by K. K. Perez
Lucy wanted one last day being her mother’s daughter.
Now that she had the answer at the press of a button, she didn’t want it.
The truth could wait. At least one more day.
PARALLEL UNIVERSES
CONGRATULATIONS, GRADUATES!
The banner hanging from the first-floor windows rippled in the wind, the satiny fabric flowing like water. Lucy secured Marie Curie to the school fence for the last time. With everything going on, she hadn’t yet changed the combination from the date of her first kiss with Cole. She grimaced at her pang of nostalgia.
The girl who started here two years ago would not be the girl taking the stage to accept her diploma today.
Excited chatter reached Lucy before she ascended the front steps of the school. It only grew louder the closer she got to the gymnasium where graduates-to-be were to pick up their mortar boards before lining up in alphabetical order and filing out to the football field for the ceremony. Lucy gulped as it hit her that she would never wander the halls of Eaton High as a student again. Compared with the other decisions bearing down on her, it was a small thing, but she had worked hard to be allowed the full high school experience and now it was over.
Lucy plodded toward her locker one last time to drop off her messenger bag. She hadn’t wanted to leave her phone at home with the damning evidence it contained. Damning for her parents or damning for Lucy, the click of a button would tell.
The sound of rubber skidding on linoleum attracted her attention and an ultramarine gaze caught her, but there was none of the sizzle there used to be. Not on her part.
“Lucy.” Cole smiled nervously. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“You look really pretty,” he blurted, then pushed his hair back in an awkward gesture, color rising in his cheeks.
“Um, thanks.” Where was he going with this? She gave him a double-quick once-over: jeans and sneakers. “You look … underdressed.”
His flush deepened. “I’m not graduating.”
“Oh.” Was he expecting an apology?
“Not today. I have to retake physics in summer school.”
“Right.”
“But UNNY is holding my spot on the track team—as long as I pass.”
Lucy spun one of the bracelets around her wrist.
“I’m glad,” she said, and she meant it.
He stepped closer, grazing her elbow. Lucy braced herself for that familiar seasick feeling but nothing happened.
“Thanks for not turning me in.”
“I thought you deserved a second chance.”
A sad grin. “You were always better than I deserved.”
Before she could say anything, Cole added, “I hope the Brit makes you happy.”
Lucy shrugged. The way Ravi made her feel was … more tangled than a Gordian knot, and she definitely didn’t want to discuss it with her ex.
“I didn’t expect you to talk to me after the prom,” she said to Cole instead. “You seemed pretty afraid of me.”
“Why would I possibly be afraid of you?” he asked.
“The fire around my hands?” Did he really not remember?
Cole burst out in a stunned guffaw. “You might’ve had smoke coming out of your ears, but you weren’t on fire, Luce.” Another laugh. “I was worried you might have been hurt when the lights blew. I couldn’t see you.” He gripped her shoulder and gave a little squeeze. “I did look.”
“I was fine.” Her heart stuttered like a car backfiring. At his wounded expression, she added, “But thanks.”
He edged his lips slightly upward. Cole clearly wasn’t afraid of Lucy now. Well, if he’d convinced himself that his eyes were playing tricks on him that night, she wouldn’t contradict him.
When confronted with the unbelievable, most people invented a truth they could live with. Ravi had been right that no footage from the High Line had shown up online. Even the eyewitnesses seemed content to blame what they’d seen on faulty wiring and firecrackers.
“Anyway,” Cole said, glancing at something behind Lucy. “I see there’s someone else eager to congratulate you. I’ll be cheering extra loud from the stands when it’s your turn.”
She returned his cloudy smile and a feeling of finality settled over her.
“Bye, Cole. And good luck.”
This was truly the end of Lucy’s first love story.
From the way he dipped his head in response, Cole knew it too.
Lucy didn’t have another second to process the goodbye before a small giggling torpedo knocked her sideways.
“There you are!” Claudia exclaimed, face beaming. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
Lucy’s entire body thrummed. “You have?”
“Duh. We’re right next to each other—Phelps comes after O’Rourke. We’ll take the stage together.” She grabbed Lucy’s hand. “Just like we’d planned.”
That had always been the plan. Since before Lucy had convinced her parents to let her go to regular school, Claudia had promised her they would graduate together. Her best friend’s confidence had given Lucy the boost she needed to take on the Drs. Phelps. But prom night had blown that long-standing plan out of the water.
“Are you sure?” Lucy asked, a frog in her throat.
“Of course I’m sure!”
Lucy could only stare. This was her Clauds—the friend who believed in her when she didn’t believe in herself. But it couldn’t be. That Claudia was gone. She had made it abundantly clear.
Something was so, so wrong.
Claudia scrunched up her nose, interlacing their fingers. Lucy couldn’t get a read off of her. “Are you okay, Minnie Mouse?” she asked. “There’s no need to be nervous.”
The worry in her tone made Lucy’s knees go weak. In the past Lucy definitely would have been nervous about walking onto a stage in front of hundreds of people, but that wasn’t why she was anxious now.
“Have you forgiven me for Jess?” she forced the question out haltingly. “For … prom?”
