Chapter 73
The Flooded Record
Water filled Room Two.
The glass walls disappeared. Everyone stood in the lake, but no one drowned. The records floated around them: certificates, photographs, school worksheets, consent forms.
Claire caught one page.
It was the first consent form she had signed.
The name beneath her signature was not Claire Rowan.
It was Marisol Rowan.
“That is your name,” Mara said.
“No. It is yours.”
“It was ours before the program separated us.”
The water pulled the pages toward Everett.
He tried to hold them. The paper dissolved in his hands.
Samuel stood beneath the surface.
“You cannot own water,” he said.
The system announced a final question.
WHAT REMAINS WHEN THE RECORD IS DESTROYED?
Claire answered first. “The person.”
Ada answered, “The witness.”
Rowan answered, “The choice.”
Mara answered, “The harm.”
Everett said nothing.
The water rose to his mouth.
Claire reached for him.
Mara stopped her.
“Do not save the owner from the consequence.”
“He is still a person.”
“Then let him answer as one.”
Everett looked at Claire.
“What do you want?”
Claire saw the trap. He wanted her to choose revenge so he could call the archive necessary.
“I want the records returned to the people they describe.”
The water stopped.
The archive released every page at once.
The records rose through the lake toward the surface.
Room Two began to collapse.
Samuel disappeared beneath the water.
Everett's owner chair broke apart.
The five witnesses reached for one another.
The lake opened above them.