Chapter 20 The Names of the Lost
ARIA'S POV
"Your father?" I stared at Luna, my brain refusing to process what she'd just said. "Your father is The Architect? The person behind all of this?"
Luna's face had gone completely white. She looked like she might pass out. "He disappeared eight years ago. The government said he died in a lab accident. I thought—I thought he was gone."
"Luna." Kael grabbed her shoulders gently. "Are you absolutely sure?"
"That hacking signature is unique. He taught me himself when I was twelve." Luna's voice shook. "It's him. My father is alive. And he's been running this nightmare the whole time."
My mind raced. Luna's father was The Architect. Marcus had betrayed us. Cross had Kael's location and was probably hunting us right now. And we'd just lost all our evidence.
"The flash drive," I said suddenly. "Please tell me you made a backup."
Luna's hands trembled as she pulled the flash drive from her pocket. "This is the only copy left. Everything else is gone."
"Then we protect this with our lives." I took the drive, feeling its weight. Twenty-three dead students. Decades of experiments. Evidence that could bring down the entire conspiracy. All on this tiny piece of metal and plastic.
"Let me see the files again," Kael said. "Before your father erased everything, you said there was a list. Names of students who disappeared."
Luna pulled up the last file she'd downloaded before the wipe. "Twenty-three names over five years. Students who came to Royal Academy and never left."
My breath caught as I read the first name. Sarah Chen. Age eighteen. Disappeared October 2020.
"I remember her," Luna whispered. "She was a year ahead of me. Everyone said she transferred to another school."
The list continued. Name after name. Students with families. With dreams. With futures that got stolen.
Then I saw it. Ninth on the list.
Emily Ashford. Age sixteen. Disappeared March 2022.
"Kael," I said softly.
He'd already seen it. His face had gone hard as stone, but I could see the pain in his silver eyes. "My sister. She was only sixteen. They said it was a training accident. That she fell during a combat exercise and hit her head."
"There was no accident," Luna said. "According to the medical records, Emily tested positive for Omega genetics. They eliminated her to keep the Ashford bloodline 'pure.'"
Kael's hands clenched into fists. "My parents knew. They had to know. They just let it happen."
I wanted to comfort him but kept reading. More names. More lives destroyed.
Twenty-first on the list: Maya Torres. Age nineteen. Disappeared January 2025.
Luna made a broken sound. "Maya. My girlfriend. They told me she dropped out. That she went home to her family." Tears streamed down her face. "I called her parents. They said Maya never came home. The Academy told them the same lie—that she'd left to be with me."
"They turned her against us," I said, remembering the enhanced subjects who'd attacked us in the forest. "Luna, what if Maya is still alive? What if she's one of those enhanced soldiers?"
Luna's eyes widened with desperate hope and horror. "The video I showed you. The enhancement procedures. What if—"
"We'd save her," Kael said firmly. "We'd save all of them if we can."
I kept scrolling. Names blurred together until I reached the twentieth entry.
My hands froze.
Asher Sinclair. Age twenty. Disappeared September 2025.
Seeing his name there made it real in a way nothing else had. My twin brother. The person who'd shared my heartbeat before we were even born. Reduced to a line on a list. Number twenty out of twenty-three victims.
"Aria." Luna touched my shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Be angry." I looked up at them both. "Twenty-three people. Twenty-three families destroyed. And those are just the ones in the past five years. According to your files, this program has been running for thirty years."
"Hundreds of victims," Kael said quietly. "Maybe thousands."
"We need to take this to the authorities," I said, standing up. "Right now. We have their names. We have medical records. We have financial proof. This is enough."
"It's not." Kael shook his head. "Cross has connections everywhere, remember? The police chief is on his payroll. Half the judges in the state are Academy alumni. We go to them with this, and we'll disappear before we can say another word."
"Then what do we do?" Frustration burned in my chest. "We can't just sit here while they hunt us down!"
"We need undeniable proof," Kael said. "Something so big, so public, that they can't cover it up. Something that forces everyone to pay attention."
"The Gala," Luna said. "It's still our best shot. But we need more than just files on a flash drive. We need witnesses. Live testimony. Something they can't erase or explain away."
"The enhanced students," I said slowly. "The ones who got turned into soldiers. If we could get even one of them to testify—"
"They've been programmed," Kael interrupted. "Dr. Kane's behavioral modification erases their old personalities. They're loyal to Cross now."
"Not all of them." I thought about Asher, how he'd started to remember me at the facility. "The programming isn't perfect. Asher was beginning to break through. Maybe others can too."
"That's a huge risk," Luna said. "If we try to reach out to them and they tell Cross—"
"Everything we do now is a risk." I clutched the flash drive tighter. "But we can't expose Cross with just documents. We need people. Real victims who can stand up and tell their stories."
