The hum grew louder as they approached the mainframe room — a low, thrumming sound that vibrated in Lexi's bones. Jace's pace quickened, urgency propelling him forward. Lexi struggled to keep up, her lungs burning, her legs aching from the endless running and fear that clung to her like a second skin.
When they burst into the room, Lexi's breath caught in her throat.
The mainframe wasn't just a computer — it was a towering monument of glass and steel, wires snaking along the floor like veins, glowing panels pulsing with an eerie, bluish light. The entire room radiated power, and Lexi felt the energy prickling against her skin, almost magnetic in its pull.
"This is it," Jace said, his voice a mixture of awe and dread. "Project Eden's core."
For a moment, Lexi could only stare. Somewhere deep inside her, she could feel a pull — like a memory just out of reach. Something about this place felt... familiar. Terrifyingly so.
"What do we do now?" Lexi whispered.
Jace didn't answer immediately. He approached the central console, scanning the intricate displays. His fingers hovered over the controls, hesitant.
"We shut it down," he said finally. "We destroy it before they get here."
"But how?" Lexi asked. "It looks—" She swallowed hard. "It looks alive."
"It is, in a way," Jace said grimly. "It's connected to you, Lexi. Your parents built it... but it's not complete without you."
Her chest tightened painfully. "What do you mean?"
Jace turned to her, his expression softening. "You're the last piece. Catherine kept you hidden for a reason. If they got to you, they could finish the work your parents started — and twist it into something terrible."
Lexi's knees almost buckled under the weight of his words. All her life, she had felt insignificant, trapped under Catherine's cold rule, believing she was unwanted. Now, to find she was essential — that people were willing to kill for her — was almost too much to comprehend.
Jace reached out, touching her arm gently. "But you have a choice. You're not just a key to power — you're a person. You can choose what happens next."
The fluorescent light buzzed overhead, making everything look starker, colder. Lexi straightened, swallowing her fear. "Tell me what to do."
Jace gave a small, proud smile and turned back to the console. "Place your hand here." He pointed to a small, glowing panel embedded in the machine.
Lexi hesitated only a second before stepping forward. The moment her palm touched the panel, the machine responded — lights flashing brighter, a soft chime sounding from deep within its core. She felt something shift inside her, like a door opening in her mind.
Suddenly, a rush of images flooded her vision: her parents smiling down at her when she was just a baby, her father working late into the night on glowing blueprints, her mother whispering stories of a better world — a world they had hoped to create with her at its center.
The memories weren't just visions; they were real. She could feel her mother's warm arms around her, hear her father's low voice singing her to sleep. Tears stung Lexi's eyes, but she forced herself to stay focused.
The machine was responding to her. Waiting for her command.
"Lexi!" Jace said sharply, pulling her attention back. "You need to tell it what to do. Tell it to shut down!"
She opened her mouth — but before she could speak, a new sound cut through the room: the metallic stomp of boots. Shouts echoed from the hallway.
"They're here," Jace muttered, drawing a small weapon from his belt. He turned to Lexi, urgency flashing in his gray eyes. "You have to do it now. They'll kill us if they get the chance!"
Lexi's heart thundered in her chest. The machine seemed to pulse beneath her hand, waiting.
Choose.
The word wasn't spoken aloud, but she felt it, deep in her bones. The machine was sentient, in a way — a creation of human ambition and desperation. It recognized her as its heir. Its master.
She squeezed her eyes shut, searching herself for the answer.
Not power.
Not control.
Freedom.
"Shut down," she whispered.
The machine shuddered violently. The lights flickered, alarms blared. In the hallway, the soldiers shouted in confusion as the complex trembled around them.
Jace grabbed her arm. "It's working! Let's move!"
They sprinted from the room just as the mainframe began to collapse inward, sparks flying, glass shattering. The floor shook beneath their feet. In the chaos, Lexi caught glimpses of soldiers scrambling, yelling into their comms, desperately trying to reassert control — but it was too late.
Project Eden was dying.
They raced through the corridors, smoke beginning to fill the air. The metallic smell of burning circuits filled Lexi's nose, choking her. Warning sirens howled, an endless cascade of noise pressing in from all sides.
As they neared the exit, Natalie appeared from the shadows, blood staining her arm but determination still burning in her eyes.
"You did it," she said, a fierce grin breaking across her face. "You actually did it."
Lexi barely had time to nod before they burst through the emergency exit, the cool night air hitting them like a slap. Behind them, the facility crumbled inward, a dying monster breathing its last.
They didn't stop running until they reached the edge of the woods. Only then did Lexi collapse to her knees, gasping for breath, the weight of what they had done crashing down around her.
Jace crouched beside her, his hand on her back.
"You're free now, Lexi," he said softly. "It's over."
Lexi looked up at the stars overhead, her heart aching with a bittersweet kind of hope. For the first time in her life, she wasn't running toward someone else's plan for her. She was running toward her own future.
But deep down, she knew this wasn't the end.
The ones who had created Project Eden wouldn't simply give up. There would be others — others who had tasted power and wouldn't let it go so easily. Lexi wasn't just escaping Catherine anymore. She had stepped into a war.
And ready or not, she would have to fight.
Beside her, Jace sat silently, staring into the night sky as the embers of the destroyed facility faded into the dark horizon. Natalie leaned against a tree nearby, wrapping a torn piece of cloth around her wounded arm with grim efficiency.
For a long time, none of them spoke.
Finally, Lexi drew in a shaky breath. "What happens now?"
Jace turned to her, his expression serious. "Now? We prepare. We find the others like you."
"Others?" Lexi echoed.
Jace nodded. "Your parents weren't working alone. There are more like you — others who were hidden, scattered. Some know the truth. Some have forgotten. But we'll find them."
Lexi's chest tightened. She wasn't alone. She never had been.
For the first time in a long time, the future wasn't a locked door. It was a path — dangerous, uncertain, but hers to walk.
Lexi set her jaw, her fear burning into something sharper. Stronger.
"Then let's get started."