by Aimee Carter
Silence filled the office, and somewhere nearby, a clock ticked. “You’re right. We’ll find her,” said Winter quietly. “I’m sorry.”
Simon leaned against the desk, not trusting himself to say anything yet. An awkward minute passed, and his eyes landed once more on the portrait of the Alpha. “I don’t understand why Darryl faked his death. If his family was trying to kill me, then why—”
“We were not trying to kill you, Simon,” said Malcolm from the doorway behind him, and Simon flinched, grateful Malcolm couldn’t see his face. “Up until twenty minutes ago, none of us had any idea you even existed.”
“Simon . . .” Winter stared at Malcolm as though he had turned into a kangaroo. Simon dug his nails into his palms.
“Then why did my uncle hide me?” he said as he whirled around. “Why—”
He stopped cold. Malcolm wasn’t alone.
Beside him stood a scowling boy wearing a black uniform with a matching armband that bore a silver crown insignia. His brown hair was neat and trimmed, and he stood up straight, making him look taller, but that was where the differences ended. From their matching blue eyes to the way their ears stuck out, all the way down to the slant of their eyebrows, he and Simon were identical.
“Simon, you have the honor of meeting the heir to the mammal kingdom, the Alpha Prince Nolan Thorn,” said Malcolm. “My nephew, and your brother.”
9
THE ALPHA PRINCE
The room began to spin. Brother? Simon had a brother? He stared at Nolan. Even if Malcolm hadn’t told him, it would have been obvious. There was no mistaking them for anything other than twins.
He had a brother. He had a whole family, and his uncle—his mother had never told him.
While at first Nolan wore what was likely an identical look of shock, he seemed to brush off the surprise quickly, his expression smoothing into a mask of boredom. “I don’t have a brother.”
“Hard to say so now, isn’t it?” said Malcolm. “After a haircut, we won’t be able to tell you two apart.”
“If I had a brother, Mother would have told me,” said Nolan with a sniff. “It’s a trick or a disguise, that’s all.”
“You—you know our mother?” said Simon.
“My mother,” said Nolan nastily. “I don’t know yours.”
Simon’s chest tightened as if a boa constrictor had wrapped around him. His mother had lied to him. Not just about what she did or who he was, but about everything. He had a brother. A twin.
“When—when’s the last time you saw her?” he managed, feeling like Bryan Barker had socked him in the gut all over again. “Do you know where she is? Have you—”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Nolan, and to Malcolm he added, “you dragged me out of training for this?”
“Don’t act so annoyed when we both know you jump at the chance to miss training whenever you can,” said Malcolm. “You will be polite to your brother, or I’ll—”
“Or you’ll what? Ground me?” The prince rolled his eyes. “I’m shaking in my boots.”
“I’ll inform the Alpha of your blatant disrespect for your family,” said Malcolm in a warning voice.
Nolan hesitated, but before he could reply, Winter, who had been silent since Nolan had arrived, finally burst. “I’ve heard all kinds of rumors about how much of a spoiled jerk the Alpha Prince was, but I never actually believed them until now. You really are worse than I am.”
“Excuse me?” said Nolan.
Winter stood, her arms crossed over her chest. “You heard me. You’re a selfish, spoiled, egotistical jerk who can’t even talk to his own brother without making piranhas look polite.”
He took a menacing step forward. “How dare you speak to me like that. I am the Alpha Prince—”
“Are you?” said Winter. “Because the last time I checked, you were just a bully with a crown.”
“I’m sorry,” said Simon quickly, stepping between them before Winter could make things worse. The last thing they needed was to make an enemy of the only other person who might care enough about his mother to help them. “She didn’t mean that.”
“Yes I did,” said Winter hotly.
Nolan fumed. “I want you gone. Both of you.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” said Malcolm. “Simon is your brother, Winter is the granddaughter of one of our greatest allies, and Orion is hunting them both. Had they not arrived when they did, no doubt he would have taken them hostage or worse. They will remain here, under the pack’s protection, until the Alpha returns and decides what to do.”
