Cooks and Hollingworth travel to Clairmont and listen to Cooks' recording of the diary of a scientist named Radcliffe. Cooks' grandfather witnessed the death of Befort's Children in 1901, discovering a strange black stone at the scene. On handing this to Radcliffe, he begins to investigate it with the aid of X-rays and discovers numerous indecipherable, constantly shifting inscriptions inside. The GED Project was then set up to investigate the stone, but Radcliffe eventually discovers that the British government was already aware of Befort's Children and so journeys around Europe chasing their pasts. We discover that the children are named after a small village in Belgium, where the earliest record of their existence (1489) was found. However, Radcliffe was driven mad by his obsession with the Children and eventually was discredited and died.
Meanwhile the Children are already regrouping at Clairmont, where Hasmodai is once more entrapped by his past memories of family - however, Agi "saves" him by returning his memory recording. The other Children are not best pleased with him, yet Hasmodai still leans towards giving up their quest...
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