard Victor was arrested?"
"Then we fight." Mina handed him the folder. "But do not show fear. Guards smell fear. Walk like you own the place. Talk like you are angry. Victor was always angry."
Lucas took a deep breath. He opened the door. Got out.
Aria watched him walk toward the guards. His back was straight. His steps were steady. He looked like Victor. Walked like Victor.
The guards looked at his pass. Nodded. Opened the gate.
Lucas got back in the van. His hands were shaking. "That was too easy."
"It gets harder," Mina said.
The Second Checkpoint
They drove for twenty minutes. The road was narrow. Trees pressed close on both sides. The sky was gone. Only darkness.
The second gate was bigger. More guards. Four this time. Dogs too. Big dogs with red eyes and white teeth.
Lucas got out again. Showed the pass. The guards studied it. Studied him.
One guard pointed at the van. "Who is in there?"
"Staff," Lucas said. His voice was cold. Just like Victor's. "New recruits. August wants to see them."
The guard looked at the van. At the dark windows. At the dogs, who were growling.
"Open the back," the guard said.
Lucas did not move. "August will be very angry if you delay his meeting. He does not like to wait."
The guard stared at him. For a long moment, no one moved.
Then the guard stepped back. "Open the gate."
The second gate opened.
Lucas got back in the van. His face was white. "That was too close."
"We are not there yet," Mina said.
The Third Checkpoint
The third gate was different.
No guards. No dogs. Just a wall of solid steel. Ten feet high. Twenty feet wide. No way around. No way over.
Lucas got out. He looked for a door. A keypad. Anything.
Nothing.
"It is a trap," he said. "They know we are coming."
Mina shook her head. "No. This is August's test. He wants to see who is smart enough to get through."
She got out of the van. Walked to the wall. Pressed her hand against the cold steel.
"There is a code," she said. "A hidden door. But only August's people know where."
Aria got out too. She looked at the wall. At the trees. At the ground.
Then she saw it.
A small camera. Hidden in a tree. Pointing at the wall.
"Kai," she called. "Can you hack that camera?"
Kai got out. He had his tablet. His fingers flew across the screen.
"Got it," he said. "The camera feeds to a control room. I can send a loop. Make them think nothing is happening."
"Do it."
Kai typed. The camera's red light blinked once. Then went dark.
Aria walked to the wall. She looked for anything. A seam. A handle. A crack.
Nothing.
Then she remembered. Victor's files. There was a drawing. A map of the Nursery. She had seen it before they left.
"The door is underground," she said. "A tunnel. We need to dig."
Elena grabbed a shovel from the van. She started digging at the base of the wall. The others joined her. Dirt flew. Rocks flew.
Five minutes later, they hit metal.
A trapdoor. Buried under the dirt.
Aria pulled it open. A dark tunnel stretched below.
"Ladies first," Lucas said.
Aria climbed down.
The Tunnel
The tunnel was cold. Dark. Smelled like dirt and old blood.
Aria walked slowly. Her hand was on her gun. The compass was warm in her pocket. Pulsing. Danger was close.
Behind her, the others followed. Elena. David. Kai. Vivienne. Mina. Lucas. The nine.
They walked for ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty.
The tunnel opened into a large room.
Lights. Bright white lights. Tables with machines. Beds with straps. Walls covered in photos. Photos of people. People Aria knew.
The returned souls. All of them. Every person on Victor's list. And more. Dozens more.
"This is where he studies them," Mina said. Her voice was hollow. "This is where he takes them apart. Tries to understand how they work."
Aria looked at the beds. At the straps. At the machines.
"He is a monster," she said.
"Yes," Mina said. "But tonight, he dies."
The Main Building
They found stairs. Climbed up. Reached a door.
Aria pushed it open.
They were inside the main building. Big hallways. Gold lights. Paintings on the walls. It looked like a palace. A palace built on bones.
A guard walked by. He did not see them. Elena took him down. Quiet. Fast. No noise.
They moved through the hallways. Room by room. Guard by guard.
Finally, they reached a big door. Wood. Gold handles. Behind it, voices. Laughter.
