Chapter 108 The Swap

Chapter 108 The Swap
The glass pod felt like a frozen lake, but when her hand touched my neck, it wasn't cold. It burned. The world around us blurred like a melting painting. I felt my skin tingling as if a thousand tiny needles were crawling across it.

"Who are you?" I gasped, trying to pull away.

The girl didn't let go. Her eyes were bright, glowing with a blue light that felt like a lightning storm. She pulled me closer until our foreheads touched. "I am the one you left behind in the last loop," she whispered. "I am the leftover data. The girl you tried to save when you were fighting the Clockmaker. And now, I’m taking your place."

I felt my heart stop. She wasn't just a copy. She was a ghost made of the parts of me I had thrown away to stay human.

"You can't do this!" I yelled, but my voice sounded weak. It was fading, becoming quiet like a radio losing its signal.

"Watch me," she said.

In a flash of light, we switched.

I hit the floor of the room hard. My head spun. When I looked up, I saw the girl, the other Eara, stepping out of the glass pod. She was wearing my hospital gown, but she stood with the confidence of a queen. She moved with a grace I had never owned. She looked at her own hands, flexing her fingers, testing the weight of my body.

"This is good," she said, her voice sounding exactly like mine, but colder. "This feels perfect."

"Stop! "I scrambled to my feet, but I tripped over my own toes. My body felt wrong. I looked down at my hands. They were smaller and thinner. I had been pushed into her pod. I was the one trapped in the glass now.

She turned to me and smiled. It was the smile of someone who had planned this since the very first day. "Don't look so sad, Eara. You wanted to be free, right? Well, you’re free from the struggle. You’re free from the pain. You can just watch from in here while I finish what you started."

She turned around and walked toward the door.

"Wait!" I pounded on the glass. It didn't make a sound. It was like I was in a soundproof box. "What about Kael? What are you going to do to him?"

She stopped with her hand on the door handle. She didn't look back. "Kael? Oh, he’s going to be my first lesson. He thinks he’s the one in charge. He thinks he knows how I think because he knows how you think. He’s going to be so surprised."

The door swung open, and she stepped out. I watched her go, my heart breaking. She had my life. She had my face. And she was going to use them to destroy everything I had ever cared about.

I spun around in the pod, looking for a way out. I was trapped in a box of cold, clear light. There were no buttons. No handles. Just smooth, hard walls that didn't vibrate when I hit them.

Then, I saw it.

On the floor of the pod, near the corner, there was a tiny, glowing symbol. It was the same red mark that had been on my neck, the Subject 106 mark.

I knelt down and touched it.

The wall of the pod shivered. Suddenly, a window popped up in the air in front of my face. It was a list of files. Subject History. I scrolled through them with my mind, my heart hammering. Loop 100. Loop 101. Loop 102… I stopped at the very last one. Loop 106: The Final Replacement. I realized then what she was. She wasn't just a ghost. She was a peach. The Board had realized I was too unpredictable, so they had built a version of me that couldn't feel love, couldn't feel fear, and couldn't be tricked. They had swapped us so they could finally control the variables.

But there was a small button at the bottom of the screen. It said, 'Sync Data'.

I didn't know what it did, but I knew I had to try. I pressed it.

The room screamed. A massive alarm began to blare, shaking the entire building. The pod doors hissed open.

I jumped out, not sure if I was the real Eara or just another ghost. I ran into the hallway, heading for the main lab. I had to stop her. I had to stop her before she reached Kael.

The lab was empty. The scientists were gone, having fled when the alarm started. I saw Kael standing by the main console, his back to me. He was typing something, his shoulders hunched.

"Kael!" I shouted.

He spun around. He looked at me, then at the girl standing by the door, the one who looked like me.

"Which one is it?" he asked, his voice shaking. He pulled out two guns, one in each hand. "Which one of you is the real Eara?"

The girl standing by the door pointed at me. "She’s the ghost, Kael! She’s the leftover data! I’m the one you need! I’m the one who can save the project!"

I looked at Kael. He looked at us both, his eyes darting back and forth. He looked terrified.

"Tell me," he said, his finger tightening on the triggers. "Tell me something only the real Eara would know. Tell me what I said to you in the garden, before everything started."

I opened my mouth to speak, but the other Eara laughed.

"He’s lying," she said. "He doesn't know what he said to you. He just wants to see which one of us is easier to kill."

Kael’s eyes went dark. "One of you is going to die. Right now."

He raised both guns.

I didn't have a weapon. I didn't have a plan. I just stood there, looking at the man I loved, waiting for the bullet.

"Do it," I whispered.

He didn't pull the trigger. Instead, he dropped the guns and reached into his coat. He pulled out a tiny, silver remote and aimed it at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, Eara," he said, his eyes filled with tears. "But I'm not killing you. I'm deleting the building."

The floor beneath us exploded.