As soon as we enter, someone jumps up from the bed in front of us.
‘You want to scare me to death, Twenty-Six?’ he says to Chase.
Then he turns his attention to me and blatantly stares.
Chase raises his eyebrows slightly.
‘Well, this is my room,’ he answers.
I notice now there are three others in the room as well and I can’t believe I didn’t notice them before.
The stranger who called Chase ‘Twenty-Six’ now has a wide smile on his face.
‘Well, where else are we meant to go while everyone is seagulling around waiting for dinner?’
Chase and the stranger laugh as though this is an old joke. Chase turns to me, then quickly turns back to the group.
‘Everyone, this is Hermia.’ Chase says my name and I can hear the hint of affection; it is the most terrifying sound in the world.
The four strangers nod and the girl sitting against the wall on the bed gives a small wave.
‘Okay, this is Will,’ Chase continues, pointing to the guy directly in front of us, the smirking guy who was the first to speak when we came in.
Then he directs my attention towards the chair in the corner that holds a younger looking boy.
‘That’s Jared.’ Then he turns me towards the bed.
‘Then we have Cora.’ Cora gives another small wave, and I think I have seen her before.
‘And this is Bill.’
The guy named Bill steps forward from the depths of the shadows and comes forward to stand next to Will. I slowly pick out the differences between them, and there are only four. The differences between Bill and Will are very easy to see once you get over the fact that they are almost exactly the same.
Will has dark hair that makes his green eyes seem to almost sparkle, and he has a warm smile that cascades down to me from his tall perch.
Bill, on the other hand, has light hair that is almost dirty blond and one dark blue eye; the other is the same pale green as both of Will’s. Bill’s face looks blank compared to Will’s, and he has a large scar that runs from above his right eye down to the left side of his jaw.
Everything else, from the crooks of their noses to the fullness of their bottom lips, is the same.
‘Wow, twins,’ I say sarcastically.
Twins are as common as siblings. Identical ones like Bill and Will are a lot harder to come by, but they are still not exactly identical so I guess they might be fraternal. Will and Bill look at each other and a wide smile spreads across each of their faces in turn. It is exactly the same look, the exact same smile, and it means the same thing. I’ve got it wrong.
‘Not quite,’ Will says simply, giving a small shake of his head and a soft smile.
Chase turns to me, a smile on his face as well.
‘They’re clones.’
How can he say it so simply? Clones are not an everyday thing at all.
By the look on their faces, I am shocked.
‘I’m guessing your father’s name is William?’ I ask, and receive a gathered laugh from the people around me.
‘Was.’ Bill speaks for the first time.
His voice is hollower than Will’s. I look between the two of them, waiting for an explanation.
‘He died trying to clone himself for the second time. The first time he created Bill and me.’ Will speaks quickly, a little too fast to be conversational. ‘The second time . . .’ He trails off, his words becoming distant.
We all stand in the intense silence for a long few moments, until the girl named Cora stands and makes her way over to us.
‘Wow, I feel so privileged meeting one of the Infamous Five.’
I am still watching Will and Bill, so I don’t notice for a second, but when I do I can’t help but comment.
‘Five?’ I question. I feel my brows pull together in confusion.
Shock horror fills Cora’s face as she struggles to try and explain.
‘I meant ten,’ she quickly stutters out. ‘I totally meant ten.’
I watch this Cora girl and wish that for once people would just be honest with me about something. I am about to speak, no, to demand that she tell me what it is that she knows about me, about the group, when someone else enters the room.
This new stranger has blond hair, dark blue eyes and is what I would classify as ‘beautiful’. He gives a staggering smile as he takes in the people around him, until his eyes find me, and then his face turns a little hard.
‘Hey.’ His ‘h’ is harsh; it’s a strange accent I don’t know.
‘Mia, this is Josh.’
‘Don’t call me Mia,’ I snap and then raise my hand to Josh for him to shake.
Josh raises his hand and takes mine; he looks a little frightened and I try to put a little more force into my grip than I normally would.
I stand among Chase’s friends and wonder why I don’t feel even slightly self-conscious.
‘So tell me,’ I look around the group and speak as though I am as confident as I am tall. ‘I guess the whole reason I’m here is for you guys to interrogate me?’
They all look around at each other and I must admit this makes me smile.
‘Well, go ahead then.’
Nate
I lay on my bed with Marina’s head on my chest, I run my fingers through her hair and wish more than anything that this lump in my throat would disappear.
‘Can I tell you something that might . . . freak you out?’ Shit. It’s out now. I’m screwed.
Marina turns her head so that she is looking at me and her chin is holding her head up on my chest.
‘Always, I love freaking out.’ She is being sarcastic in the sweetest of ways. How is she always so surprising?
I keep moving my fingers through her hair and I try not to connect our eyes. Her eyes are trying so hard to find mine that it is difficult.
