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The man she was running from for so long, whom she’s facing now for us.
Her first memories are the most painful, the ones she clearly doesn’t want us to see, but our minds have a funny way of doing what we don’t want them to. No one says anything. We just watch stoically as a little girl screams and begs her father to stop. As her memories progress, she becomes more silent in them. Her tears and screams fade into nothing, until all that is left is a broken little girl who realised asking for help did nothing.
My heart breaks at seeing her that way.
She is alone and so scared.
Memories of my own childhood filter through my mind—the very same memories we all try to push away so we don’t have to live with their scars.
Seeing hers, however, brings all of mine to the surface.
I would scream until my throat bled and scratch at the walls until my fingernails broke and bled. Those were only the days when he locked me inside alone, wanting to see how starvation and darkness would affect my mind.
It didn’t break me.
I refused to let it.
It was one of the nicer experiments he put me through, and better than the electrocutions, water, and gasses. Those haunt me even to this day.
Nova’s gasp draws me back to her memories, pulling me from mine.
The torture and experiments she suffered fade, and then it’s dark, but I hear Dr. Davis’s voice clearly. “Remember, Nova, we focus on nothing but the darkness. This is a secret, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Father,” she whispers.
The lab.
He’s leading her to the lab. She told us he blindfolded her.
When my eyes go to her, I realise she’s counting something. Steps? Turns? It’s all fuzzy to us, but she looks determined. “Nova, are you trembling?” I ask.
She nods, still mouthing numbers and words to herself before the blindfold is abruptly ripped away. Bright white light pierces her eyes, making her rear back in both reality and memory. She’s in a white room, the one from before, and on the table are restraints and a machine I know very well—the shock machine.
The memory suddenly changes, and she’s already in the chair, her body shaking with fear.
“Crank it higher. I want to see if she can withstand the same amount as before or more now that she is used to it,” Dr. Davis calls.
“Nova, come back!” I demand.
“Can’t,” she whispers as the machine is turned up. The shock goes through her, and she jerks and screams in the chair.
“Turn it off!” I yell, rushing to her side. Isaac hits the kill switch, and she slumps.
I lift it gently, noting her closed eyes and parted lips.
“Nova?” I ask worriedly. Fear fills me at her silence, at how little she feels in my arms . . . breakable almost.
Isaac moves to my side, checking her pulse. “She’s alive, just passed out. The sudden pain of the memories must have been too much. Let’s get her to the lab where I can monitor her.”
“Will she be okay?” I ask, even though I should be more concerned about the entrance to the lab since we have been looking for it for years. “Isaac,” I snarl when he doesn’t answer.
“I don’t know,” he admits nervously. “We could have fractured her brain. Only time will tell.”
“Gentlemen, who cares? Did she get the information?” the general barks. All of us were so focused on Nova, we didn’t see him come in.
Turning, I block his view of her. Jonas and Dimitri quickly move to my other side, doing the same, while Nico steps up next to Isaac and lifts her, hiding her from him. All of us are protecting her, and he sees it, his eyes twitching.
“Do not forget who is in charge here. She is nothing but a tool,” he snaps. “I want that location in two hours or you are all let go.”
