Darkness.
It wasn't just the absence of light—it felt like something alive, pressing in from all sides. My head rang with high-pitched static, like a hundred radio stations overlapping. My knees hit the ground hard, and I barely noticed the sting.
I couldn't hear Elias's voice in the earpiece anymore.
I couldn't even hear myself scream.
Then—
A flicker.
A memory—but not mine.
I was standing in a sterile white room, surrounded by people in lab coats. I saw myself—five years old—sitting in a glass chamber. A scientist tapped on the glass, whispering: "We found her. Subject E-13. Echo."
Another flicker.
A teenage boy stood beside me, his hand clenched in mine.
Elias.
Only younger. Barely twelve. "I'll protect her," he said.
And then the memory cracked like glass.
I was back in the train yard. The pulse had stopped. My mother was still tied to the chair, groaning faintly. The man in the black mask stood a few feet away, watching me closely.
"Interesting," he said. "The frequency activated your neural memory loop. You're beginning to see the past—even moments that were erased."
I struggled to my feet, heart pounding.
"What did you do to me?"
"We gave you a gift," he said. "You just never learned how to use it."
The machine behind him blinked again, and the air rippled. A shadow figure appeared beside him—almost like a second version of himself, made of smoke and fragments.
I stumbled back.
"What is that?"
"Your power," he said simply. "You can echo moments. Reverse them. Change them."
He stepped forward slowly, his tone chilling.
"Echo Frequency was designed to locate the One who could alter memory in real time. You are that One. You can undo actions… even death."
My breath caught in my throat.
"Liar."
"Think, Amara. The notebook wasn't written by you… it was written through you. Words you hadn't remembered writing. Moments you hadn't lived yet. Don't you get it? You're not remembering the past. You're previewing the future."
I clutched my head, the ringing returning.
Was that why I kept seeing people who hadn't died yet?
Suddenly — the sniper's red dot moved.
Right toward my mom's forehead.
"No!" I screamed.
But the gun fired—
And time… froze.
Literally.
The bullet hung in midair.
I stood, gasping, staring at the suspended moment like it was part of a video paused halfway.
"What is this—what's happening?!" I shouted.
The man in the mask stood frozen too. Only I could move.
And then I heard it.
Elias's voice.
Coming through the static.
"Amara… if you can hear me, you're inside the loop. You're in control. You can choose."
Choose?
I looked at the bullet, hovering mid-flight.
Then I closed my eyes.
And I echoed time backward.
---
The bullet returned to the barrel.
The sniper's scope moved away.
The ropes around my mom unraveled.
The man in the mask gasped—and staggered back.
"No," he hissed. "You're not supposed to know yet!"
But it was too late.
I knew.
I could rewrite what had already happened.
I could undo damage.
And I wasn't afraid anymore.
Suddenly—BAM!—the door to the train shed slammed open.
Elias and Vance burst in, weapons drawn.
Everything turned to chaos.
The man in the mask shouted for backup.
Smoke bombs dropped.
Shots fired.
I ducked and ran to Mom, dragging her toward the exit.
But just before I crossed the threshold—something cold yanked my arm.
The masked man.
"Echo," he growled, "we're not finished."