CHAPTER 25 : Black Hollow Academy
Black Hollow Academy did not appear on any current map.
The property had once been a boarding school for children from wealthy families. Officially, it closed after a fire twenty-two years earlier.
Satellite images showed recently repaired roads and active power lines.
Federal agents prepared a rescue operation.
Ethan was told to remain at the center.
He refused.
“So did Laura,” Olivia warned. “She entered places before she understood who controlled them.”
“And if she had waited, Emily might never have been found.”
Sophie was not allowed to join the operation.
For once, she did not fight the decision.
Instead, she gave Ethan Laura’s framed photograph.
“Bring Noah back.”
Ethan entered Black Hollow with Daniel and a federal tactical team shortly before midnight.
The academy stood behind a high stone wall.
No lights were visible from outside.
The main doors were unlocked.
Inside, the hallways were warm.
Children’s artwork covered the walls.
Each drawing showed a different family.
A mother.
A father.
A house.
Names and financial values had been written beneath the pictures.
“This isn’t a school,” Daniel whispered.
“It’s a catalog.”
They found fourteen children sleeping in identical rooms.
Some knew their real names.
Others did not.
Noah was not among them.
A woman appeared at the end of the corridor.
She wore a white medical coat.
Emily recognized her from the live security feed at the center.
“Dr. Celeste Sloane,” she said through the communication link. “She ran the memory program.”
Sloane raised her hands as agents surrounded her.
“The children require medical supervision.”
“They require freedom,” Ethan replied.
Sloane studied his face.
“You look like your grandfather.”
“I’m not him.”
“You benefit from what he built.”
“I didn’t know Northstar existed.”
“No one with money ever knows where it comes from.”
Daniel searched the lower floor.
He found Noah’s jacket beside an open service door.
Sloane smiled.
“Gideon took him fifteen minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere the Blackwood family cannot reach.”
Ethan moved closer.
“My family built this place.”
“No. Your family built the first version.”
“What does that mean?”
Sloane’s eyes shifted toward the portrait wall.
“Northstar was never created to steal children.”
“Then why was it created?”
“To hide one.”
Before she could explain, the academy lights shut off.
Gunfire erupted outside.
The tactical team moved the rescued children toward armored vehicles.
Sloane disappeared during the confusion.
Daniel found a hidden chamber beneath the headmistress’s office.
The room contained hundreds of identity documents and a recording device.
One file was labeled:
BLACKWOOD PRIMARY SUBJECT.
Inside was a photograph of a newborn taken thirty-eight years earlier.
The child’s name was Ethan Blackwood.
A second photograph showed another newborn lying beside him.
The babies appeared identical.
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“You had a twin?”
“No.”
A note had been clipped to the photograph.
PRIMARY SUBJECT RELEASED TO FAMILY.
SECONDARY SUBJECT RETAINED.
May you like
A red stamp covered the bottom of the page.
STATUS: LIVING.
