rt of my home. I hurried along and tried to make sense of what I used to call my truth.
"I've spent countless nights thinking about the stories she told us. I was young, and the incident just happened," he said.
"The car accident," I muttered.
"No. There was something else that happened on that day," he said.
"Great. More chaos. It never seems to end," I said.
"Chaos is man's perception of beauty and perfection. Everything is connected, Lilly. I truly believe that," he said.
I wasn't sure what to believe, but I knew I had missed my chance to turn back. Wherever he was taking me to was off the grid. My fate was in his hands now.
We reached a dead end of tall trees and thick shrubs. It looked impossible to continue forward, but Lucian used his blade to hack at the plants, revealing a small metal sewage tunnel. "This is it. Our escape."
I bent down and looked through the dark passage. My heart started to pound. It looked familiar. "How did you know about this?"
Lucian stood above me. "I'm surprised you don't remember. This is how we came here."
Shit! Did everyone speak in riddles around here?
I was speechless. The temptation to run back to the trail was strong, but as I looked back on our path, I saw nothing but the green of potentially poisonous plants. I could hear the strange calls of birds, the nightmarish screams of nature's predators.
Lucian had already ducked inside. "You coming?"
I counted to five and made a decision. I lowered myself inside. "You better not get me killed," I said.
He laughed, but there were no promises. Death was everywhere. We had to be careful.
For what had to be around ten long minutes, I followed him through the tunnel. As I crawled away from the light, the darkness expanded around me. One by one, strange images appeared in my head. Suddenly, I could remember my mother before her hospital stay. Just bits and pieces, but there was something there, buried beneath the surface. She was an enigma to me, a sophisticated woman who treated me with love, warmth, and grace. I wanted to believe she was with me. That she’d never really left.
Unfortunately, the darkest moments stuck out the most. There was the image of my father crying in his room. I could just barely remember when he told me we were leaving. Mom wasn't coming home. Not for dinner. Not for Christmas. There wasn't going to be any kindergarten, and I wasn't going to get the chance to grow up around friends or loved ones. Within one day, it was all taken from me. Taken from us.
Like the dark rainclouds above, those memories blocked out any hope. Those memories wanted to break my spirit. I couldn't let them win.
There was a light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, I could see the faint outlines of a structure. Cement and brick, broken and barely standing. Yes, it was some sort of haven.
"Lucian, look," I said.
Lucian cocked his head to the side and nodded. He slid out and jumped to his feet. "We've made it, critter."
I crawled out after him and gasped with surprise at the sight of the structure. Leaves and moss covered the wall. The area itself was absolutely massive. A small pond sat still and unmoved. We appeared to be in a small courtyard. What in the world was this place, and why did nobody tell me it existed?
I walked around the front, lost in wonder. "It's sort of beautiful," I said. "I can't believe I never knew this place existed."
"I haven't been here in ages," he said.
"Tell me what happened," I commanded. "I'm ready."
Lucian found a small piece of cement and sat down. He did not mince words, and I was grateful for that. "Your mother worked for Onyx Labs with my father. They were both given great freedoms," he said. "They were allowed access to a variety of viruses that threatened the planet. Their instructions were simple. Find the cures."
I swallowed, but my throat felt so incredibly dry. "Did they… did they find them?"
He raised his hands in front of his face and clenched his fist. Sighing with displeasure, he shook his head. "They did not."
Lucian set his grief aside and continued the story. "One night, my father was required to stay late for work. Apparently, he had hit a breakthrough in his testing. He was convinced he was going to change the course of history forever. But something happened on that night. An accident—it changed everything. It ruined everything," he said. "I remember it so clearly. I was waiting for them to finish, so he could take us home. My father was in the sample room with your mom. I was the one who answered the phone. The police told me what happened. It was akin to getting shot in the solar plexus. I collapsed. I screamed. And then, like a set of falling dominoes, a chain reaction occurred."
I was completely stunned. I could barely get my next question out. "What happened, Lucian?"