Chapter 24
The Appointment
The child in the mask did not move as the alarm rang.
The sound made Claire's teeth ache. Red light passed over the classroom in pulses, turning the children's photographs into a row of warning signs.
“Who sent you?” Daniel asked.
“The school.”
“Schools do not send children.”
“This one does.”
The child held out the paper cup.
Claire saw the handwriting on its side.
4:17.
Tess pulled Claire backward. “We are leaving.”
The child tilted her head. “You promised to stay.”
Claire heard the phrase beneath the alarm. Not as words, but as a memory: Mara standing in the no-window room, telling Claire that the first appointment would be short.
The child removed the mask.
She was not a child.
She was Lucy Hart's son, Eli, older by several years than the photograph in the missing-person file. His face had sharpened, his hair had grown long, but he had the same gray eyes.
“Eli?” Tess said.
He looked at her. “That is the name they use when they want me to be seven.”
Daniel lowered his weapon.
“Where is your mother?”
“She is with the others.”
“Where?”
Eli pointed toward the gym.
The security team reached the basement corridor.
“Go,” Daniel said.
Claire followed Eli instead. They crossed the storage room and entered the gym through a door hidden behind the mural.
The gym floor had been covered with white hospital tiles. Along the walls stood twelve chairs, each with a name taped to the back.
Lucy sat in the third chair.
Beside her sat a man Claire recognized from the family photograph: Noah Hart.
He looked older, thinner, and very calm.
“You found them,” Claire said.
Lucy shook her head. “They let us be found.”
Noah looked at Daniel. “You took long enough.”
Daniel stepped forward. “Where are the children?”
Noah pointed to the chairs.
The names were not all human. Some were dates. Some were addresses. One read CABIN 12.
Claire walked toward it.
The chair was empty.
“Who sat here?” she asked.
Lucy answered. “You did.”
The gym doors locked.
Owen Bell's voice came over the loudspeaker.
“This is a private medical site. Please remain seated until the appointment is complete.”
Claire looked at the twelve chairs.
At the far end of the gym, the woman with her face stepped out from behind the bleachers.
She held a clipboard.
“We need to decide,” the woman said, “which of you is the witness.”