“Precisely. The only road going in or out is an old logging road. It’s normally blocked off, but the rangers were doing some fire prevention. That’s the only reason we could even get in.”
Nick studied the map. “So it’s nearly impossible to get to.”
“I believe that’s on purpose,” Angelo said. “Mr. Grunwald said it was his property. My guess is he knows about the doppelgängers and he’s managed to keep them trapped there all this time. It’s entirely possible that by taking the homunculus, we broke some kind of barrier. And now that the doppelgängers are out, who says they’ll ever want to go back?”
“Tell me that’s all the bad news,” Nick said, collapsing into a chair.
“I wish I could.” Angelo picked up another book. “If what I’ve read is true, doppelgängers take on the physical and mental attributes of their double—with all the knowledge, talents, and strengths of its duplicate. They retain that form until either they or their twin dies.”
“So we freed a bunch of them?”
Angelo ran his hands through his hair, making it poke straight up. “Either that or—and this is the part that really worries me—maybe they’re replicating.”
Nick tried to imagine doppelgängers popping up all over the city. . . . The idea gave him the shivers. “And we don’t know how to recognize them, stop them from copying us, or send them back.”
“That’s pretty much the state of things,” Angelo agreed. “For the moment all we can do is watch and hope they get tired of our city. That, and maybe try to figure out where the homunculus is hiding. If we can find it, maybe it will give us some leverage.”
The doorbell rang and Nick looked out the window. “That must be Carter.”
But when they opened the door, Angie was standing on the front porch.
“What are you doing here?” Nick asked, hoping she hadn’t been eavesdropping on their conversation.
Angie shuffled her foot on the porch and looked away. “I came to say . . . I’m sorry.”
“What?” Angelo asked with a look of complete shock. Nick couldn’t blame him. In all the years he and Angie had been going to school together, he’d heard her say many things. But “I’m sorry” wasn’t one of them.
“I know,” Angie said. “I’m a little surprised myself. The thing is, I know you guys have been under a lot of stress with everything that’s happened over the last few weeks, and now Carter Junior is missing. So what if you forgot to meet us? It’s nothing to lose a friendship over.”
Nick wasn’t sure they had ever been what he would call friends, but if she was apologizing, it didn’t seem right to point that out now. “Okay. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry you guys had to wait for us to get home. Believe it or not, we really were checking on Old Man Dashner.”
Angie looked over her shoulder, as if making sure no one was watching. “I heard about that. And don’t tell anyone, but I think I know what’s going on.”
“You do?” Nick asked.
Angie leaned in close and whispered, “Have you ever heard of doppelgängers?”
“Yes,” Nick said. He knew Angie and her friends were sharp, but how could they have learned about the doppelgängers when he, Angelo, and Carter had just figured things out themselves? “How could you know that?”
“Never mind that,” Angie said. “Have you figured out a way to stop them?”
Nick opened his mouth to say they hadn’t yet, when Angelo stepped backward with a gasp of surprise. He looked up at the sky, then down at the porch.
“No,” Angelo said. “We have no idea at all. In fact, we’re not even sure they really are doppelgängers. It could be a myth.”
Nick glanced at his friend. What was he talking about?
Angie seemed as surprised as Nick by Angelo’s reaction, but she quickly covered it up. “Are you sure? Because if you know how to stop them, Dana, Tiffany, and I could help you. They’ll do whatever I tell them.”
“Sorry,” Angelo said. “We’ve been busy doing, um, math homework. And we have to get ready for school.” He tried to close the door, but Angie put her foot in the way.
She put a hand on Nick’s chest—something even more shocking than an apology. “You know, Nick,” she said with a gentle smile. “I’ve always admired you. You’re not just smart, but handsome and brave too. Come with me and I’m sure we can figure something out.”
All at once, Nick understood what was happening. This wasn’t Angie. It was her doppelgänger, spying on them to see what they’d figured out. “We have to go,” he said and slammed the door closed, knocking Angie’s foot out of the way.
From outside came a screech of anger and a strange popping noise. Like someone had just burst a big balloon. He leaned against the door and turned to Angelo. “How did you know?”
“Remember when Mr. Blackham said he didn’t have a shadow of a doubt that we would find a way to identify the problem and fix it?”
Nick tried to remember what the librarian had said. “I guess.”
Angelo smiled for the first time that day. “Angie didn’t have a shadow.”
Carter was still wearing his pajamas when Nick and Angelo knocked on his window. “What are you guys doing here so early?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“Get dressed,” Nick said. “You’ve got to see what’s going on out here.”
“It better be free burritos at the Burger Barn if you’re making me miss breakfast.”
“Trust me,” Angelo said. “When you see what we have to show you, you won’t feel like eating.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible.” Carter grabbed a T-shirt and jeans. “Meet me out front. But don’t let my parents see you. I’m not supposed to have friends over.”
“What did you do this time?” Nick asked. Carter was always in hot water for something. It was almost like he enjoyed being in trouble.
“It’s what I didn’t do. My mom is claiming I ate an entire chocolate cake yesterday that she was saving for guests. Trust me. I’d remember if I did that.”
