Chapter 85
The Sinking Room
The Mercy tilted toward the lake.
Claire hit the floor as water burst through the engine-room hatch. Mara caught the rail. Ada pulled Rowan into the corridor. Daniel dragged Tess away from the collapsing platform.
The faceless witness stood in the center of the room, untouched by the water.
“You have to leave,” Claire said.
“I am already leaving.”
The woman's body dissolved into wet paper.
Hundreds of photographs floated where she had stood.
Lena's voice came from every one.
“The ship does not sink. The memory does.”
Claire grabbed the witness key.
The key opened a hatch beneath the floor.
They climbed into a narrow passage as the engine room filled. The walls displayed different rooms: a kitchen, a nursery, a hospital corridor, a school gym.
Each room contained a person calling Claire's name.
“Do not answer,” Ada warned.
One voice sounded like Lena.
Another sounded like Claire.
The third sounded like Mara.
Claire stopped at the nursery.
Inside, a child held a paper cup marked 4:17.
“We cannot leave him,” she said.
“He is a memory,” Mara replied.
“So are you.”
Mara went still.
The ship shifted again.
Claire opened the nursery door.
The child stepped out.
Behind him, the room collapsed into black water.