“That,” I say. “Or he really doesn’t care enough about you to keep your name secret.” Although, I think we both know that’s not true. I saw the way Forest looked at Aurora.
“Enough bickering,” Kate says from ahead. “We’re almost there, and if everyone at the caverns has to endure as much of your argument as we have in the past ten minutes, one of you is going to get thrown into the icy river.”
I look away from Aurora. Stare ahead at nothing. I almost wish I didn’t bring her because, honestly, I don’t want to spend another minute in her overwhelming presence.
A boy standing watch at the mouth of the cavern bolts back inside, and Walker and Dad and a few others come out to greet us just as we enter the cave. We walk quickly, eager to escape the cold and find warmth in the constant temperatures of the caverns.
Walker looks at me, then at blindfolded Aurora, then at me again, clearly confused. I almost forgot that I look terribly different with short hair and cap on, and this clone looks more like me than I do, but she’s blindfolded. I shove her toward him, and she almost stumbles to the ground but he catches her before she falls.
“I brought you a gift,” I snap.
“What’s going on?” he asks. He looks at me, and he must have figured out I’m the real Ember because the look of caution and a tinge of disappointment flashes in his eyes.
“My clone,” I say.
“Your WHAT?”
“After the orchard was burned to the ground,” I say. “Titus replaced me with this—this robot. And he told everyone she was me. He must trust her, because she was in his office alone when I captured her. I’m sure she has some valuable information for us.”
Walker furrows his brows. A strange emotion weaves in and out of his eyes, and he looks uncertain. Almost…hopeful. He reaches out and takes the blindfold off her, and he suddenly looks like he’s seeing a ghost.
“Crazy, huh?” Isaac says. “They look exactly alike.”
“Aurora?” he whispers, shaking his head in disbelief.
And with that one word, that name—his knowledge of a name that only few people know—my worst fears are confirmed.
“How do you know her name?” I ask carefully.
Jonah looks from her to me, a sheen of tears in his eyes. He didn’t even look this emotional the first time he saw me, but he sees little miss Aurora, and he’s suddenly crying?
“What’s going on, Walker? Who is she?”
“She’s your sister, Ember.” He swallows hard. “Your…twin.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
There it is. Again. Aurora is my sister. My twin.
“If she’s my sister,” I say. “And she’s been with Titus this whole time, why hasn’t anybody heard about her?”
“I-I don’t know.” He looks at Aurora. “Where have you been?”
I look at Aurora for the first time since Jonah said her name, and she looks almost as shocked as me.
“How do you know my name?” she whispers. “H-how do you know me?” She’s unsure. Good. Little miss Princess Aurora isn’t in control anymore.
“I’m Jonah.”
“Jonah Walker?”
He nods.
“The rebel leader.” Her voice is filled with venom, a look of disgust crossing her features. Then her eyes widen, and I think I catch my first glimpse of her vulnerability. “Where’s Gideon?” She looks past him, searches the faces of the others.
“Who?”
Her eyes snap to his. “Gideon? Where. Is. He? Let me see him now.”
“You’re not really in a position to make demands,” I snap, but Walker cuts me off with a stern look. Then he clears his throat.
“I don’t know who Gideon is. I’ve never even heard that name before.”
Something in Aurora’s eyes shatters. Tears blur her pupils but she blinks, blinks, blinks until they’re gone.
“Who’s Gideon?” Walker asks carefully. She looks past him, but shakes her head in response. “Aurora,” Walker says calmly. “Do you know who I am?”
Her eyes snap to his. “Of course I do. You’re trying to lead an uprising against the government.”
“But Titus never told you who I really am?”
She stares at him but says nothing.
“I’m your mother’s brother,” he says.
She lifts her chin defiantly and says, “My mother was an only child.”
“Oh.” Jonah almost laughs. “Is that what Titus told you? He’s full of lies, that nephew of mine. Because he told me that you were dead.”
She blinks three times, clearly unsure.