“What are you talking about, Luce? There’s nothing to forgive.” Claudia’s pupils became unfocused and she gazed briefly into the distance. “You tried to warn me about her. It’s not your fault she stole the Mystery Minivan and ditched me at the prom.” She rolled her shoulders. “I guess we both had shady first loves. But at least we have each other.”
The earth shifted beneath Lucy’s feet.
“I’m sorry,” she rasped, everything inside her fracturing. “So, so sorry.”
“Luce, what’s going on?”
She crushed Claudia into a hug and took off without answering. This was one parallel universe she wasn’t allowed to live in. She didn’t get to have her best friend back—not like this.
“You’re going to miss graduation!” Claudia called down the hallway.
Lucy didn’t care. She had a score to settle with a certain Archimedean.
He had just made her decision a whole lot easier.
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED
Not even the sight of Ravi in a smart navy pinstripe suit could put a dent in Lucy’s fury. She could excuse him a lot, but not wiping her best friend’s memory.
“How could you?” she demanded, stabbing him with an angry finger as he exited the physics lab.
“I’m afraid you have me at a loss.”
Ravi’s reply was glacier cold. Although the ridges forming between his brows told a different story.
“Oh, do I?” She jabbed him again. “Well, Claudia seems to have lost her memories. She thinks Jess dumped her at prom!”
Disbelief flattened his scowl. If Lucy didn’t know better, she’d say he was genuinely shocked. But Ravi was a master at self-control and deception.
“It wasn’t us,” he said.
“Oh no?”
Hurt and irritation sparked in Ravi’s eyes. “The Archimedeans aren’t the only ones who possess the necessary technology to alter your friend’s memory.” He let the statement hang in the air for a moment.
Then, in one continuous motion, he opened the door to the classroom, pressed his hand to Lucy’s lower back, and shoved her inside.
The glass shook as it slammed closed behind them. Her messenger bag slipped from her shoulder, thumping on the ground. She spun around to face him.
“You have to reverse it,” Lucy pleaded. “It’s not right. I’ve caused her enough misery.”
Ravi peered down at her, the muscles in his neck tight as cords.
“I respected your wishes, Lucy. Even if it made Claudia a liability—a danger to you, I did as you asked.” Tension threaded through his words, and Lucy could tell Ravi still thought it was the wrong call.
“Then just change it back,” she challenged. “If you really didn’t do it, change it back.”
“That isn’t advisable.”
Lucy latched onto his lapels. Ravi stumbled forward until their lips were nearly touching. “I don’t care what’s advisable. You robbed her of the truth. Claudia should hate me.”
“You don’t deserve to be hated, Lucinda.” His voice grew softer. “But if Claudia’s memory has been altered, it wouldn’t be safe to attempt another procedure so soon.”
“Why not?”
“I never said the procedure was without risk.”
Lucy twisted his lapel. “You two-faced—”
“The Initiates have been keeping a close eye on your friend, as I promised,” he interrupted. “The only suspicious visitor Claudia has received was your father.”
“You’re lying.”
She shoved him viciously backward and edged out of his grasp. Fear and loathing curdled in her veins.
“You’re lying,” she repeated.
Regaining his balance, Ravi brushed off his lapels.
“Did you perform the DNA test?”
“And if I did? How do I know you didn’t manufacture the results?”
He scoffed. “We’re not Skynet. There’s a limit to what the Order of Archimedes can do.”
Under normal circumstances, Lucy would find his nerdy sci-fi reference charming. But normal circumstances didn’t apply to her anymore.
Her gaze fell to the messenger bag that lay at her feet. Ravi’s followed.
“You have the results,” he said.
She didn’t answer.
He scooped the bag from the floor. “You haven’t looked,” Ravi deduced, offering it to her. “Let’s open them together. I’ll be here for you. Whatever the results may be.”
“I know what they’ll be,” she told him. The heat faded quickly from her retort.
“I hope you’re right.”
Lucy’s hand trembled as she flipped open the canvas flap and dug into the bottom for her phone. Sweat stippled her brow and her fingers slid around the touch-screen. It took three tries to enter the code she knew by heart: Claudia’s birthday.
Dropping the bag carelessly to the floor, Lucy gripped the phone with both hands. Such a small piece of circuitry shouldn’t hold so much power over her fate.
Her finger hovered over the email app.
“I can look for you,” Ravi said.
“They’re my parents.” Lucy turned away, showing him her back.
This was Lucy’s future and she had to be the first to know.
“Okay,” he said. Sympathy shaded his tone but Lucy didn’t want his sympathy. She was going to prove him wrong once and for all, and then her parents would be safe from the Initiates.
Moment-of-truth time.
She planted her feet, breathed deeply, and pulled on her big-girl pants. Tap.
Subject: Your Confidential Results from DNA-4-U.com
Another tap. Her breath steamed up the screen.
Lucy wiped away the fog and the clarity she received made her head go fuzzy. The spreadsheet dissolved before her eyes. Numbers and percentage points ceased to make sense.
Alleles, chromosomes, kinship index. The terms might as well be gibberish. She wanted them to be gibberish.
Lucy the scientist wished she didn’t understand precisely what they meant.
