Infinity Rises Read Online Free Page A

you need to stay with us. Concentrate! Don’t give up, Finn! Fight!”
    Bit’s voice is getting louder and louder with every word.
    “Bit? Can you still hear me?” I call into the distance.
    “Yes, Finn, I’m right here!” she calls back.
    “Who is there with you? Where am I? What happened?” I shout.
    “My name is Dr. Pierce . . . ,” the man’s voice replies. “You’re in my laboratory, and you’ve been hurt, Finn. You’re attached to a machine called a Neural Interface. It allows your subconscious to communicate with ours.”
    “Your name is Dr. Pierce?”
    “Yes, Finn,” says the man’s voice. “But I seem to recall that when you were younger, you used to refer to me as ‘Graham.’ Among other things, I was also the groundskeeper at Blackstone Manor. I’m not surprised you didn’t recognize me when they brought you down here. You’ve had a nasty concussion, there was blood in your eyes, and it’s been years since we’ve seen each other.”
    “Yes, I remember you now, Graham. My nanny’s last name was Pierce . . .”
    “Theresa was my wife. I saw what she tried to do to you up there in the clean room, Finn; I was watching from down here. You must have been terrified—no doubt terribly confused about how it was possible that she was even there, her face on that robot, trying to hurt you, but if we get through this, I promise I will try to explain . . .”
    “I know what happened, Graham; I was standing beside her when she died two years ago. I remember all of it.”
    “But . . . how?”
    “I’m beginning to remember all sorts of things. How my memories were altered, how my life has been controlled. Did you help them, Graham? Did you help them take my mind away from me?”
    The beat of deathly silence reveals Graham’s guilt to me before he even has the chance to say the words.
    “Yes, Finn. I . . . I’m ashamed to say that I did.”
    Furious blooms of rage unfurl in the pit of my stomach.
    “I regret that more than you will ever know, Finn, but please listen to me: Right now we have a much more pressing matter to deal with. We’re running out of time. You’re very badly hurt, and I need your help to . . . We need to try and . . .”
    Graham’s words choke in his throat, so I finish his thought for him.
    “I don’t have long to live,” I whisper. “I know. I can feel it.”
    “No, you’re not going to die,” Graham says firmly. “Not if I can help it. Now, please, listen carefully. Everything I’m about to tell you is going to sound extraordinary, but I assure you that it’s real. There is another side to you, Finn. There’s a separate personality that exists alongside yours. It inhabits your mind, shares your body.”
    “I know, Graham. I know about Infinity.”
    “I don’t see how that’s possible . . .”
    “She’s been showing me her memories. I thought I was losing my mind at first, but it’s all starting to make some kind of bizarre sense. I’m different than everyone else, aren’t I, Graham? My father did something to me that made me different.”
    “You are different, my dear, dear Finn. You are his greatest creation.”
    “What am I?”
    “Finn, please, there isn’t any time for this. You may be the most remarkable person who has ever lived, but that doesn’t mean you can’t die. Please do what I say. You have to find Infinity. She must have been knocked somewhere into the back of your mind when you and your friends were attacked.”
    “We were attacked? I don’t remember . . .”
    “No, of course not, Infinity was in control. You need to find her, wake her up, and let her take control again. Now, I know this will sound strange to you, but you have to believe me when I tell you . . . Infinity has a unique and astounding ability. She can heal these wounds right away.”
    “Really?” asks Bit’s voice.
    “Yes, really,” replies Graham. “We call it Spontaneous Trauma Restoration. Infinity can heal these injuries