OUT OF MIND² ━━ Bellamy Blake

𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈: Memento Mori

"Don't I?" Alie's crimson mouth pulls into a smirk. "I'm in your heads. Both of yours. I find it. . . adorable, how much you both think of her. That's all either of you have ever wanted. To be a nice little family again. Still waiting for your happily-ever-after. I could give that to you. Here in the City of Light."

Noah's eyes harden. "No."

"No. . . ?" Alie echoes, blinking.

"Sorry, I don't know how to say it in Trigonometry," he informs her. "But no. We don't need you or any of this. Life isn't perfect, but it's still good. And we can have our happily-ever-after on our own terms."

Alie's mad smile grows. "Be careful what you wish for."

And in the blink of an eye, she vanishes.

Above them, the clouds dissolve rapidly. Colors roll through the sky, cobalt blues and steely grays giving way to violent violets and then at last an inky black. Windows of the skyscrapers flash as fluorescents within the buildings flicker on and off wildly. Swallowing, Lyra tilts her head to the obsidian heavens. There is neither a moon nor a single star pockmarking the night sky.

"What's going on?" Noah demands frantically.

"Alie is going for Clarke. She's uploading the Flame from her mind. It's changing things. Day turns to night. It rains," explains Becca swiftly. "I don't know how much longer I can — "

Without warning, her body jerks violently. Then her entire person flickers as if it's nothing more than an image on a screen. Her face goes grainy and glitchy for a beat.

Lyra fights the urge to address her as mom. "Becca!"

"I can't — I can't stay here much longer!" Becca cries out. Her voice is distorted and warped. "Noah! Take her to the firewall! There should be an entrance to my labs, make sure Lyra gets there. It has to be her — "

But before Becca can finish whatever she'd been saying, her body dissolves.

Lyra staggers back. "What the hell?"

"She's from the Flame. She can't last too long on Alie's turf," explains Noah grimly. He sets his shoulders and takes her by the hand. "Come on. It's time to finish this shit, once and for all."

Thunder crackles overhead. Lightning splits the skies as the heavens break apart. Raindrops begin to spill out and splatter mercilessly across Lyra's cheeks. Dragging rain-drenched strands of hair from her face, Lyra holds her dad's hand tightly as they take off. Street lamps light the way and bathe both of them in an almost ethereal silver glow. As if somehow this world knows that they do not belong, that these are not their real forms.

And the Jupiter's surge deeper into the storm, deeper into the City of Light.

As they do so, Lyra's heart pounds louder and louder until that's all she can hear. She cannot forget how similar both Alie and Becca look to her mom ━━ how similar they must look to her.

     Because Lyra is descended from them. She comes from scientists and atheists who play God. They crafted advanced technology and complex physiological experiments and sacrilege in the name of the people. Then. . .

     Then they killed everyone.

     And Lyra is following in their footsteps.

     Noah leads the way through a chiseled concrete overpass and then into what seems like a parking garage. Signs and instructions are stamped across the thick walls and Lyra does her best to ignore it all as she chases after her. Her sneakers, soggy with rainwater, pound against the asphalt furiously as she sprints into the garage just behind him. The structure reminds her of Mount Weather, or even a sort of bunker.