Nick and Angelo shared a look as they walked around to the front of the house. “His doppelgänger?” Nick said.
Angelo nodded. “Now that they know we’re on to them, things are only going to get worse.”
A few minutes later, Carter snuck out the front door. His shirt was crooked and the laces of one shoe were dragging. “What’s so important you’re making me lose sleep and food?”
“Come here,” Nick whispered. He and Angelo walked Carter to the end of his driveway. “Pretend we aren’t doing anything.”
“Okay,” Carter whispered. “What am I supposed to be doing while I pretend I’m not doing anything?”
“Look around,” Angelo said.
Without being obvious, the three of them glanced about the neighborhood. It was a typical morning. Maybe a little more active than a normal Thursday at this time, but not enough that you would think twice about it. Across the street, a man was pruning his tree. He nodded at the boys. A pair of kids riding scooters laughed and looked in their direction. A block down, a garbageman was picking up trash. He gave a quick glance their way as he grabbed the next can.
“What am I supposed to be seeing?” Carter asked.
Nick pointed toward Carter’s feet. “See your shadow?”
“Of course,” Carter said. “You think I’m Peter Pan and it flew away?”
“Now look for theirs,” Angelo said.
Carter gazed around, his eyes getting wider and wider. The man pruning looked their way again, his eyes narrow and watchful. He had no shadow. The boys on the scooter were nearly to the corner, but the one who continued to look over his shoulder at them had no shadow either. Even as far away as the garbageman was, it was easy to make out the shadow of his truck and the can he was carrying. The early morning sun stretched them both halfway across the street. But his body cast no shadow at all.
“Holy macaroni,” Carter said. “Are they all . . . ?”
“Doppelgängers,” Angelo said. �
��I thought there might be a dozen or so, but we counted three times that many just on the way here. Even assuming they’re more focused around where we live, there have to be hundreds.”
“How could there be so many?” Carter asked.
Angelo pulled the boys into a huddle. “Have you guys ever seen an amoeba?”
“Sure,” Carter said. “Tiny little things you study under a microscope in science.”
Angelo nodded. “Amoebas make more amoebas by splitting in half. One amoeba becomes two. Two become four. Four become eight. After ten splits you’re over a thousand. Twenty and you’re over a million.”
“And they’re all watching us,” Nick said. Although it wasn’t especially cold, Carter shivered. “What are we going to do?”
“Nothing yet,” Angelo said. “Right now they’re only keeping an eye on us. That means they don’t know for sure what we know. But we have to come up with a plan soon, because it’s only a matter of time before they decide to do more than watch.”
Once they got to school, Nick was relieved to find that Ms. Schoepf and most of the students were their real selves. Only Rob Wells—who raised his hand as soon as class started and admitted he hadn’t done any homework for over a week—and a girl who lived down the street from Carter were doppelgängers. At first.
But it quickly became apparent that anytime a student left the room—whether it was to go to the bathroom or to run an errand for the teacher—their doppelgänger immediately showed up. And just before the real kids returned—looking only half awake—their doppelgängers managed to slip out. “They don’t want anyone to see two of the same people at the same time,” Nick whispered.
“According to some of the stories I read, the worst thing that can happen is coming face-to-face with your own double,” Angelo said. “It almost always means your death is imminent.”
“I don’t want to see any of them,” Carter whispered, his eyes on the same piece of paper he’d pretended to take notes on all day. “It freaks me out the way they keep watching us.”
When the final bell rang, the three of them were the first ones out of their seats. But they were barely out the door when a figure stepped in front of them. “May I have a word with you boys?”
It was Mrs. Carpenter, their principal. Ordinarily Mrs. Carpenter was a funny woman with a quick smile. She dressed up as the Cat in the Hat for Reading Week, sang the school announcements over the intercom, and rode her bike to school when the weather was nice. But now her expression was stern, her eyes dark.
Nick glanced quickly toward her feet. No shadow. “I’d like to,” he said. “But I have to get home right away.”
“This will only take a moment,” the principal’s doppelgänger said. “But if you’d rather have me call your parents and explain that you are failing all your subjects . . .”
Nick looked at his friends. “I guess we have a minute.”
The doppelgänger led the boys into a dead-end hallway where the janitor’s closet and supply room were located. It was currently empty. She stared down at them with a mocking smile. “Don’t pretend you don’t recognize me.”
“Of course we do,” Carter said, his voice shaking. “You’re the p-p-principal.”
“Am I?” For just a moment, Mrs. Carpenter’s face disappeared. Behind it was rough, dark skin. A black mouth opened up in a grin that split the face nearly in half. Above the mouth there was nothing. No eyes. No nose. Nothing but flat, blank skin.
Nick backed away, a squeak of terror forcing its way out of his throat. Then the principal’s face was there again.
“Now will you admit to knowing who, and what, I am?”
All three boys nodded numbly.
“Very good. Then I will tell you what you are going to do. First, you are no longer needed at school. Your duplicates will take your places. They are superior to you in every respect, so no one will miss you. Second, you will not try to interfere with us in any way. You are going to stop trying to learn about us. In particular you will stay away from your friend at the library.”