“But here you are.” His voice is thick with emotion, and even Kate, Isaac, and the others are staring in open shock, because Walker never cries. “You’re alive. You’ve been alive all this time. Your mother would be so incredibly happy.”
My mother. She’s my mother.
“Wait,” I say. This isn’t supposed to be some family reunion between Aurora and Jonah. I need answers! “Stop,” I say, looking at Jonah. “Stop right there. So she’s really my twin? You mean to say that I’m seriously related to this—this witch?”
“Yes,” Jonah says, cautious. “I take it you two didn’t hit it off too well.”
“She tried to get me killed!”
“Is that so?” he looks at Aurora, and he doesn’t really look too happy now. “So Titus brainwashed you.”
“I’m not brainwashed.” She crosses her arms, lifts her chin a notch higher. “I know exactly everything that went down when my traitor-mother ran off.”
I look at her. I don’t even know everything that went down. How can she?
“Do you now?” A sad look fills Walker’s eyes as he studies her. “Yet you don’t even know the rebel leader of the Resurgence is your uncle.”
Her brows flicker.
“Well,” Walker says. “I suppose nothing I say now will change your mind about anything. But perhaps in time—”
“There will be no time,” Aurora says, uncrossing her arms. “Titus will not tolerate my absence. If you don’t return me immediately, Uncle Jonah, then Titus will find you. And he will kill you.”
Walker’s not the least bit fazed by her threats. “Yes, yes. Titus likes to kill anyone who meddles with his plans. But I’m afraid I can’t release you. You see, your brother isn’t very merciful, and if I or my people show up at all, he will kill us anyway.”
Guilt eats at me. Was bringing Aurora here the biggest mistake I could have made? Will the Resurgence hate me more than they already do? Did I just make the Resurgence Titus’s main target instead of just a pebble in his shoe? I curse myself for listening to the order of a blasted politician and wonder again why Mrs. Turner wanted me to kidnap Aurora. Was it to throw Titus off? Or does she just hate Aurora and want her out of Forest’s life? So many questions.
Thank God, Walker doesn’t say anything but begins leading us all deeper into the cavern.
And I can’t help but wonder why Walker left out the fact that I had a twin sister when he was telling me everything. Just another secret. But maybe he didn’t think it was relevant anymore. Maybe he didn’t want to make my brain explode with too much information. Which it might have at the time.
But now I know. All the secrets are slowly unraveling in front of me. I’m Titus’s sister. Jonah Walker, the leader of the resurgence, is my uncle. And Aurora is my sister. My twin sister. And for the first time in a long time, I so desperately wish Mom was here to hold me in her arms, comfort me, and tell me the truth about everything herself.
When we arrive at the camp, the warmth of the community welcomes me home. I didn’t realize how much I missed this place until now. But after my return to the inferno that is Frankfort, where drama awaits at every corner, I’m so relieved to be back in the caverns.
Mcallister is the first to greet me with a tight embrace. I hug him back, the sense of homecoming washing over me.
“How’s it goin’, Embs?” he asks.
“I don’t think I’ll ever ge
t used to you not being a stiff Defender.”
“Captain of the Defenders,” he corrects. “Holy Crawford, why can’t anyone get it right?”
I laugh and pull away. Dad’s the next to embrace me. Then he pulls away, lifts off my hat, and looks at my hair.
“Ember,” he says. “Your hair.”
Mcallister bursts out laughing. “Whoa. When Rain told me he was going to have to change your appearance, I didn’t think he meant turning you into a complete Patrician.”
“I’m not a Patrician,” I snap.
“I know. I’m sorry Ember.” He smothers his mouth with his fist, still laughing, and Dad puts my hat back on.
“Thank the stars for that,” Dad says. “I’ve missed you. Listen, I wanted to apologize for pushing you so hard. I know these past couple weeks have been rough—” He stops midsentence, then looks behind me, his smile completely vanishing. Then he looks at me. Then looks behind me again. “Who’s with Jonah?”