‘When I met you . . .’ I have no idea where I am going. I know what I want to say, but I don’t know how well it’s going to come out. ‘It was like a light went on in my head. No that’s not right.’ I search my head for the right words, but they are escaping me. ‘It was like I saw you and I knew. Like everything I ever wondered about no longer needed an answer.’
Marina looks confused, she doesn’t understand; I need her to understand this.
I close my eyes and breathe out; when I open my eyes I have enough courage to just say what I wanted to from the start.
We both laugh and then I lose myself looking at her. The way her jawbone is so definite and her lips have such a natural pout.
A lock of hair cascades down across Marina’s face and I pull my hand up and sweep it behind her ear, careful not to touch the darkening bruise on her forehead.
‘It’s like I saw you and I knew that I would love you.’
The look is evident on Marina’s face, it all clicks, the lingering laugh on her face slowly fades.
She looks stricken at first and then her cheeks bulge.
‘You love me?’ She asks, her face beaming.
‘I do,’ I nod down to her.
Marina rises up, pushing against my chest, and then places herself back down so that we are chest to chest, so she can kiss me.
I kiss her and it all falls away.
It is just Marina and I.
Nothing else matters.
Hermia
Despite the fact that I am so very negative, so very bitter and so very against anything and everything, I actually really enjoyed my evening with Chase and his friends.
I found out that Jared and Cora are siblings and that Jared was named after their father, that Bill is different to Will because their father experimented with his genetic makeup when cloning him. That Josh is practically a doctor at the ripe old age of nineteen, and that he helped fix everyone up after the fights with Chase and Rence. I felt a strange relief when I found out they were all okay. I also found out about six seconds ago that Chase has one hundred and twenty-six Polaroid pictures on his wall.
I sit
and look at all of them. Now that there is no one else to create conversation or distractions, I can marvel at them.
The picture of Chase with his father and brother is still my favourite, but now I can pick out others that are also so strangely beautiful—an open book, a falling leaf, the sun’s rays. Simple things I used to bypass.
Chase lies next to me; I would think he was asleep if not for the fact that he is toying with my hand in his. He runs his fingers over it, around it, slides his fingers into mine and keeps them there for a few moments before starting the process over again.
It must be late by now—everyone went to bed a few hours ago. I told Chase’s friends everything they wanted to know, with the exception of everything I didn’t. But from what I can tell, they know more about me than I know myself. Why did you choose the crossbow? Because I wanted to look like a badass. Did you know you all had to fight Chase and Rence? Yes, because they are the only two people with low enough self-esteem to want to fight amateurs. Does Darria scare the hell out of you? Yes. Of course I didn’t tell them he’s my uncle, and Chase didn’t seem inclined to tell them either. Do you like Nate as a leader? Stupid crap like that. It went on for a long time. But I answered all their questions, even though some of my answers were sarcastic jokes, and not really answers at all. I even elaborated on some of my responses. All in all, for me, I was very nice.
Chase sits up now—well, more leans against his elbow—and looks at me.
‘Come on,’ he sighs and pulls me from the bed.
We walk back down the hallway we came in through and I now see the room we passed on the way in. It is shaped like a giant circle, with long hallways leading off it, so it would probably look like a big asterisk if you looked down on it from above, centred around a statue that somehow looks familiar. It is a woman, made of white clay, looking down at a young child. There is an inscription underneath it and I lean down to read it.
‘“Through guidance and equanimity, we will avoid enmity”,’ Chase quotes from behind me.
I guess he knows it well, though if it were me I would think it’s stupid. I do think it’s stupid.
I read the words over and over again, knowing they came from him, knowing where that message came from. Knowing why he has done all of this. It makes me very nearly sick.
‘Why did you all come here? Why did all these people just agree to join him?’
Chase watches me as though he is worried I might cry. He needn’t worry.
‘I’ve lived here since I was born. My father doesn’t like to speak of the reason we joined Darria. But he once said that they were friends since they were young.’
I don’t know why anyone would pack up their family and join this cult. But Law must have his reasons.
‘What happened to your mother?’ I ask, looking up at the statue.
Chase clears his throat.
‘She died giving birth to me.’ It’s all he says. I wish he would tell me more, but I suppose he couldn’t if he tried.
I move over and go to sit on one of the bench seats around the outside of the circle.
‘Have you ever thought about leaving?’ I keep pressing. I know I really shouldn’t, but the questions and the words just keep coming.
Chase is facing away from me, still looking at the never-moving woman and child.
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
He is stuck for a moment. Then he turns and his face is different; he looks mad.
‘Because my father blames me for my mother’s death. He barely speaks to me. He gives me extra training time because he sees that I am nothing compared to Rence. I am nothing compared to him.’
Then it’s gone. Chase turns away again and I have lost him.