August was having dinner.
Aria kicked the door open.
The Dinner
The room was big. A long table. Candles. Food. Wine.
At the head of the table sat an old man. White hair. Black eyes. He was eating a steak. Drinking red wine.
He looked up at Aria. Smiled.
"You are late," he said. "I was starting to think you would not come."
Aria raised her gun. "August Black. You are under arrest."
August laughed. It was a cold sound. "Arrest? By who? You have no badge. No police. No army. Just a group of broken people with nothing but hope."
He stood up. He was taller than she expected. Stronger.
"I have been doing this for sixty years," he said. "I have killed more returned souls than you have ever met. I have studied them. Taken them apart. Learned their secrets." He walked toward her. "What makes you think you are different?"
Aria did not step back. "Because I am not afraid of you."
August stopped. His black eyes studied her.
"No," he said slowly. "You are not. That is interesting."
He walked back to the table. Picked up his wine.
"Sit," he said. "Eat. We have much to discuss."
Aria did not move.
"Sit," August said again. His voice was harder. "Or your friends die."
The lights went out.
Gunfire exploded from everywhere.
The Fight
Aria hit the ground. Bullets flew over her head. Glass shattered. Wood splintered.
She crawled behind a table. Elena was beside her. Lucas was across the room.
"How many?" Elena shouted.
"I do not know!"
Aria looked at the compass. It was hot. Burning her hand. Danger was everywhere.
She raised her gun. Fired at the flashes. One guard fell. Two. Three.
Then silence.
The lights came back on.
August was gone.
The guards were dead. Six of them. But the old man had escaped.
"He ran," Lucas said. "Downstairs. To the basement."
Aria ran after him.
The Basement
The basement was dark. Cold. Smelled like death.
Aria ran down the stairs. Her feet pounded on the metal. The compass was screaming. Hot. Bright.
She reached the bottom.
August was there. Standing in front of a machine. Big. Metal. Wires everywhere.
"You are too late," he said. "The machine is ready. I have been building it for thirty years. It will stop the returns. No one will ever come back again. Only me."
He pressed a button.
The machine hummed. Glowed. Shook.
Aria raised her gun. "Turn it off."
"No."
She fired.
The bullet hit the machine. Sparks flew. Fire erupted.
August screamed. Not from pain. From rage.
"You ruined it!" he shouted. "Thirty years of work! Gone!"
He lunged at her.
Aria fired again.
August fell.
The End
August Black lay on the floor. His black eyes were open. Staring at nothing.
Aria stood over him. Her hands were shaking.
"Is he dead?" Lucas asked. He was behind her. Breathing hard.
"I do not know," Aria said. "With him, you never know."
Mina walked over. Looked at August's body. Then at the burning machine.
"It is over," she said. "The Nursery is done. His soldiers are gone. His machine is broken."
She looked at Aria. "You did it. You really did it."
Aria looked at her hands. At the gun. At the body on the floor.
She did not feel happy. She did not feel sad. She felt nothing.
"Let us go home," she said.
The Return
They drove back to the city as the sun rose.
The mountains turned pink and gold. The trees were green. Birds sang. The world was beautiful.
Aria sat in the front seat. Lucas drove. Behind them, the others slept. Exhausted. Safe.
"What happens now?" Lucas asked.
"Now we build," Aria said. "Something new. Something better. A place where returned souls do not have to hide. Where they can live. Work. Be happy."
Lucas nodded. "And us? What happens to us?"
Aria looked at him. At his gray eyes. At the man who had destroyed her in another life. Who had saved her in this one.
"I do not know," she said. "But we have time. We have time to figure it out."
She leaned her head against the window. Watched the city appear on the horizon.
The concrete jungle. Her home. Her kingdom.
She had died here. She had been born again here.
And now, she would build something that would last forever.
NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW:
Aria builds her new empire. But old enemies do not stay dead. Someone from August's past comes looking for revenge. And a new threat appears from the shadows. Someone who has been watching longer than anyone. Someone who knows the real secret of the returns. The war is not over. It is just beginning.