Nick’s throat felt locked closed, but he forced himself to speak. “What if we don’t? What if, instead, we tell everyone we know about you?”
“Especially Mr. Blackham,” Carter said.
The principal’s face disappeared again—her blank, eyeless skin terrifying in a way no eyes could ever be. “That would be a very big mistake,” the gaping black mouth said, flashing ragged pieces of what looked like rotten black teeth. “No one would believe you and terrible things would begin happening to those you love. Painful things. Do I make myself clear?”
All three boys nodded.
Angelo, clutching his notebook so tightly his fingers were white, swallowed. “W-what do you want?”
The doppelgänger leered, its mouth dark and wet, before turning back into the principal. “I thought you would have understood by now. What we want . . . is to become you.”
Nick’s insides turned to ice. “If you become us, what do we become?”
The principal smiled gently, but Nick knew the hidden black mouth’s grin was wide. “Why, you become fainter and fainter—growing more insubstantial by the day—until eventually . . .” She flicked her fingers and a cloud of black dust floated to the ground. “Poof.”
With that, she turned and walked away. Nick, Angelo, and Carter stood like ice sculptures of boys until the fake principal disappeared around the corner. A second later there was the same popping sound Nick had heard after he closed the door on Angie. Still shaking, he edged to the corner and peeked around. There hadn’t been time for the doppelgänger to reach the next door, but she was gone.
“Let’s get out of here,” Carter said.
Staying out of sight as much as possible, they took the back way out of the school, cut through a row of bushes, and came out behind the church on the other side.
“What are we gonna do?” Carter said.
Nick’s hands felt ice-cold. He rubbed them, trying to create a little warmth. “We have to go to Mr. Blackham. It’s our only chance.”
“Didn’t you hear that lady?” Carter said. “Don’t tell anyone. Especially not him. Do you really want to find out what the doppelgängers will do to your mom and dad? To my sisters and little brother?”
Nick didn’t even want to think about that.
“That wasn’t any lady,” Angelo said. “Did you see what was behind her face?”
Carter rubbed his arms, which were covered in goose bumps. “I think I’ll be seeing it for the rest of my life.”
“We have to do something,” Nick said. “We can’t just let them get away with it.”
“We will,” Angelo said. “But we need time to come up with a plan. The good news is that if they’re warning us to stay away, there must still be a way to stop them.” He turned to Carter. “The more I think about it, the more I believe finding that homunculus is the key to stopping the doppelgängers. I need you to find it—I mean him. Where would you go if you were Carter Junior?”
Carter’s jaw tightened. “I’ll think of a way to find him.”
“And Nick,” Angelo said. “Try to find out if your parents suspect anything. If any adult other than Mr. Blackham might believe us, it’s them. But make sure you don’t spill anything that might put them in danger. We ask for help only if it’s a last resort. Let’s meet at the top of Dinosaur Hill tomorrow morning at six. Tell your parents we’re going to the school for an early study session. Try not to let anyone see you on the way there.”
“What are you going to do?” Nick asked.
Angelo rubbed his temples. “I’m going to flex my strongest muscle. My brain.”
Nick lay awake almost all night, worried sick about what was happening and how little he could do about it. Every time he managed to doze off, he thought he heard something creeping around the hallway outside his door and jerked awake.
When the alarm went off at five thirty, he turned it off and rolled out of bed. He dressed as quietly as possible, skip
ping a shower and anything else that might wake his parents.
He desperately wanted to go into their room and tell them everything. To have his mom and dad tell him it was going to be okay. But after beating around the bush all night, he was sure they had no clue anything out of the ordinary was happening. If he told them what he knew, not only would they probably not believe him, but they’d also be in danger.
Then again, weren’t they already in danger? If the doppelgängers planned on becoming the people they had copied, they wouldn’t stop with Nick and his friends. It would be like that old movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where no one knows the population is being replaced by aliens until it’s too late.
No matter how he considered it, there didn’t seem to be any good answer. He wrote another note to his parents, left it on the table, and slipped out the kitchen door. As soon as he was outside, he peeked around the bushes. Sure enough, Mrs. Wood was in front of her house watering her flowers. Except if you watched closely enough, you could see that she was actually letting the water run onto her lawn instead of her garden. And despite the morning sun, her body did not cast a shadow. Where was the real Mrs. Wood? Sick in bed? Or inside her house in a kind of daze, slowly fading away?
Fortunately he had planned for this. Staying low, he snuck through his backyard into the bushes behind the Chens’ house. He pulled his bike out from where he’d hidden it next to their shed. Mrs. Wood, watching the front of his house, would think either that he’d stayed home or that she’d somehow missed him. Either way, she couldn’t report where he’d gone.
As soon as he had his bike, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a dark hoodie, sunglasses, and a baseball cap. Let anyone try to figure out who he was under all that. Even with the disguise, though, he realized someone might be able to recognize his bike. So he took the long route to the park, avoiding houses where he could see anyone outside.
With all the extra turns and doubling back, it was nearly a quarter after six by the time he pumped his bike to the top of Dinosaur Hill. Angelo was waiting for him under the big oak tree. “I was worried you weren’t going to make it,” he said.
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