“But—” said Nolan.
“No buts. They will stay here, and you will welcome them both. Now apologize to your brother, and show Winter to the reptile section.”
The reptile section? Simon glanced at Winter, who pointedly ignored him.
“Once she’s settled,” continued Malcolm, “you and Winter may join the others in the pit. Do not let me catch you anywhere else.”
Nolan’s mouth opened and shut several times, making him look like a fish out of water, and finally he narrowed his eyes. “And if I say no?”
“Then maybe Winter’s right after all. Maybe you are just a bully with a crown.”
Nolan turned red and, without another word, stormed out of the room. Winter smirked and followed him, but Simon could barely keep his panic at bay. Malcolm might have thought he’d done them a favor, but by humiliating Nolan in front of them, he had guaranteed that the only thing Nolan would ever be was their enemy. Their very powerful, very dangerous enemy who, unlike Bryan Barker, really could destroy the rest of Simon’s life.
Simon began to follow them, but Malcolm closed the office door before he could leave. “Not just yet,” he said. “First you’re going to tell me what you’re doing here.”
So Winter was right. Malcolm may have been the Alpha’s son, but if he’d had anything to do with her sending the rats or taking his mother, he would have known exactly why they were there. And Simon was absolutely certain that if that were the case, he would be locked away in a cell somewhere, not meeting his twin brother in a fancy office. That didn’t mean he could trust Malcolm though. Winter had been right about that, too. The most Simon could do was play into the lie Malcolm already believed.
“An eagle tried to kidnap me,” said Simon. “Darryl and my mother held him off, but we got separated, and a bunch of birds started to chase us. Winter’s my friend—she thought we’d be safe here.”
“I see.” A crease formed between Malcolm’s eyebrows, and Simon couldn’t decide whether that meant he believed him. “And how often did you see your mother?”
“Almost never.” He started to tell Malcolm about how his mother sent him postcards every month, but he bit his tongue before he let it slip. Instead he asked the question he had been dreading. “Does she live here with—with Nolan?”
“Yes,” said Malcolm, and he sat on the couch. “She travels most of the time, but while she’s in the city, she stays here.”
Betrayal snaked through him. All this time, she had been right across the park. She’d been here with his brother, being his mother instead of Simon’s.
“I don’t get it,” he blurted before he could stop himself. A lump formed in his throat. “If she was here the whole time, then she should’ve come to see me. I don’t understand why she didn’t.”
Malcolm said nothing for several seconds, and Simon knew from the pinched look on his face that he was wondering the exact same thing. “When she shows up, we’ll ask,” he said at last.
She wouldn’t be showing up though, not without Simon’s help. His cheeks burned, and he turned away, focusing on the portrait of the man with sandy hair.
“Did you know that’s your father?” said Malcolm suddenly. “Luke. He was older than me, younger than Darryl. The glue that held us together.”
Simon stared at the painting. Luke. His father’s name was Luke. He was smaller than Malcolm and Darryl, with lighter hair and ey
es, and he wore a playful smirk that would have seemed unnatural on either of his brothers. But Simon looked like him, and the thought made his heart race. All his life he’d wondered who his father had been, but this . . .
“You didn’t know about Nolan, did you?” said Malcolm.
Simon shook his head. And while it was the truth, it hurt even more to admit that his mother and uncle hadn’t trusted him with who he really was. “Nolan’s going to hate me, isn’t he?” he said.
Malcolm glanced at the painting of Darryl. “Brothers don’t always get along.”
Simon’s mouth went dry. His uncle must be frantically searching the city for him by now, but there was nothing Simon could do except find his mother and get out of there as fast as possible.
“Come on,” said Malcolm grimly. “I have to speak with the Alpha, and I’m not leaving you on your own. You can drop off your things first.”
Malcolm headed back into the living area, and Simon trudged after him. He saw the atrium with new eyes now—it was the place where his mother had lived. With his brother. And without Simon.
