Chapter 12 · Marked Registry - Chapter 12: Proof She's Alive

The alarm doesn't stop. My name loops on every screen in the corridor, red letters crawling like insects. ELLA GRAY CONFIRMED. CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL INITIATED.

I'm not running.

Not yet.

Cain grabs my arm and yanks me into a side room before the blast doors drop. The lights inside flicker to emergency red. He slams his palm on the lock panel and the door seals with a hiss that makes my teeth hurt.

"You need to leave," he says. "Now."

"Mia's alive." I shake him off. "I heard her. On the monitors back there, I heard—"

"You heard a subject in containment. That's not the same thing."

"Bullshit." My voice cracks. "That was her voice. I know her voice."

Cain's jaw tightens. He won't look at me. That's how I know I'm right.

"Where is she?" I step closer. "Cain. Where?"

"Sublevel three. But you can't—"

I'm already moving. He catches me by the shoulder and spins me back, hard enough that I slam into the wall. His eyes flash yellow for half a second.

"Listen to me." His voice drops. "If you go down there, you don't come back.