Kael was quiet for a long moment. Then: "My parents will be at the Gala. The Ashford Dynasty is one of Cross's biggest supporters. If I could get my mother alone, show her proof about what really happened to Emily..."
"Would she believe you?" I asked.
"I don't know. But she loved Emily. If there's any part of her that still cares, that still has a conscience..." Kael trailed off. "It's worth trying."
"Okay." I started making a plan. "Luna, you handle the technical side. Make sure all the files get uploaded simultaneously during the Gala. Kael, you work on your parents. And I'll—"
My phone buzzed. A video message from an unknown number.
"Don't open it," Luna warned. "It could be a tracker."
But something told me I needed to see this. I hit play.
The video showed a dark room. Someone was strapped to a chair, head hanging down. Blood dripped from their face onto the floor.
Then the person looked up.
My heart stopped.
It was Asher.
My brother. Alive.
"Aria." His voice was weak, barely recognizable. "If you're seeing this, it means Cross wants you to know. I'm alive. They've been keeping me alive."
"No," I whispered. "No, this can't be real."
"Cross says he'll let me go if you surrender." Asher coughed, and more blood appeared. "He says he'll stop the experiments. He says he'll release all the enhanced subjects. All you have to do is give yourself up."
"It's a trap," Kael said. "Aria, you can't—"
"But if you don't come," Asher continued, "he's going to finish the enhancement procedure on me. Turn me into one of his soldiers. Erase everything I am. Everything I remember. Including you."
The camera panned to show Professor Cross standing behind Asher, smiling.
"You have twelve hours, Aria," Cross said pleasantly. "Come to the old medical building alone, or your brother becomes my newest weapon. The choice is yours."
The video ended.
Silence filled the room.
"It's not a choice," I said finally. "I have to go."
"Absolutely not." Kael grabbed my arm. "This is exactly what he wants. He gets you, and he still keeps Asher. You'd both be his prisoners."
"But Asher is alive!" Tears burned my eyes. "He's been alive this whole time, suffering, and I did nothing—"
"Because you didn't know," Luna said gently. "Aria, we can save him. We can save everyone. But not if you walk into Cross's trap."
"She's right," Kael said. "We stick to the plan. We expose Cross at the Gala with all the evidence. Force him to release everyone. It's the only way."
"And if we're wrong?" I demanded. "If Cross kills Asher before we can act?"
"Then we live with that," Kael said quietly. "But at least we tried to save everyone, not just one person."
I wanted to scream. To cry. To run to that medical building and tear Cross apart with my bare hands.
Instead, I looked at the flash drive. Twenty-three names. Twenty-three families. Hundreds more victims over the years.
Asher would want me to save them all. Not just him.
"Okay," I said. "We do this right. We take down the whole system."
Luna's phone buzzed. She checked it and went pale. "We have a problem. Someone just posted a message on the student message boards. It's a bounty. One million dollars to anyone who captures Aria Sinclair and brings her to Professor Cross."
"One million?" Kael breathed. "He's made you the most valuable target on campus."
"Every student is going to be hunting you," Luna said. "Even the ones who aren't part of the conspiracy will want that money."
"Then we run," I said. "Right now. We find somewhere safe and hide until the Gala."
"Where?" Luna asked. "Cross has people everywhere. Security cameras. Tracking systems. Students who'd sell us out for cash."
"I know a place," Kael said slowly. "Somewhere off campus. Somewhere Cross can't reach. But we have to leave immediately."
We grabbed what little equipment we had. Luna shoved her laptop into a bag. I pocketed the flash drive. Kael checked his phone one last time.
"There's something else," he said, face troubled. "I just got a message from Marcus."
"Delete it," I said immediately. "Whatever he says is a lie."
"No, you need to hear this." Kael turned his phone so we could see.
The message read: I'm sorry. Cross has my family. He said he'd kill them if I didn't cooperate. I never wanted this. But I think I can help. Meet me at the old boathouse at midnight. Come alone. I'll tell you everything.
"Another trap," Luna said.
"Maybe," Kael said. "Or maybe Marcus is telling the truth. Maybe he's been forced into this the whole time."
"Even if that's true, he still betrayed us," I said. "He told Cross our location. He fed him information for years. People died because of him."
"I know." Kael's jaw tightened. "But if there's any chance he actually wants to help—"
A crash outside made us all jump.
"They're here," Luna whispered. "Someone found us."
Through the dirty window, I saw shadows moving. Lots of shadows. Students surrounding the building.
"Back door," Kael said urgently.
We ran. But when we reached the back exit, more students blocked our way.
We were trapped.
The front door burst open. A girl I recognized from my combat class stepped inside, holding a heavy pipe like a weapon.
"Sorry, Aria," she said, not sounding sorry at all. "But one million dollars would change my life. Nothing personal."
More students poured in behind her. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty.
All of them between us and freedom.
All of them ready to collect their reward.