The ride back to the city was too quiet.
Elara kept glancing at the girl in the rear seat. The child sat completely still, hands folded, eyes watching the skyline as if she were memorizing every angle, every window, every shadow. The way she stared reminded Elara of something she hated: the way she herself had stared as a child, waiting for her mother to walk through the door that never opened.
Calen tightened his grip on the steering wheel whenever the girl blinked.Once, her reflection in the side mirror blinked first.
By the time they reached the underground parking of the lab, Calen finally spoke.
"Elara… we need rules."
Elara closed the door softly. "She's not dangerous."
"That's not the point," he snapped. "She shouldn't exist. And we've already broken three federal containment protocols by bringing her here."
The girl hopped out of the car, skipping one step behind her own shadow.The shadow lingered too long.
Elara knew Calen saw it too.
"Let's get her inside," Elara said. "Then we talk."
They entered the lab through the side corridor. The lights hesitated before deciding to turn on. The hum of the servers sounded lower than usual, like the machines were trying to hold their breath.
The girl's attention drifted toward a blank wall.
"Elara?" she said. "There's a door here."
"There isn't," Calen mumbled.
"Yes there is," she repeated. Her small fingers traced the air.And for a moment—just a sliver—Elara saw an outline of a doorframe.A door that did not exist in this version of the building.
The girl blinked, and the outline vanished.
Calen turned to Elara sharply. "Did you see that?"
"No."
"Elara—"
"I saw it." Her voice was small.
Before Calen could respond, Elara's phone vibrated.A restricted number.The Bureau.
She answered with her professional voice.
"Dr. Voss."
A beat of static, then:
"We have your location. Stay where you are."
Elara's stomach tightened."We're in the middle of a case. What's this about?"
The voice on the line was calm, too calm.
"We've received a report of a fragment near the river.A child. Female. Approximately eight years old."
Calen's face drained of color.
Elara's free hand found the girl's shoulder instinctively.The child leaned into her, as if she already knew what the voice would say next.
"The fragment matches your childhood biometric pattern.We need you to step away from it immediately."
Calen mouthed silently: Did they see us?
Elara swallowed.Her voice remained steady only because she was trained to make lies feel like truth.
"There's no child with us."
A pause.
Then:
"Dr. Voss… your body-cam feed shows otherwise."
Elara's heart stopped."My body-cam was disabled hours ago."
"Mirrors are still picking you up," the voice replied."Every reflective surface in a three-block radius shows you holding a child."
Calen swore under his breath.
The girl's hand slipped into Elara's.It was freezing cold.
"When are they coming?" Elara whispered.
"They're already here," Calen said, pulling the blinds.
On the street outside, identical black sedans stopped at staggered angles.Observation Bureau agents stepped out.Their visors shimmered with flickering data.Reflections bent around their helmets.
"They're triangulating the fragment," Calen said. "They'll breach."
Elara knelt in front of the girl."Sweetheart, do you remember how you hid inside the mirror?"
The girl shook her head. "The mirror is tired.It doesn't want to sleep alone anymore."
Elara closed her eyes.Perfect.Another variable she couldn't control.
The overhead lights flickered.Once.Twice.
Then a thin voice whispered through the ventilation:
"Elara…"
Calen froze."That's not the girl."
Elara's pulse stumbled. "I know."
A second whisper.
"You need to move."
And a third, overlapping itself.
"They cannot contain what they cannot define."
Elara recognized the tone.The cadence.The fractured rhythm.
Her mother.
Or the version of her mother that lived in the glass network.
The girl looked toward the vent."Is she coming back?" the child asked.
"No," Elara said softly."She never left."
The Decision
Calen grabbed Elara's arm. "We need a plan. Now."
The child tugged Elara's sleeve.Her voice trembled.
"Elara, please don't let them put me back. I don't want to go in the mirror again. It feels like drowning in someone else's dream."
Calen's eyes softened for the first time since they arrived.
"Elara… she's scared out of her mind."
"She's a child," Elara whispered.
"No," Calen said."She's you."
That truth cracked open something heavy in the air.
The girl looked between them.Quiet.Expectant.Trying to appear braver than she felt.
Outside, the Bureau agents positioned themselves.
A mechanical voice called out:
"Dr. Elara Voss.Release the anomaly."
Calen locked the door.
Elara lifted the girl into her arms.The child's fingers curled into her shirt.
"Elara…" Calen said, voice low, raw."You realize what this means.If she is you…then you might be the fragment."
Elara's throat tightened.
"I don't care," she said.And she meant it.
The lights flickered a third time.A final warning.
Elara stepped back from the door and whispered:
"Stay behind me."
Calen raised his weapon.
The girl pressed her face into Elara's neck.
The Bureau breached.
And reality followed.