Chapter 76 Someone's Coming.

Chapter 76 Someone's Coming.
Adrian's POV

Raven shut the door behind us and locked it.

I watched her carefully.

She had been unusually quiet since her conversation with Dael, and now that we were alone, I could see the tension she'd been trying so hard to hide.

She walked toward the window, pulled the curtains shut, then turned back to me.

“Adrian...”

She knelt in front of me, unease evident on her face.

“What's wrong?”

She took a deep breath.

“There's so much I need to tell you.”

“Then tell me,” I whispered, running a hand down her cheek. I'd missed her so much.

She hesitated.

For someone who had just spent weeks trapped in a place controlled by a man obsessed with her, Raven looked surprisingly composed.

But I knew her well enough to see the fear beneath it.

“I found out my mother is alive.”

My body stiffened.

“What?”

She nodded.

“She's alive, and I know exactly where she is. Or at least, we believe that's where she is.”

All I could do was stare at her.

Even though we'd entertained the possibility that Rebecca could be alive after seeing that picture, we hadn't been certain. But now Raven was confirming it.

“How?” was all I could ask.

“I don't know everything yet,” she admitted. “But I know she survived.”

I grabbed her hands and pulled her against my chest.

“Tell me from the beginning.”

Raven nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the Noctrix ring.

My breath hitched as I stared at the familiar piece of jewelry.

“You found it.”

“Yes. It was in a safe with some documents.”

“It's more than a ring, Adrian,” she continued. “It's an access key.”

“An access key? To what?”

“The Origin.”

The word immediately caught my attention.

“The Origin?”

“Yeah. My mother mentioned it in a holographic recording.”

I frowned, not understanding a thing.

“A holographic recording?”

“Yes.”

I guess she must have noticed the confusion on my face because she proceeded to explain everything.

The recording.

The information her mother had left behind.

The way the ring had activated something.

Then she repeated the words that had clearly haunted her since she'd heard them.

“You were never meant to be the key. That's what she said in the message.”

I remained silent.

Something about those words bothered me.

“What did she mean by that?”

Raven quietly sniffled and looked away from me.

“I don't know, Adrian, and sincerely, I don't care. I'm tired of all this. All I want right now is for our lives to go back to normal. Before all of this.”

I sighed, pulling her against my chest and whispering comforting words into her ear.

Once she had calmed down, I gently lifted her chin, locking eyes with her.

“Raven, I know you're tired and fed up with all of this. Hell, I am too. But the only way we can go back to our lives is to get to the bottom of all this, okay?”

She hesitated but slowly nodded.

“The ring revealed a location,” she informed me.

“Where?”

“I have no idea, but I bet it's somewhere connected to all of this. Drew seems to know the place, though.”

“Right. Drew. The man who first kidnapped you and put us all in this mess.”

My jaw clenched at the thought of him.

Raven noticed, and her expression hardened.

“Adrian, be nice to him. He's on our side.”

I scoffed.

“Yeah, that's exactly why he kidnapped you.”

She rolled her eyes.

“If he hadn't kidnapped me, we still wouldn't have any answers to work with. So, it's a win-win.”

I sighed, shaking my head.

I couldn't believe she was defending her kidnapper, but I knew this wasn't the right time to push the issue.

“Promise me you'll be nice,” Raven insisted.

I sighed before reluctantly nodding.

“How did you say he knew your mother again?”

“He worked as a security personnel at Aster before it all went to shit,” she explained.

I nodded.

“I also have some information.”

Raven turned toward me.

“What?”

“I met this woman. Not alive, but she told me something before she died.”

I paused.

“‘Run... they're coming.’”

I proceeded to tell Raven about everything that had happened while she was away.

By the time I finished, we had both realized something.

Our findings were eerily similar, except for a few details.

For several minutes, Raven and I simply stared at each other.

Neither of us spoke.

It was almost frightening how similar our discoveries were.

Everything seemed connected.

“Looks like someone wanted us to find out all of this at the same time,” Raven said.

I nodded in agreement.

“The question is, who and why?”

The door suddenly swung open.

We both turned sharply.

A man I'd never seen before stood in the doorway.

I quickly moved in front of Raven, but she placed a hand on my arm.

“It's all right. That's Drew.”

Drew, huh?

I turned toward him with a glare as Raven stepped out from behind me.

For a few seconds, he simply stared at me, and I returned his gaze with a hard look of my own.

But to my surprise, his lips slowly curved into a smile as he walked into the room.

“Adrian.”

He stepped toward me, grabbed my shoulders, and pulled me into a shocking hug, patting my back.

All I could do was let him because I was completely caught off guard.

“It's been so long since I saw you,” he whispered.

When he finally pulled away, he studied my face as though trying to compare the man standing before him with the child he'd once known.

“You've grown up,” he chuckled. “Last time I saw you, you were just a kid. A naughty one, too.”

He laughed, and I tried to force a smile.

“Thank you for saving us,” I said.

It was all I could think of.

Drew's brow furrowed.

“From what?”

“Aster.”

He chuckled, waving his hand dismissively.

“Forget about that. It's in the past.”

I nodded.

“I know, but if you don't mind, Drew, I'd like to know everything that happened.”

I watched Drew's smile slowly fade before he nodded in agreement.

He glanced at Raven, then pulled a chair closer and sat down.

He sighed.

“After Rebecca discovered what Aster was really doing, everything changed.”

My heart tightened at the mention of Raven's mother.

“What did she discover?”

“The experiments that were being performed on both of you.”

Drew leaned forward.

“Aster wasn't just researching enhanced humans or developing some kind of medical breakthrough. They were trying to create something.”

“The Origin,” Raven whispered.

Drew's eyes snapped toward her.

“Yes.”

He swallowed.

“What is it about?” Raven pressed.

I could tell this wasn't the first time she'd asked him that question.

Drew looked away.

“I'm sorry, Raven, but you know I can't tell you that.”

She scoffed, about to press him again, but I interrupted.

“Maybe we should focus on his explanation first.”

Raven gave me a death glare but said nothing.

“Rebecca had been trying to stop their research for a while but never got the chance. That's why she agreed to let Raven become a test subject. But none of us expected them to experiment on both of you instead of simply studying you.”

He paused.

“They began experimenting on children. Not just the three of you, but many others. All the other children died, leaving only you three.”

My stomach twisted with repulsion.

How heartless could they be to experiment on children?

“Then what happened?” I asked, wanting the information to move faster.

“Rebecca tried to expose them. She wanted everyone to know what they were doing, but their backing was extremely strong, so it proved impossible.”

Drew's expression became distant.

“We devised another plan: get the children out instead. But even that proved incredibly difficult. I was only able to get you two out before everything went to hell. I sincerely had no idea that Dael had managed to escape as well.”

He shook his head.

“But we shouldn't dwell on those things. Right now, we need to find Rebecca and discover what she knows. Then we'll know the next steps to take.”

I agreed with him and stood up.

“Then we should get going.”

Drew nodded and followed my lead, but Raven remained seated, hesitant.

“Raven, are you okay?” I asked.

She stayed quiet for a while before finally speaking.

“I don't want to find my mom, Adrian. I don't know if I'm ready to see her after everything that's happened.”

She said it honestly, and I nodded in understanding.

The sound of the door opening caught our attention.

Dael walked in, his eyes moving from me to Raven.

“I think it's time we move. Someone's coming.”