I stand before Leane once again. Something about the crazed and exited look in her eye makes my stomach tingle in a way that isn't so pleasing. My hands begin to tremble as I clutch them behind my back, staring straight into her eyes.

Leane sighs, brushing blue hair from her eyes. Hailee looks worried, even scared standing behind her with Monica by her side.

"Summer, are you sure you've told me all of the things your Chip can do?"

I nod. No, I haven't, but I don't plan on it.

Suddenly, my arm is yanked from behind me and she places a scanner over my wrist. My eyes go wide and my heart beats rapidly against my chest as the screen of the portable device lights up.

Leane studies whatever is on the device, then glares at me from under her eyelashes. "Why are you lying to me?"

"I-I" I stutter, unable to continue for fear of what will happen.

She stands up, then turns to look at her sisters. After some nonverbal communication, she turns back to me. "Well, I have the information I need. Thank you for that. Now, everyone can have enhanced abilities. But, not you."

"What do you mean?" Confusion must be written across my face, and I take a step away from her.

"You've served your purpose. You've proven my Chip effective and not life threatening. But, you're keeping things from me, and I don't appreciate that. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to remove your Chip."

"No!" Hailee pipes up, taking a few steps towards her sister. "I mean, everyone else will have them. She's not a threat or anything. She's just a scared girl who lost her memory, Le."

Leane lets out a breath, glancing from her sister to me before nodding. "Very well. How have things been going for you, Summer?"

This woman was just threatening me, and now she's asking how things have been for me? Is it just me, or is something wrong here?

"Pretty good." Except, why haven't people from my past approached me and said they used to know me? Why did Hannah call me Autumn? What are the people hiding from me?

"That's good," she smiles, but I can tell it's fake. It doesn't extend very far and definitely isn't reflected in her cold eyes. "Well, you better get back to training then. Hailee, do you mind taking her?"

Hailee quickly shakes her head, rushing towards me. "No, not at all."

Then, Leane turns to Monica. "Prepare the rest of the Chips. We begin insertion tomorrow morning."

Both of the twin's eyes widen.

"So soon?" Monica gasps.

"Yes, so soon!" Her older sister snaps. "We don't have time to waste!"

Hailee grabs my arm and drags me from the room while my mind spins a thousand miles an hour with countless questions. I just don't understand what's going on, or what's all this secrecy. All of this needs to stop, and it needs to stop now.

"Hailee?" I whisper as she practically drags me down the hallway.

She doesn't respond, but I'm pretty sure she heard me by the way the muscles in her shoulders tense.

"What's going on? Please tell me, I don't like being left in the dark. Something is going on and I'm a part of it!"

She still doesn't part her lips and utter a word.

I stop short, refusing to move my legs and feet. Hailee nearly tumbles forward, almost taking me down to the ground with her. She tugs on my arm to get me to move again, but I hold my ground.

I yank my arm from her grasp, feeling my senses heighten and electricity race to my fingertips. I hold them out for her to see the sparks flying and she backs away, eyes wide.

Memories flash in my mind too quick for me to decipher. Everything is too much. My head begins to pound and I think I remember something about Leane, about Chips. But, not these Chips. Another kind of Chips.

"Summer?"

I blink, letting the electricity and heightened senses fade away. My back hits the concrete wall behind me and I bring a hand to my forehead, which feels like it's burning. Tears well in my eyes from the pain.

"I think you're overloading your Chip!"

The area where the Chip is does burn and tingle, but so does my head and the rest of my body.

"Just breath."

"It hurts!" I scream, sliding down the wall and clutching my head in my hands. Everything is so fuzzy.

"You're resisting what it's trying to do."

"What does it want to do?" Where is Hailee? Her words are bouncing all over the place, like someone is bouncing a ball around in my brain.

"Your memory, Autumn. The Chip is designed to help you."

My eyes widen. Is there a part of me that doesn't want to remember? Or, maybe I just didn't think I'd ever remember. Am I scared to?