Resentment coiled in the pit of his stomach. Why had she chosen Nolan instead of him? Had Simon done something wrong? He wouldn’t have an answer until he found his mother, so despite his hurt and anger, he kept his mouth shut as he followed Malcolm toward the glass spiral staircase. They climbed past the second floor and up to the third, and just as Simon felt too dizzy to take another step, they finally reached the top.
“In here,” said Malcolm, pushing open another door to reveal a lavish bedroom larger than Simon and Darryl’s entire apartment. A four-poster bed with gold curtains sat in the center, with a fireplace crackling cheerfully in the corner despite the late-summer warmth.
Simon set his backpack down, but Malcolm made no move to leave. “I, uh—I need to use the bathroom,” he said.
Malcolm nodded toward another door. “It connects to Nolan’s room, so don’t walk out the wrong door. And don’t be long,” he said, finally ducking outside.
As soon as Malcolm was gone, Simon lifted his backpack onto a leather couch. Unzipping it, he dug through his socks until he found Felix.
“Still alive?” he whispered. Felix bobbed his head.
“You really have a brother?”
Simon frowned. “Stay away from him, all right?”
“I spent ages in your apartment with your uncle never spotting me,” said Felix. “I can handle that pipsqueak.”
For the first time since this whole mess had happened, Simon smiled, but it quickly faded. “I need your help searching for my mother,” he said. “Malcolm doesn’t know about the rats, and I doubt Nolan does, either. The Alpha must be keeping her somewhere neither of them would go.”
“I’ll do my best,” promised Felix. “You stay safe and keep your ears open for anything that might help us find her or figure out what’s going on. The Alpha took her for a reason.”
“To get to me,” said Simon, but the mouse shook his head.
“Maybe, but she wouldn’t have gone to the trouble if she didn’t need your mom, too. Isabel lives here, remember?” said Felix. “If we can find out why the Alpha captured her instead of letting her go, we might have a better idea of what we’re up against.”
“Simon?” said Malcolm through the door. “Who are you talking to?”
Felix scampered behind the couch. “Myself,” called Simon, and he opened the door. “Sorry, bad habit.”
Malcolm eyed the bedroom over his shoulder, so reminiscent of Darryl that Simon felt a pang of guilt. “Right. Ready?”
Simon nodded, and he followed Malcolm out of the room. He hated putting Felix in any sort of danger, but with Malcolm breathing down his neck and Winter stuck with the reptiles, he would need all the help he could get if he ever wanted to see his mother again—and find out why she’d kept him secret all his life.
10
PECKING ORDER
Simon followed Malcolm back down the spiral steps and into the atrium. Every so often, his newfound uncle looked back at him, as if he was trying to reassure himself that this was all actually happening. Simon felt exactly the same way.
“My office is on the upper level,” said Malcolm. “You can watch the pit while I call the Alpha.”
“What is the pit, exactly?” Simon asked.
“It’s where students train in their Animalgam forms,” he said, weaving between the tree trunks. “If the Alpha decides to keep you here, you’ll put in your time soon enough. Have you shifted yet?”
“I—” Simon faltered. “Mom said I would soon.”
Malcolm raked his hand through his short hair in another gesture that reminded Simon all too much of Darryl. “Of course you haven’t,” he said. “All the other students have, so unless you want a nice scar to help us tell you two apart, don’t get in anyone’s way. Got it?”
Simon nodded, and Malcolm headed into the corridor that led around the entire school. “Reptiles’ section at the end of the hall,” he said as Simon jogged to keep up. “Don’t go in there unless you have to, and if you do, watch your step. We only have so much antivenom.”
“What does it look like?” said Simon, remembering the forest and the aquarium from the other sections.
“A desert. Thirty seconds in there, and you’ll spend the next three weeks washing sand out of places you didn’t know you had. The insects’ section is beyond that, on the other side of the entrance hall. Not even I go in there. They filled the hallway with a maze of thick webs no human can navigate.”
Simon shuddered. “Wouldn’t that stop other insects from being able to get inside? The ones with wings and lots of legs and stuff.”
