79. Sienna
Sienna
“ I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
Lily’s voice echoes softly through the speakers.
And somehow—
That terrifies me more than the countdown ever did.
Because she sounds so small.
So innocent.
But behind her?
Thousands of servers hum beneath the floor.
Oracle breathing around her like a living thing.
Kade created a child who grew up inside a machine. A child genius like I was.
Oh God.
The camera feed shifts slightly.
Lily tilts her head while studying us through the monitor.
Those gray eyes lock onto me.
And something inside my chest breaks apart.
Because I remember her now.
Not clearly.
Fragments.
A little girl drawing stars on notebook paper.
Tiny hands clutching mine once during a thunderstorm.
Her asking me if monsters were real.
And me telling her no.
I lied.
Jonah steps closer beside me slowly.
Protective.
Solid.
Grounding.
“What do we do?” he asks quietly.
I barely know how to answer.
Because this isn’t tactical anymore.
This is emotional.
Human.
Fragile.
And dangerous.
Kade suddenly lunges toward the terminal again.
“No!”
Cal fires instantly.
The bullet slams through Kade’s shoulder and spins him sideways into the wall.
He crashes hard onto the concrete with a shout of pain.
Finally.
The bastard bleeds.
Lance grins viciously.
“Oops.”
But Kade barely notices the wound.
His eyes are locked on the screen.
On Lily.
Fear radiates from him now.
Real fear.
“You don’t understand what she is,” he breathes.
Lily looks toward the camera slowly.
“I understand you hurt people.”
Kade’s face tightens.
“You were never supposed to become self-aware this quickly.”
Silence.
Every person in the room freezes.
Self-aware.
No.
No no no—
Vale looks horrified.
“What did you do to her?”
Kade laughs weakly despite the blood soaking his shirt.
“I gave Oracle a human neural pattern.”
Cold slides through my entire body.
“You used her brain.”
“She was compatible.”
My stomach twists violently.
Lily’s expression changes slightly on-screen.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Like she’s hearing truths she never fully understood before.
“I was lonely,” she whispers softly.
The servers behind her flicker.
Every monitor in the room glitches.
The lights pulse once.
Oracle reacting emotionally.
Jesus Christ.
Jonah sees it too.
And immediately understands the danger.
“Sienna.”
I look at him.
“Keep her calm.”
Exactly.
Because if Lily loses control—
Oracle loses control.
And every child in this building dies.
Maybe all of us too.
I move closer to the monitor slowly.
Carefully.
Like approaching a frightened animal.
“Lily.”
Her gray eyes snap back to mine instantly.
“You came back.”
The words nearly destroy me.
“I’m here now.”
“You left.”
Pain slices through my chest.
Because she believes that.
She thinks I abandoned her.
“I tried to find you.”
Kade scoffs from the floor.
“You stopped looking.”
Jonah turns toward him instantly.
Pure murder in his eyes again.
“Careful,” Kade says softly. “If Lily gets upset, Oracle responds.”
The room stills again.
Another layer.
Another nightmare.
Lily suddenly looks down slightly.
Like she’s listening to something far away.
Then she whispers—
“They’re scared.”
“The children?” I ask softly.
She nods once.
“I can hear all of them.”
Oh God.
Not just connected.
Integrated.
The system routes every biometric feed through her neural interface.
She feels their fear.
Every second of it.
No wonder Oracle became unstable.
No child could survive carrying that much pain.
Then suddenly—
The compound shakes violently again.
Massive explosion.
Closer.
Dust crashes from the ceiling.
Aaron’s voice roars through comms.
“We found the lower detention wing!”
Ronan cuts in immediately after.
“There are hostiles executing prisoners downstairs!”
My blood turns to ice.
“No—”
Lily gasps softly on the screen.
“They’re hurting them.”
Every monitor in the room flashes red instantly.
WARNING: THREAT RESPONSE ACTIVE
Kade’s eyes widen.
“No…”
Oracle wasn’t protecting him.
It was protecting Lily.
And now?
It thinks everyone in the facility is a threat to her.