No, I need to remember.

All at once, images flood my mind. Of a blond-haired boy, and a feisty girl, and then her kissing some guy. Of two adults, a man and a woman. My- parents? Could they be?

I see me and my- dad observing the faux trees outside. Outside? I didn't live here, did I? No, I didn't. There were other Chips, and then I tore one, a black one. Then, I woke up here. That's how I got here!

The pain in my body slowly fades away, and I open my tear-filled eyes to look at Hailee:

"I'm not from here, am I?"

She shakes her head. "No, you're not."

"My name is- Autumn."

She nods, a smile spreading across her features.

"And- I tore some kind of black Chip, I don't remember why."

She seems crestfallen at this news. "Do you remember anyone?"

"My parents, I think. That's all. Leane and some other guy were there, but I don't remember why.
I- I still can't remember everything. Ugh."

She calmly kneels in front of me as tears cascade down my face. I'm so confused and scared and tired of all the lies.

"It's okay. Give it time. You're going to be okay."

I glance into her eyes. "Will you? Will everyone else? What's going to happen, Hailee? Something big?"

She silently nods, pulling me into a tight hug.

I weep into her shoulder, clinging to her like a would a sister. Sister, cousin- Ashley. That girl that was looking at me, was my cousin, Ashley; the girl who was like my sister, who I was so close with. Until, she came here. But, why?

I pull away from Hailee and wipe away my tears. "Ashley. My cousin."

Her eyes widen. "She's your cousin?"

"Yeah," I rise to my feet. "I need to see her. I need to talk to her, to tell her everything. We used to be so close, no wonder she was so heartbroken that I lost my memory."

"Be careful who you tell. Listen to me, Autumn. So many lives, so much is at stake right now. Don't tell anyone that you can't one hundred percent trust what you've just remembered. You're still Summer and everything is still the way it was before to all of them. Got it?"

The panic in her voice and eyes causes me to nod, not even bothering to argue. Something big is definitely going to happen, and I can't mess anything up for the worst, that's for sure. I'm going to get to the bottom of everything once and for all. But, I guess that'll take patience.

"Thanks, Hailee. For everything."

She smiles. "Come on, let's get you back."

We walk down the hallway in silence, both of our minds probably buzzing with all that has just occurred. Once we reach the work out room, I all but shove the doors open the run inside.

Thankfully, there is an open treadmill next to Ashley, which is on the end of the row. Sweat has soaked through her shirt, and her hair messily sticks out of her braid.

I hop onto the treadmill next to her and start it up, increasing the speed to a medium one I think I can handle. "Hey, Ash."

Her head snaps over to me, eyes wide. Then, her neutral expression returns looking a little guarded. "What did you just call me?"

I find myself smiling slightly. "I'm sure you heard me just fine."

She shakes her head back and forth. "What kind of game are you playing? Who told you to call me that?"

I'm taken back by her reaction. I would have thought she would have been happy to hear me call her that childhood nickname again, to know that I remember her. Well, I guess I was wrong. But, I press on, because something inside of me is yearning to talk to her again.

"No one." I lower my voice to a whisper. "I-I remember. Well, some things, not all. But, I'm sure I will. Iremember you, Ash. I remember running around the salon, playing hide and seek at night."

Her face lights up. "You really do remember me!"

I laugh lightly. "Yeah, I do."

I want to hop off my treadmill and embrace her, but that would be too out of the ordinary. Plus, I'm sure Leane has people keeping an eyes on me, especially after almost removing my Chip today.

Chips used to be a bad thing, I remember. But, I have a feeling this one is going to help me out a lot.

"So, what's up, Hurricane?" She grins, bringing back my own childhood nickname.

"Just walking on this treadmill," I respond with a laugh. It feels so good to have Ash by my side again, and I know that no matter what happens, she's going to fight with me.

Bur, I know so many challenges lie ahead, and that terrifies me.