Page 91 of Echoes

“Someone ransacked your house?” Rachel asked and took Violet’s hand.

“Yes. We got home after a dinner out and found the door open a little. Nothing was missing, but cabinets and drawers had been pulled open, and they went through literally every room,” Lydia explained.

“Then, we also went to check the storage unit where we still have some of my parents’ stuff stored. After my mom’s death, we sold her house and didn’t know what to do with some of her things. Anyway, when went there, the padlock on it was broken. They went through my mom’s stuff and my dad’s old things, too. They’re gone, and that’s all I have left of both of them.”

Lydia wrapped an arm around her wife and said, “They didn’t take anything again, but we know that what they were looking for wasn’t there.”

“Who is it? The CIA wants some old thing back that doesn’t even work how they intended? How long ago was this project thing again?” Rachel asked.

“The sixties. The whole team disappeared afterward, from what we found out. My dad had their names in the journal, so we looked them up. They’re all long dead now. There were four of them: my grandfather and three others. You know about my grandfather. He was left alone for a bit because they wanted to see if he’d stay alive. After the incident with the woman, though, he ran and changed his name. I don’t think they found him, but they found my dad instead.”

“But why now? You said your dad died a long time ago,” Violet said.

“We don’t know,” Felicity spoke up.

“It’s true; I have no idea. The three other people on the project died at least ten years ago. One died back in the sixties. One died in the eighties. And the other one passed away in the nineties. So, it’s not any of them, and we don’t know why the CIA would want the device now. It’s not only that this device seems to work differently, but also that pretty much no one should know it exists. It was classified, and no one is ever going to un-classify this because if people found out that there was some device out there that could bring back their loved ones, the US government wouldn’t hear the end of it.

“So, everyone’s dead?” Rachel said. “Except for the six of us?”

“Does anyone else know?” Violet asked.

“About the device? No,” Eliza replied. “Lydia and I have kids, but we’d never risk telling them about this. My mom didn’t seem to know anything, but she’s gone either way, and neither of us dared to tell anyone about it until we met Rosie and Felicity here and found out that they already knew. Our kids are with Lydia’s parents right now.”

“We haven’t told anyone. We don’t have kids, and none of our family knows,” Felicity said.

“How many do you have?” Rachel asked Eliza.

“Three,” Eliza replied. “We had three in four years, actually. Long story.”

“Not that long. Eliza got pregnant, and we had our first. Then, I wanted to be pregnant, which was surprising to me because I wasn’t sure I’d want to be, but we had our second. After that, she wanted another one, and we thought it might take a bit for her to get pregnant again, but our youngest surprised us,” Lydia explained. “Now, we have three kids.”

“And we’re done,” Eliza added. “Officially done.”

“We’re having twins,” Rachel announced.

“Really?” Lydia said. “That’s amazing.”

“It is, yes,” Violet said with a smile.

“Violet saw them in her future vision. They were adults. When I got pregnant, I worried we might not have them.”

“This time,” Violet added.

“You saw your kids grown-up?” Rosie asked with a smile.

“They had kids of their own, too,” Rachel said. “And we just found out today that we’re having twin girls.” She placed her free hand on her stomach. “I will do anything to protect them.”

Violet was surprised at the change in her tone, but sheunderstood her wife’s meaning.

“Does anyone outside of this room know that the device is here?” she asked.

“No,” Rosie confirmed. “We planned to grab it and go. We never wanted to bring anyone else into this.”

“But you deserved the truth,” Eliza said.

“Then, you can take it with you,” Violet told them. “I’ll grab it for you, and you can go. All I ask is that you pretend like you were never here.”

“Violet…” Rachel said.