‘You are nothing compared to them,’ I agree as I stand and come up behind him. He half-turns back to me, his face hard and offended. ‘You’re so much more than they could ever hope to be.’
I feel a weight lift off Chase’s shoulders as he lets out a sigh. I turn him around so that I can look at him.
‘If you ask me, you turned out just fine, with a dickhead for a father and a steroid poster for a brother.’
Chase almost laughs. I am insensitive, I know that. But this is all I’ve got, okay?
‘Well, you turned out “just fine” too—what kind of family do you have?’
My heart freezes. Why did I not see this conversation turning on me?
‘A mother who is clinically depressed, a father who wants nothing to do with me, an uncle who is too busy trying to create secret societies,’ I wave my arms around the room to emphasise my point, ‘and grandparents who still refuse to believe that my mother is incapable of caring for another human life.’
I suppose that is a pretty good account of my life, in a nutshell.
Chase comes to sit next to me; he positions himself so that he is half-facing towards me.
‘I’ll stop complaining,’ he vows.
I smile ever so slightly. Never have I ever said those words to anyone. It feels both better and worse to have them out in the air. Well, can’t take them back now. That’s the thing about words—once you have heard them, there is no unhearing them.
Chase stands and pulls me up with him, then releases my hand once I am up. It is the first time he hasn’t tried to keep his hold on my hand.
There is a light ding. It is the sound of the elevator.
Chase pulls me over to one of the large white pillars that circle the room.
Two men walk out of the elevator; I can feel the seriousness of their conversation before I even hear them speak.
‘We should sneak out this—’
I shush Chase before he can distract me or give away our hiding spot.
‘Speak of the devil,’ I whisper to myself, ‘and the devil shall appear.’
‘It’s rude to eavesdrop,’ Chase interjects as he finally sees what I have seen. It is Darria, and he is walking with none other than President Collins.
I look away from the two men and turn to Chase quickly.
‘People don’t sneak around for just any reason; I want to know what Collins wants.’
Chase exhales deeply, rolling his eyes as he does, and then turns his attention back to Collins and Darria, so I follow suit.
‘You can’t tell me she’s just sustained a broken arm and then tell me she’s doing well.’ Winter.
Darria shakes his head.
‘She is in the infirmary at the moment getting fixed up; her arm should be healed within a few days. I have an amazing young doctor on staff—’
‘She should have excelled,’ Collins interrupts. I now see where Winter gets her manners.
Again Darria shakes his head.
‘She is strong, but stubborn. She overestimates herself.’
Collins begins pacing as though this is news to him. How could he not know who his daughter is?
‘You’re meant to fix these things about her, make her not so susceptible to attacks.’
Collins stops pacing.
‘This whole thing was explained to you before she was brought here.’
Darria’s temper is wearing. His voice doesn’t give it away, but the soft tap of his foot does.
Collins looks at Darria straight, then he sighs and lowers his head a moment.
‘Push her harder, take her out into the city, let her see what it’s like out there. She needs to know the danger she keeps putting herself in.’ For the first time since Collins started speaking, he sounds like a concerned father.
Darria keeps his eyes locked on Collins, waiting for something.
‘She is one of the most recognised people in this city—’
‘I know, but she doesn’t understand that.’
Darria considers this for a mere moment.
‘It would be putting them all at risk—’
Collins scoffs. He is visibly very angry.
‘You swore your allegiance to me and I swore you could have the funding for your serum. I can always take that back.’
I feel myself go stiff. What kind of serum? My whole life Darria has been working on something to stop my mother’s episodes—maybe this could be it. He could cure her.
Darria looks completely drained, so I know he is close to exploding into a rage.
‘I am yet to see any effects that would require the use of the serum,’ Darria says, too fast.
Collins looks like he is clenching his jaw.
I feel Chase’s arms lock around me, then I notice that I look like I’m about to jump off the start line at a marathon.
‘They’re only young,’ Collins says through his teeth. Darria straightens his shoulders. He is quite short, and his tendency to slouch makes him look even shorter.
‘I will do all I can for Winter,’ he says, faking sincerity.
Collins begins to walk back to the elevator and Darria follows, then Collins turns back to him.
‘The boy, Nathaniel, is he on board?’
My heart stops. Why does Collins care about Nate?
Darria nods slowly once. ‘I believe so.’ He seems worried—he doesn’t quite believe himself. ‘I’m going to tell him everything.’
Collins laughs. ‘Well, not everything.’
Darria lets a small smile play over his lips; it looks strange on him.
‘No, not even you know everything,’ Darria finishes.
Then they are gone. The tiny ding indicates that the elevator has begun to descend again.
I pull myself out of Chase’s arms and start to walk around the space where Darria and Collins stood. As though if I walk around this area I might be able to hear the thoughts they didn’t say.
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