Chapter 4

I needed allies. Real ones.

My mind went to Olivia Hayes. Liv.

Architectural engineer, brilliant, principled.

She' d been a classmate, a quiet admirer of my work in our first life, or so I' d gathered from whispers.

After my disgrace, I heard she' d tried to find me, to understand what happened.

She never got the chance. I was already gone.

If she was here now, in this new timeline, she was someone I could trust.

I found her in the university library, surrounded by structural engineering textbooks.

"Liv?" I asked.

She looked up, her eyes widening slightly in recognition. "Ethan Miller. Wow. It' s been a while."

"It has," I said. "Can we talk? Somewhere private?"

We found a quiet corner.

I didn' t beat around the bush. "I' m putting together an independent team for a project. Something big. Based on the Phoenix concept."

Her eyes lit up. "The Phoenix Project? I read your initial paper on it. Groundbreaking."

"I need an engineer," I said. "Someone with innovative ideas, someone who isn' t afraid of a challenge. I thought of you."

A slow smile spread across her face. "You remembered my work?"

"I did," I said. "Your analysis of sustainable load-bearing systems was impressive."

"I' m in," she said, without hesitation. "Tell me everything."

We talked for hours. About resilient communities, sustainable materials, disaster-resistant designs.

Her insights were incredible, perfectly complementing my architectural vision.

She spoke with a passion that matched my own, a dedication I hadn' t seen in anyone since... well, since the good days with Chloe, before everything went wrong.

"There' s a region," Liv said, her voice dropping slightly, "they call it the 'Forgotten Coast.' Ravaged by hurricanes, year after year. The community there is tough, but isolated. They have these unique indigenous building techniques, undocumented, passed down through generations. Almost like a rare, resilient species of architecture."

I stared at her. The "Forgotten Coast."

It was an area I' d vaguely heard of, but never considered.

Her knowledge was so specific, so detailed.

"How do you know so much about it?" I asked.

She paused, a strange look in her eyes. "I... I do a lot of research on resilient communities. It' s a personal interest."

Something about her certainty, the way she looked at me when she mentioned it, sent a shiver down my spine.

It was more than just research.

It felt like she knew something I didn' t, or something I was supposed to know.

A faint suspicion began to form, too wild to voice.

Could she be like Chloe? Like me?

Reborn?

No, that was impossible.

But her enthusiasm, her immediate trust, it was a lifeline.

"The Forgotten Coast," I mused. "That sounds like exactly the kind of challenge the Phoenix Project was made for."

Liv beamed. "I knew you' d think so."