“There’s space above and below the webs for them to enter, though we’ve had incidents of spiders trying to trap them as a joke,” said Malcolm. “Spiders technically aren’t insects, though they are both arthropods, along with the other members of their section. They insist on being called the insect kingdom though—I suspect because they dislike being referred to as bugs. Or maybe because the spiders hope we’ll forget about them. Spiders are the spies of the animal kingdoms, and they aren’t exactly fond of others. I wouldn’t be, either, if I were their size. But as secretive and cunning as they are, we accept all promising students from the allied kingdoms.”
“Except birds,” said Simon.
“Yes, well, they’re not interested in being our allies, are they? Unless you think Orion was just trying to invite you over for a nice cup of tea.”
Orion had been trying to protect him from the pack, but Simon couldn’t say that. Instead he followed Malcolm up another spiral staircase. He could hear faint cheering but couldn’t tell where it was coming from. “If spiders are the spies of the animal kingdoms, then what are mammals like?”
“Fierce. Competitive. Brave.” Malcolm paused when he reached the balcony, waiting for Simon to catch up. “We’re the warriors of the five kingdoms. The sworn defenders of all. We do what we have to do in order to protect those who can’t protect themselves.”
Which meant they also had the brute force to control the other kingdoms. Simon decided that if Bryan Barker were an Animalgam, he would be one of them. Surely not all mammals could be bad though. Darryl was a wolf, after all. Then again, Simon didn’t ever want to be on his uncle’s bad side. “What about the fish?” he said.
“You’re just full of questions, aren’t you?” Scowling, Malcolm led him into the inner ring of the Den. “Strict military society. They place high value on diligence, obedience, and working together, and they patrol the oceans and protect our lands from invaders. They’re led by a general instead of an Alpha. Insects have a queen,” he added. “Birds have a lord. Reptiles have a council, though they’re mostly nomads.”
“Nomads?”
“Means they don’t usually live in groups like we do. They tend to wander around by themselves and make their own rules. The laid-back, creative types.” Malcolm’s tone made it obvious what he thought about that. “Don’t mak
e great fighters, but most of the ones here are venomous, so they have their uses. This way.”
Malcolm led Simon down another stone hallway filled with more portraits of animals that looked like they could have come from the postcards his mother had sent him. They passed several doors bearing plaques, though Simon recognized only one name, at the end of the hallway: Malcolm Thorn.
“Stay in the hall.” Malcolm jerked his head toward a nearby window that took up nearly the entire wall. “Pit’s right there. You can watch, but don’t go in, and stay out of sight.”
Malcolm disappeared into his office, and Simon inched toward the glass, feigning interest. To his left, a door opened onto a platform, and another staircase led down into what looked like a giant sandbox. Encircling it were rows and rows of bleachers, crammed with what must have been the whole school packed together to watch. In the center of it all, a viper rose up, threatening a cowering grizzly bear that looked an awful lot like Tomas.
Before Simon could get sucked into the match, Malcolm’s voice floated from underneath his door, loud enough for Simon to make out the words. “. . . know about this?”
“Of course not,” said a woman in a clipped voice. The Alpha. Simon sneaked closer to the office door, careful not to make a sound. “I’ll believe Darryl is alive when I see him myself. But twins—and you say the other one knows Isabel?”
“Simon. Yes,” said Malcolm. “Orion attacked them, and Isabel hasn’t returned. I need you back here.”
“I cannot cut this summit short—not if we want to keep the alliance with the Black Widow Queen,” said the Alpha. “If you would like her as your enemy, then by all means. But I will return in two days, once we’ve reached an accord.”
Malcolm growled. “The flock is circling the zoo, and their assaults have been growing more and more frequent—”
“I will take the boys out of the city and into mammal territory when I return,” she said. “If your supposedly dead brother was able to keep this boy safe all these years, then surely you can manage to keep an eye on him until then. Or has Darryl yet again managed to show you up, even from beyond the grave?”