I glance back. Aurora and Jonah are just now entering the light of the circle, and people immediately turn to stare. I guess I probably should have warned everyone that my evil twin was tagging along.
“That’s Aurora.” I don’t even try to hide the bitterness from my voice.
“Who?”
I look at him, and begin to wonder…did he know? Is this one of the secrets he kept from me?
“My twin,” I say, testing the waters.
“I don’t understand.”
“So…Mom never told you, either?” How many more secrets was Mom keeping from everybody she loved?
Aurora steps into the circle and looks at Dad and Elijah.
“So,” she says. And I brace myself for her derogatory comment. Because if she says one condescending thing about my family, I will slaughter her.
“This is your happy little family,” is what she says instead. She glances at James. “And Captain James Mcallister.” She gives him a once over and crosses her arms. “The traitor.”
“Hey,” he says. “How on earth do you know me?”
“You were supposed to be Titus’s best Defender. Tell me, was the whole thing an act? Or did someone slip you an antitoxin?”
His black eyes glitter in the firelight. “I was wholly aware the whole time.”
“Even when you were torturing your supposed comrades here?”
He flinches, then looks away, all forms of humor gone from his features. And for a moment, he looks like the sad Defender I came to know in Frankfort. I hate this. I hate this negative energy Aurora is bringing to the Resurgence.
“This is my Dad, Andrew,” I say, trying to change the subject.
“Isn’t it crazy?” Elijah asks Dad. “They look exactly alike. I mean, they would, if Ember hadn’t turned into a fire hydrant with that hair—”
“Shut it!”
He grins and whirls out of my grasp.
“Sorry,” I say, suddenly wondering why I’m apologizing for him to Aurora. “He’s just a little—”
“Where will I be staying?” Aurora cuts me off.
“You’ll have to ask Jonah,” I say. I feel my heart creep over with ice. “I honestly don’t know or care where you’ll be staying.”
“Ember,” Dad says. But I stalk off in the other direction. I’ve been gone only three days, but I’m more eager about finding out what little has been going on here in those few days than listening to whatever else Princess Aurora has to say.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
It’s strange living with someone who looks like me, talks like me, even has some of my habits. Aurora has been with us for three days. Three days she hasn’t spoken One. Single Word. She’s stubborn royalty. She’s a spoiled princess. And her silence makes me hate her more.
We’ve kept her in a tent in the center of the camp, where she can’t sneak off. Mcallister and three other once-Defenders take shifts standing guard at her tent, plus there are those who stand guard at the cavern entrances all the time.
Also, my tent is right beside hers, and I keep a pretty good look out because I really don’t want her to escape. But more importantly, I’m shamefully curious about this girl I shared a womb with. No, we have nothing in common other than our looks, and even our looks aren’t similar since I cut my hair. But she’s a female Titus. A dictator. And just as dangerous as he.
Walker has taken her on walks, spoken to her, tried to find out where she’s been all this time and how she’s still alive and what exactly Titus told her about her mother and me and the Resurgence.
But she keeps her lips locked and her eyes staring ahead at nothing, because she’s been trained for this. Of course she has. She’s Titus’s sister; why wouldn’t he teach her how to keep quiet, keep her emotions carefully veiled? She’s probably more loyal to him than his brainless Defenders are.
I’ve avoided even talking to her since she arrived. I think I’ve had my fill of my twin. It’s too much. She’s too much. I don’t like her at all, and I’d rather pretend like maybe she doesn’t exist. I only brought her here because Mrs. Turner insisted it would create the necessary loophole to take Titus down. And I was hoping for Jonah to interrogate her, but he’s doing a miserable job at that. She’s his niece, like I am. He’s not going to lay a finger on her. And because of that, she’s gotten away with three days of silence.
But the next afternoon on the fourth day since our arrival, Jonah’s voice sounds outside my tent.
“Ember,” he says. “May I come in?”
“Sure.” I set down the book I’m reading by candlelight, one called The Count of Monte Cristo that Rain provided from the library, and Walker steps in.
