Chapter 5 5

Elias could hardly even remember leaving the workshop.

Everything was too sharp, too bright, too real-a half reality brought upon him by stepping into a dream that was not entirely his own. He hurried along, head down, barely noticing anyone around him. The images from the lab flashed across his mind, like an overplaying movie.

The duplicate.

His face, his voice-telling him never to work with the device again.

And then-gone.

Had he erased him? Had he erased himself?

He was lost.

There was only one other person he trusted enough to speak of.

Claire.

Pushing through the door, the small corner café was almost empty. The familiar scent of coffee and warm pastries might as well not have been there, giving less comfort.

Claire was as usual lost in thoughts, scribbling notes in her notebook while chewing the end of her pen.

Claire lifted her head when he settled down, her countenance registering extreme distress.

"You look like hell," Claire said, pushing a cup of coffee towards him.

He curled his fingers around but did not drink from it. His hands trembled.

Claire set her pen down. "Talk to me."

He told her everything.

The first test. The shift in the air. The duplicate. The way it had flickered, like a glitch in reality. The way it had looked afraid of him.

Claire listened attentively without interrupting. She didn't laugh, roll her eyes, or brand him crazy. She just sat there, absorbing every word.

She took a long breath, rubbing her temple after it.

"I knew this was a bad idea," she muttered.

Elias frowned. "You don't even understand how it works."

"No, but I understand you," she shot back. "You don't test things. You push them until they break."

Elias clenched his jaw. "It didn't break. It worked."

Claire gave him a long, unimpressed stare. "You saw a duplicate of yourself, Elias. A copy. That's not 'working.'-This is a disaster."

Elias dragged a hand down over his face. "I want to know if it would happen again."

Claire blinked. "You're seriously thinking about using it again?"

He hesitated. "I don't see any other choice ".

She leaned forward, lowering her voice. "You just saw proof that this thing isn't working the way it should." Keep messing with it, and who knows how many copies of you could be running around?"

Elias swallowed hard.

Because that's exactly what keeps him awake at night.

One duplicate already is scary enough. But what if there were more?

What if he was not the only Elias walking around right now?

Just the fact that some of them were ahead of him made him nauseous.

Claire was still watching him, her sharp green eyes unreadable. "We should destroy it."

Those words were a slap in the face.

Elias stiffened. "No."

Her gaze didn't waver. "You're playing with something you don't understand."

"I can figure it out," he argued. "I just need more data."

Claire exhaled with a shake of her head. "Elias, listen to yourself. You are talking like a scientist in one of those horror movies-the one who gets everyone killed "

He frowned. "That is not--"

"You are trying to force something that does not want to be forced," Claire said, drawing a step closer and softening her voice. "And I think it's controlling you more than you admit"

Elias clenched his teeth together. "If we destroy it, we lose everything."

"We lose something that shouldn't exist."

His heartbeat hammered in his skull. He knew Claire wasn't wrong. He knew she was probably the only one ever bold enough to say it to his face.

But he wasn't ready to let it go.

Not yet.

She exhaled tiredly and rubbed her face. "Okay, let's say you decide against destroying it. Then what is your plan? You just keep using it until there is an entire army of you?"

Elias drew in a breath. "I need to track them."

Claire frowned. "Them?"

Elias hesitated and then finally said the words he had been trying to avoid.

"I don't think there is just one."

She froze in place.

Elias looked down at the table, fingers lolled against the edge of his coffee cup, his mind racing.

"The first one disappeared," he said softly. "But the second one- he fought me, Claire. He tried to take the device. It was like he was desperate."

Claire was silent for a long moment. "What if some of them have been here longer than you think?"

Those words sent a tremor down his spine. Elias had focused entirely on the ones observed, the ones that came after he used the device.

But what if some were conceived long before?

What if some had been watching him throughout?

His grip on the cup tightened.

Claire exhaled, shaking her head. "Okay. You're not going to destroy it. Very well. Then we have to control it. We need to locate them before they locate you."

Elias swallowed. "How?"

Claire's face grew steely.

"We set a trap."

Silence hung between them.

Then Elias sat back in his chair, nodding slowly.

A trap.

It was dangerous, it was reckless.

But it was the only way to get the answers.

And he needed answers.