Chapter 64 The Truth Behind Aster...

Chapter 64 The Truth Behind Aster...
Raven's POV

By the time Dael came to check on me, I had turned the entire room upside down.

I heard the door unlock, and Dael entered the room. His eyes scanned the entire place.

I expected him to get mad and shout at me for what I'd done, but instead, he just snorted and placed my food on the table.

“Always the inquisitive one,” he said, and I knew he was talking to me. “Looks like the files I left around weren't enough answers for you, then.”

My brows furrowed as I considered his words.

Everything suddenly seemed to make some kind of sense.

It felt too convenient that I'd found those files just lying around.

“You were the one who left those things for me to find?” I asked, just to confirm.

Dael nodded.

“Why?” I muttered.

He moved closer until we were only inches apart. Then he reached up and tucked a strand of my loose hair behind my ear.

“Because I need you to remember,” he muttered.

Goosebumps spread across my skin.

It was as if he suddenly realized what he was doing. He quickly withdrew his hand and rushed out of the room before I could ask any more questions.

Once he was gone, I moved to the wooden chair in the room and sat down.

“What... just happened?”

I shook my head.

I would deal with that later. For now, I had to find out what Dael wanted me to remember.

I continued my search until I stumbled upon what looked like an old, abandoned safe. It was hidden behind a bunch of boxes.

I tried opening the safe, but it was locked.

So, what could the password be?

I started trying random numbers.

Nothing.

I tried the numbers from the files I'd found.

Nothing.

Just as I was about to give up, I decided to try my mother's birthday. At this point, I was just trying random things.

But to my surprise, the safe clicked open.

I was both excited and confused.

Excited that I had finally managed to open the safe, but confused about how my mother's birthday had been the password.

I opened the safe to find a bunch of reports and a...

Ring.

The Noctrix ring.

The one thing that had started all of this in the first place.

I studied it with excitement.

It still held its golden glow, even after years of not being worn. I couldn't imagine that anyone had found the safe before.

I quickly shoved the ring into my pocket before focusing on the files I'd found.

I began reading through each and every one of them.

Some were just daily reports, while others documented behaviors.

But one in particular caught my attention.

It was a file, not a report.

It talked about Aster's main purpose. I believed it had been used to pitch the idea of opening a facility like that.

It stated that Aster wasn't designed to experiment on children. It was an experiment created to study memory manipulation and neurological conditioning—specifically, whether memories could be erased, replaced, or reconstructed.

In other words, they could potentially implant false memories into a person's mind.

But the report stated that all the adult subjects they tested were unsuccessful.

They were never able to achieve a successful result.

So, they decided to test young children since their minds were still growing and developing.

But this was completely against the law.

Adrian and I were their first test subjects, and this had been approved by our parents.

I could clearly recognize my mother's signature.

Only here, her initials weren't listed as R. Monroe.

They were written as R. Monroe Vale.

I made a mental note to research that name once I found a way to escape this place.

I continued reading.

The experiment had been successful, but there was a problem—our memories had somehow become linked to each other, almost like a bond.

It was almost like we could hear and feel what the other was thinking and feeling.

Which was why we were named—

“Primary Pair.”

When the scientists tried to fix this by severing the connection, one of us would either become almost feral, instinctively protecting the other like a mother hen, or begin having seizures.

This made me think back to the day I had cried in the car.

Adrian had looked like he could feel my pain, like he was close to tears himself.

But that wasn't the only complication.

We could sense when someone was lying.

The experiment seemed to have combined our brains, multiplying our neurological capabilities.

This led them to decide to erase our memories in order to protect us.

They believed that if we couldn't remember, we couldn't grow stronger.

They planted fake memories in us and separated us from each other.

“Woah.”

I placed the report down as I found the nearest table and sat on it.

That was a whole lot to comprehend.

I stayed like that for minutes before sifting through the remaining reports, hoping to get more information.

And just as I hoped, I found more information.

But this time, it wasn't about Adrian and me.

It stated that there was a third subject.

In the report, they wrote:

SUBJECT R-03 — Removed from primary experiment.

The report stated that the third subject was supposed to be killed. He wasn't supposed to exist anymore, but they couldn't go through with it because his DNA was directly connected to one of the Primary Pair.

I groaned in frustration, placing my head on my hand.

Another mystery.

His execution had been approved by none other than—

I froze, reading the name over and over again.

“Daniel Monroe.”

My father.

I shouldn't have been surprised.

I already knew my mother was involved, so it shouldn't have come as a shock to me that my father was also an accomplice.

But to think that he had been cruel enough to order a person's execution made me extremely uneasy.

I picked up the next report.

This one seemed to have been written by my father personally.

I could recognize his handwriting anywhere.

It stated that he had tried to shut down the facility after a major accident happened with Adrian and me.

He had submitted letters requesting that the facility be closed, but they were all turned down.

So, he decided he couldn't continue being a part of it and left the facility, leaving it to my mother and someone else.

I placed down the report.

It was the last one.

I closed the file and slipped it back into the safe.

If everything I'd read was true, two questions remained stuck in my mind.

Was Subject R-03 actually dead?

And what was the major incident that had finally forced the facility to close?