The Extra's Rise
Chapter 677: Escape (2)

Chapter 677: Escape (2)

I wake up slowly, like floating up from the bottom of a warm pool. For a moment, I forget where I am, and panic tries to grab me with cold fingers. Then I feel the steady rise and fall of breathing beneath my cheek, smell the familiar scent that means safety and love, and remember.

‘Daddy.’ The word makes me smile even before I open my eyes. ‘I’m with Daddy, so everything is okay.’

I’m curled up against Arthur’s side, my head on his chest where I can hear his heartbeat. His arm is wrapped around me, holding me close even in sleep, like he’s protecting me from bad dreams. This is the first time I’ve ever slept next to another person, and it’s the most wonderful feeling in the world.

‘Is this what having a real family feels like?’ I wonder, snuggling closer to Daddy’s warmth. ‘Always having someone who wants to keep you safe?’

Through the window, I can see that it’s still dark outside, but not the scary dark of the facility. This is natural darkness, with actual stars twinkling like the pictures in my books. Real stars that Daddy said I could look at whenever I wanted.

‘We really escaped,’ I think with amazement. ‘We’re really free.’

The vampires who chased us were terrifying—all fangs and red eyes and threatening voices. But Daddy and Mama Cordelia fought them off like the heroes in the stories Daddy reads to me. And when that scary one tried to hurt Daddy, something inside me just… exploded.

I remember the feeling of power rushing through me, different from the controlled demonstrations in the lab. This wasn’t the doctors making me use my abilities for their tests. This was me choosing to protect someone I love, and the power felt warm instead of cold, right instead of wrong.

‘I saved Daddy,’ I realize with pride. ‘When he was in danger, I was strong enough to help him.’

Daddy shifts in his sleep, and his arm tightens around me protectively. Even unconscious, he’s making sure I’m safe. The gesture makes my chest feel full of bubbles, like happiness is fizzing through my blood.

‘This is what I always wanted,’ I think, remembering all the nights I spent alone in my cold room at the facility. ‘Someone to hold me when I’m scared. Someone who loves me just because I’m me.’

Before Daddy came to visit me, I didn’t even know what love felt like. The doctors talked about “emotional responses” and “attachment behaviors,” but they used such cold words for something that feels like sunshine inside your heart.

‘Daddy never uses cold words when he talks about feelings,’ I remember. ‘He says love is when caring about someone makes you happy. He says family is when people choose each other.’

And we did choose each other, didn’t we? Daddy chose to save me even though it was dangerous. I chose to call him Daddy even though I was scared he might say no. Mama Cordelia chose to help us even though she could have stayed safe.

‘We’re a real family now,’ I think happily. ‘Not because someone made us be together, but because we want to be together.’

I think about my old room at the facility, with its white walls and medical equipment and the constant humming of the implants in my head. That humming is gone now—Daddy made it stop, gave me my own mind back. I’ll never have to go back to that place, never have to be Subject Zero again.

‘I wonder if the other subjects dreamed about having families too,’ I think sadly. ‘The ones who didn’t make it.’

Daddy told me there were others before me, children who didn’t survive the enhancements. Sometimes I have dreams about them—shadowy figures who look sad and lost. I wonder if they would have wanted daddies and mamas too, if they would have drawn pictures of houses with gardens.

‘I’m the lucky one,’ I realize. ‘I’m the one who got to live, who got to find a family. Maybe that means I have to be extra good, to make up for the ones who didn’t get the chance.’

“Mmm, Luna?” Daddy’s voice is soft and sleepy. “Are you awake, sweetheart?”

“Yes, Daddy,” I whisper back, not wanting to wake Mama Cordelia who’s sleeping in the chair by the door. “Did I wake you up? I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he says gently, his hand stroking my hair. “You didn’t do anything wrong. How are you feeling?”

‘How am I feeling?’ It’s a question the doctors used to ask, but when Daddy asks it, he really wants to know. He’s not looking for specific answers or testing my responses. He just cares about how I feel.

“Safe,” I say after thinking about it. “And happy. And a little scared about what happens next, but mostly happy because I’m with you and Mama Cordelia.”

Daddy’s arms squeeze me a little tighter. “I’m happy I’m with you too, sweetheart. Happier than I ever thought possible.”

“Daddy?” I ask quietly. “When we get to our real house, the one I drew plans for, will you still want to sleep close to me sometimes? When I have bad dreams or get scared?”

“Of course,” he says immediately. “Whenever you need me, for as long as you want. That’s what daddies are for.”

‘That’s what daddies are for.’ The words make me feel warm all over. I have a daddy who will chase away bad dreams and hold me when I’m scared and read me stories about gardens and butterflies.

“Will you tell me about the other people in our family?” I ask. “The ones you said love you? Will they love me too?”

Daddy is quiet for a moment, and I wonder if I asked something wrong. But then he starts talking in his soft bedtime voice, the one that makes me feel sleepy and safe.

“There’s Rachel, who’s very smart and kind. She’ll probably want to teach you about magic and show you how to make pretty things with light. And Cecilia, who’s strong and brave—she’ll make sure no one ever hurts you. Seraphina has the most beautiful singing voice, and she’ll sing you lullabies when you can’t sleep.”

‘So many people who might love me,’ I think with wonder. ‘A whole family waiting to meet me.’

“Will they really want me?” I ask, because I have to know. “Even though I’m not normal? Even though I have strange powers and I was made in a lab?”

“Luna,” Daddy says seriously, “they’re going to love you because you’re mine. Because you’re part of our family now. And once they get to know you—your kindness, your curiosity, your beautiful heart—they’ll love you for who you are, just like I do.”

Tears prick my eyes, but they’re happy tears. “I love you so much, Daddy. More than butterflies, more than gardens, more than anything in the whole world.”

“I love you too, my brave, wonderful daughter. More than you could ever imagine.”

We lie quietly together, listening to each other breathe and feeling safe in our little sanctuary. Through the window, the stars are starting to fade as morning approaches, but I don’t want this moment to end.

‘This is the most perfect moment of my whole life,’ I think drowsily. ‘Right here, right now, being loved by my daddy.’

“Daddy?” I murmur as sleep starts to pull me back down. “Promise me we’ll always be together? No matter what happens?”

“I promise, sweetheart,” Daddy whispers, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Always and forever. You’re stuck with me now.”

‘Always and forever,’ I repeat in my mind as I drift back to sleep. ‘Daddy and Luna, forever and always.’

I dream about our house with the garden, where butterflies dance in the sunlight and Daddy reads me stories while Mama Cordelia helps me draw pictures. In my dream, there are other people there too—the family Daddy told me about, all of them smiling and welcoming me home.

‘Home,’ I think in my dream. ‘I finally know what home means. It’s not a place—it’s people who love you.’

And as I sleep safe in my daddy’s arms, surrounded by love I never thought I could have, I know that no matter what happens next, I’ve already had the most important thing in the world.

I’ve had a family who chose me.