Chapter 16 The Weight of Secrets #2
She wiped at her face. “You’re seeing things. Feeling watched. Just like Reenie did. And now—” Her voice steadied, hardened. “—and now they’re actually coming for you in broad daylight. Just like they came for her.”
My stomach twisted.
“I’m not Reenie,” I said.
“No,” Candace agreed, voice breaking. “But you’re walking the same path by digging into the same company.
And they’re already hunting you.” She stopped, turning back to me with terrifying intensity.
“I’m not worried about me. I know how to survive corporate monsters. You don’t have those tools yet.”
She shook her head. “You’re coming home. Tonight.”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
“Pack your things. You’re staying with me, where I can keep you safe, until we figure this out.”
“Mom, I can’t just leave—”
“Why not?” She squared her shoulders. “Give me one good reason why you can’t leave a situation where you’re being actively hunted.”
“Because Amy’s in the hospital!” The words burst out of me. “Because other students are in trouble! Because if I run, more people will get hurt, and no one will stop them!”
“That’s not your responsibility!”
“Then whose is it?” I shot back. “Who’s going to fight them if we don’t?”
“‘We?’” Candace’s expression shifted, something like horror dawning in her eyes. “Who else is involved? Luz? That boy Leo?”
I didn’t answer, which was answer enough.
“Jesus Christ, Melanie,” She breathed, her face pale. “How many people are you dragging into this?”
“I’m not dragging anyone!” I snapped. “They’re choosing to help because it’s the right thing to do!”
“The right thing?” Candace let out a bitter laugh. “You’re going to get yourselves killed. All of you. This isn’t some campus protest or petition—these people may have killed my sister. They’re hunting you in the streets. And you think you and your friends can just… what? Fight back?”
“Yes!” The word tore out of me. “Because someone has to!”
“Not you!” She shouted, tears streaming down her face. “Not my daughter! This isn’t your fight, Melanie. You’re coming home, and that’s final.”
“No.” The word came out icy.
“It’s not up for debate, young lady—”
“I’m not leaving them.” My voice shook with fury. “I will never move back into your bubble when my friends need me!”
“Melanie, be reasonable—” Candace started, but I wasn’t hearing it.
“You knew Reenie was on to something big, and you chose not to listen to her. You chose to dismiss her!” I hissed.
My mother flinched as though I’d slapped her.
“You know what? You’re right, I am like Reenie,” I pushed on, my voice shaking now but refusing to stop. “Reenie always stood up for what’s right. I’d much rather be like Reenie than anything like you!I’m not abandoning my friends like you abandoned Aunt Reenie. I would rather die.”
The words hung between us, and something cold dropped through my chest. The look of supreme hurt that passed across her face made my hands shake.
Heat crawled up my neck, shame mixing with fury in a way that made me want to scream or cry or take it all back.
But I couldn’t. The words were already out there, already cutting into her, and I was still so angry I couldn’t make myself apologize.
For a long moment, she just stared at me. Then her expression crumbled completely.
“Fine,” she said, defeated. “You’re not going to listen. You’ve already made up your mind.”
She shoved a file folder against my chest. It was overstuffed, papers threatening to spill out.
“What is this?” I asked.
“Everything.” Her voice was empty now, all the fight drained out of it.
“Reenie’s journal. Everything I could find on Ekklesia.
Corporate filings, shell companies, whistleblower testimony that vanished from the internet.
People who worked there and vanished.” She met my eyes, and I saw absolute exhaustion.
“They’re not running a study, Melanie. They’re building something.
And they’re using you and your friends as raw materials. ”
My hands went numb around the folder. “Why are you giving this to me now?”
“Because apparently I can’t protect you.” She choked on a sob. “You’ve made your choice. So here. At least read it so you can know the names of the monsters when they come for you.”
She looked at me one more time, tears brimming in her eyes.
“I love you,” she whispered. “Even when you hate me for it. I love you.”
Then she turned on her heel and walked away, her green umbrella bobbing as she disappeared into the wet dark of the parking lot.
I didn’t call after her.
The dorm room was dark except for the soft glow of my desk lamp, still on from earlier. I dropped the file onto my bed and stared at it.
Nerves coiled in my belly. Once I knew, I couldn’t unknow it, and that thought was terrifying.
I stood in the middle of the room, wet clothes clinging to my skin, heart thudding like it was trying to punch its way out of my ribs. I backed away from the folder like it was radioactive.
The door opened behind me.
Luz stepped inside and froze. She looked haunted. Her usually vibrant energy was gone, replaced by something hollow. Her eyes were bloodshot, her curls damp and wild from rain. But it was her expression that made my stomach drop.
