Chapter Four: The Impact Mark

Blood seeped between the mirror shards. The words on Mia's wrist—LUCA IS MY HUSBAND—lost their final three words. She looked at the man holding her. “Who are you?” “She's still here,” Amara said after examining her eyes. “Her memory is loosening.” “The anchors don't protect us,” Lin said. “They pin a lie to a person. Recovering one without payment gives the lie back to its real owner.” She made Mia look into every shard. Luca repeated the story of the letter, the locker, and the rainy-night call. Mia vomited, wept, denied it, and finally spoke the boy's name: Thomas Lyle. The rain in the glass stopped. Mia recognized Luca again but did not move toward him. Henry had recorded everything. “Confessed memories resist alteration.”