“I need you to speak with Aurora.”
My heart stops. “No.”
“Please.” He sits on the ground, studies me with those green eyes that are so much like Mom’s were. Eyes like Titus’s. Like Aurora’s. I guess I got my dull brown eyes from my real dad. The evil chief of yesteryear.
“Listen,” Walker begins, his voice oddly soothing. “I think you’re the only one Aurora will open up to.”
I choke out a laugh. “What makes you think that? She hates me almost as much as I hate her.”
“You’re her sister.”
“And you’re her uncle, but that hasn’t helped anything.” I lean forward. “I personally think we should torture her. If she’s Titus’s sister—with royal blood—she clearly has vital information in her head. We should torture it out of her.”
“We’re not going to torture her.” Walker sighs. “She’s family.”
“She doesn’t feel like family.”
“But she is. And the fact that no one knows about her…” He strokes his beard in thought. “Doesn’t that seem a bit strange to you? Titus has kept her locked away somewhere where no one could find her. For sixteen years.”
“She looks pretty healthy and acts quite entitled for someone who’s been locked away,” I say.
“Titus has trained her well. And who knows what sort of lies he’s told her about us. About you. Who knows? We have to find that out first, before we can really dig for deeper information. We have to get to the root of things. Why is she the way that she is? Why does she hate us? And we have to set her facts straight about us. So that she will trust us. Because if Titus is anything like his father, he’s trained Aurora to keep her mouth shut no matter how badly she might be tortured.” He looks down, long dark lashes shadowing his cheeks. “The way Chief Aden tried to torture information out of your mother.”
My heart squeezes at the thought of Mom being beaten. Being tortured by her own husband.
Walker lifts his eyes to mine. “Titus has trained Aurora to not say a word about anything until death claims her. However, she did say she’d tell me anything I’d like to know if I told her where Gideon was, but I have no idea who that is. If we can make her trust us, if we can bring her on our side, then she might prove to be the most valuable asset we’ve ever had. She can even be our new leader. And you won’t have to deal with the pressure o
f leading Ky.”
His words are like a slap to the face. I know he meant them as a good thing. As a comforting thing. Everyone here knows I don’t want to lead Ky. I can’t handle that kind of pressure. But still…it’s just one more part of my life that Aurora is replacing. How much longer before she completely takes over and I become entirely invisible?
But I am curious as to where she’s been all this time. And that curiosity is the only reason I’ll comply.
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll talk to her.”
His dark, unruly beard parts in a wide grin, and his eyes practically glow with an inner joy that hasn’t really gone away since he discovered Aurora was alive.
“Thanks, Ember.” He leans in and kisses me on the temple before leaving, and that one gesture, that small sign of affection from the Resurgence leader, makes me feel like I’m doing the absolute right thing.
***
I walk with Aurora down one of the tunnels, an oil lamp in my hands. Her hands are bound behind her back with a cord so she doesn’t try to overpower me and run away. Not that she could get far, but still.
I don’t know how to start this conversation. I mean, it’s so awkward. So incredibly, painfully awkward. I don’t know why Walker thought she would open up to me. So we keep walking silently, through the winding corridors of the cavern until I come across the rocks I sat on with Rain. I can almost hear the music from his guitar, the song he wrote me less than a week ago, and my heart gives an odd squeeze. I wonder why, until I realize it’s because I actually kind of miss him.
Rain was my one constant. The one thing in my ever-changing life that stayed the same. He brought me here. And though Dad and Elijah were here, Rain was the only one who really understood what I’d been through in Frankfort. Because I care so little of his opinion toward me, he’s the only person I open up to most…even more than Forest.
Which makes him the person who knows me most. What would he do in this situation? I look back at Aurora and then at the rocks. I don’t want to travel too deep into the cavern for fear of getting lost, so I sit on the rock, set the lamp down, and try to think of the perfect thing to say, the best opening line, the most compelling words I could use to make her open her mouth—when she speaks first.
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