She looked at me like I wasn’t her best friend, but a stranger wearing a familiar face.
“Luz?” I asked, instantly alert. “What happened?”
She didn’t answer right away, hovering near the door like she wasn’t sure she wanted to come in.
“She’s not coming back tonight,” she said finally, voice barely audible. “Amy. Her vitals dropped again. Heart rate, oxygen saturation. The doctors said she stabilized for a while, but then…” She trailed off, biting her lip hard. “They’re keeping her for further observation. No visitors.”
I felt like I’d been shoved off a ledge. “Is she—? I mean, is she okay?”
“I don’t know.” Luz tensed. “They wouldn’t tell me much. They’re running more tests.”
“Tests?” My voice rose an octave. “Gods, Luz, what’s happening to her?”
Luz sat slowly on her bed, her hands were trembling in her lap.
“Luz?” My voice dropped. “Did something else happen?”
She looked up at me, and her eyes were wrong. Not the color, not the shape, but something deeper, like someone else was looking out through them. Someone who’d seen things no college student should know.
“I keep seeing things,” she said. “Things that happened so long ago, to a version of me that doesn’t exist.” Her hands twisted together. “And the worst part is… they feel more real than this does somehow.”
My skin went cold. “What kind of things?”
She shook her head. “I can’t—Mel, I… I can’t.” She looked at me with something like grief. “You’re not ready to hear it yet.”
“What do you mean?” My chest constricted, and my voice rose. “Luz, what are you talking about?”
She didn’t answer, staring at her hands as if they belonged to someone else.
“Did you talk to Kian?” The accusation came out before I could stop it. “Is that what this is? Did he tell you something?”
Her head snapped up. “I—No. He didn’t have to.” Her voice was flat, distant. “I’m… remembering on my own.”
“Remembering what?”
“I can’t explain it.” She stood abruptly, pacing. “It’s like… It’s like there’s someone else inside my head. Not a voice, just… knowledge. Things I know that I shouldn’t know. Languages I don’t speak but somehow understand, places I’ve never been but could draw maps of…”
Ice seemed to settle in my veins. “You’re scaring me.”
“I know,” she sighed. She turned to face me, and the energy shifted into something older and weary.
“You, me, Amy… we’re not here by accident, Mel.” Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “We’re connected to something old. Something that’s been waiting a very long time.”
My chest tightened. “Connected to what?”
“I can’t tell you.” She said it like an apology. “Not because I don’t want to, because it’s not my place to tell you.”
“Then whose place is it to tell me?” I demanded.
She gave me a pointed look, as though this was something I should already know.
I stared hard at her. My thoughts returned to Kian, and a chill raced up my spine.
“That’s… what are you saying?”
“You know exactly what I’m saying,” she shot back. “Amy shouldn’t be dying from a wellness supplement. You shouldn’t be dreaming about past lives. I shouldn’t be remembering things that happened thousands of years ago.” Her voice cracked. “But here we are.”
I backed up a step, suddenly afraid of my own best friend. “I don’t understand.”
“I know,” she whispered. “And gods, I wish I could just tell you. But it doesn’t work that way.” She looked at me with those too-old eyes. “You have to remember on your own when you’re ready. And I can’t… I can’t be the one who forces it before you’re strong enough to handle it.”
Anger flared hot in my chest. “So what? I’m just supposed to sit here in the dark while everyone around me falls apart?”
“No.” Her voice was firm now. “You’re supposed to follow the breadcrumbs. Ask the right questions. Trust your instincts.” She moved closer. “Mel, you’re already remembering. The dreams, the déjà vu… that’s you waking up. It’s just more gentle than mine.”
“I don’t want gentle,” I said through clenched teeth. “I want the truth.”
“You’re not ready—”
“Stop saying that!” The words exploded out of me. “I am so fucking sick of everyone deciding for me what I can and can’t handle! My mother does it, Kian does it, and now you? You’re supposed to be my friend, Luz! You’re supposed to be on my side!”
“I am on your side,” she said, voice breaking. “Your mind can’t hold it yet!”
“What the fuck does that even mean?” I demanded.
“You’re not awakened yet!” She was crying now, frustration and grief streaming down her face. “You’re still half-asleep, Mel. If you awaken too fast, you won’t be able to come back from it.”
We stared at each other across the small dorm room, both crying, both broken in different ways.
“I hate this,” I whispered.
“So do I,” she said. “But I can’t—I won’t be the one who destroys you just to make things easier on myself.”
Something inside me snapped.
“Fuck you,” I hissed.