Chapter 235
Nora Vale
Nora looked exactly like Mara, except for the years the archive had taken from her.
“You’re late,” she said.
Mara crossed the room. She stopped three steps away.
“You left me.”
Nora’s expression broke, not dramatically, but completely. “I thought the door would protect you.”
“It taught me to be afraid of every room.”
Nora accepted the accusation. That was what made it hurt.
She explained that the first children had been hidden during the resort’s investigation. Officials promised to return. None did. Nora stayed, building rooms inside rooms, preserving the children’s memories until the archive became stronger than the people who controlled it.
“Why didn’t you leave?” Claire asked.
Nora looked at the unopened door.
“Because someone had to remember the first promise.”
The children gathered behind her.
The promise was written on the door in Claire’s handwriting.