Probability of Paternity: 0%
Probability of Maternity: 0%
Lucy was alone, and she always had been.
JUDGMENT DAY
She hurled the phone to the floor as if it had stung her. She wished it had. That wound would be easier to heal.
“Don’t you dare tell me I told you so,” Lucy threatened.
Ravi dropped to a crouch, collected the phone, and scanned the cracked screen.
“I’m sorry.” He straightened himself to standing, his expression grave. “I would’ve preferred to be wrong.”
“Would you?”
“Of course.”
“But now I have no choice other than joining the Order of Archimedes. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Lucy,” he said. “I would never force you into anything. Neither would Professor T. We’re only trying to help. We care about you. I care about you—a lot.”
Salty tears dripped onto her lips. Ravi extended a hand but she batted it away. He set her damaged phone on the worktop beside them.
For a long moment, the only sounds were Lucy’s ragged breaths. Both of them jumped in place as the brass section of the marching band announced the arrival of the graduates.
The procession! Lucy was missing it. Her heart pounded. She didn’t want to miss it. Not on top of everything else.
She lunged for the door. Ravi blocked her path. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“To get my cap and gown! Where else?”
He worked his jaw. “Lucy, think. It’s not safe. If your father changed Claudia’s memory, then your parents must know what happened on the High Line. They know you’ve discovered your powers. It’s not safe for you to stay with them.”
“You don’t know that for a fact. What happened to not forcing me into anything?”
“I’m not. You don’t have to join us—but I do want to keep you safe.”
Her hands balled into fists. “If my parents were going to do something to me, they would have done it already. Maybe you’re wrong about the Order of Sophia.”
“I’m not wrong.”
“You don’t know my parents, Ravi.” Lucy lifted her chin.
“Look, I can’t begin to know how you’re feeling right now, but we need to be smart. And the smart thing would be to slip away while everyone is distracted by the graduation ceremony.”
Lucy closed her hand around the brass doorknob. No flames. Strange. She didn’t feel in control at all.
“I’m going to graduate,” she told him, “and I’m going to give my parents the opportunity to explain themselves—unless you’re planning on kidnapping me.”
“I would never hurt you,” Ravi said, words clipped.
“Then get out of my way.”
He stepped aside and Lucy nearly ripped the door from its hinges.
“I’m coming with you,” he said into her ear, frustration obvious, at the same moment she exclaimed, “Dad!”
Lucy halted in her tracks and Ravi knocked her forward as they collided.
“What are you doing here?” she said in surprise.
“I could ask you the same question, young lady.” Her father’s fiery glare shifted from Lucy to Ravi. She had no idea which dots he was connecting, but none of them would be good. “Your mother was concerned when she didn’t see you in the graduate procession and sent me to find you.”
Regret seeped from every one of Lucy’s pores. Her mother had been so proud of her that morning and she hated to let her down. But that woman wasn’t her mother, was she? Her stomach plummeted. It must be the shock preventing Lucy from having a total breakdown.
Her father threw back his shoulders as he eyeballed Ravi once more, and the look he gave him could practically bend steel.
“And you are?” he said to Ravi.
“Ravi Malik.” Stepping around from behind Lucy, he extended his hand. “Mrs. Brandon’s teaching assistant.” Her father waited a few beats before accepting it in a b
one-crushing shake. Ravi grimaced.
A shrill arpeggio from a badly tuned trombone shattered the hush of the deserted hallway.
“Nice to meet you,” her father said, though his tone implied the polar opposite. “What are you doing with my daughter?”
Ravi’s mouth tilted up in a smile so natural it made Lucy blink.
“I’m sorry for delaying Lucinda. We were just reviewing her independent-study project.” The lie slid easily from his tongue. “She did exceptional work.”
“Lucy is exceptional.”
The edges of Ravi’s smile grew hard. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Turning to Lucy, her father said, “Let’s get to the ceremony.”
“I’ll escort you,” Ravi told him.
“No need to trouble yourself, Ravi. I’ve got it from here.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all.”
Lucy’s eyes pinged between the two of them, two apex predators preparing for a fight.
But there was no fight.
She didn’t even see her father move. One minute Ravi was standing beside her. The next he sank to his knees, convulsing.
“Dad!” she shrieked. “What did you do!” Lucy lunged for Ravi, but a strong arm instantly wrapped around her waist, dragging her back.
“We need to go,” her father said roughly. “It’s not safe.” He set Lucy back on her feet and holstered the Taser that his suit had concealed. He glanced at Ravi with disdain. “This place is crawling with Initiates.”
Oh God. Her dad knew who the Initiates were. “You really are a Sophist,” she whispered, edging away from him. Ravi had been right, and she hadn’t listened to him, and now …
Lucy moved towards Ravi’s prone form again and her father seized her shoulders. “Stop, Lucy. The teaching assistant will be fine,” he said, and relief flooded her chest. “We need to be gone by the time he comes around. Your mother will meet us at the car.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” She struggled under his grip. “You tased my friend!” Whatever more Ravi might be to Lucy, he was at least that. He’d warned her. At every turn, he’d looked out for her. She watched as his body stilled and her breath buckled.