“Are you okay?” Carter asked.
As Angelo knelt down to take a look, the homunculus gave a raspy cough. “He doesn’t look good,” Angelo said. “We need to get him back to the woods as soon as possible.”
“How are we going to do that?” Nick asked. “It’s not like we can ride our bikes there.”
Angelo grabbed his iPad and did a quick search. “There’s a bus that leaves in two hours. If we’re careful, the doppelgängers shouldn’t have any clue we’ve left.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” a voice said.
Nick spun around to find three figures blocking the doorway.
“Nice to meet you in person,” a familiar voice said. The figure stepped forward and Nick felt the blood drain from his face. He was looking at an exact copy of himself—from his clothes to his face, to the way his hair stuck up a little in the back.
Except it wasn’t him. There was something about the eyes staring back at him—something evil and hungry—that made him want to turn away. All at once he could understand why people had died after seeing their doppelgängers. It was like seeing a dark reflection of yourself, a piece of you that until that very moment had been hidden from view.
Angelo and Carter’s doppelgängers stepped into the room as well. They eyed the three boys and grinned. “Sorry, guys. The game is over. And you lose.”
Nick tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come. “Give us the homunculus,” Evil Nick said.
Carter hugged Carter Junior to his chest. “You can’t have him.”
“You can’t have him,” Carter’s doppelgänger repeated in a whiny voice. “Dude. No wonder Angie and her friends don’t want to hang with you. You’re pathetic.”
Evil Angelo elbowed Evil Carter. “I hate to say it, but I think your double is even more annoying than you are.”
Evil Carter sneered. “Well, you should know everything there is about annoying. You wrote the book on annoying, and then read it until you had it memorized.”
“Would you two quit arguing,” Nick’s doppelgänger said. He looked at Nick. “Why you choose to hang around these two is beyond me. Seriously, they are like a couple of little old ladies in a grocery store arguing over who gets the last cantaloupe. You know?”
Nick nearly nodded, before remembering who he was talking to.
“I thought you three were supposed to be taking our places in school,” Angelo said.
His double took off his glasses and polished them on his shirt exactly the way Angelo always did. “Technically, we were there until just a minute ago. But a kindly neighbor lady across the street, who happens to be one of us, spotted your bikes out front. So we thought we’d pop in.”
“You guys better back off,” Nick said, his tongue feeling twice as big as normal.
“Or what?” Evil Nick asked with a mocking smile. “Are you going to call your mommy? I’ll bet if I go to your house right now I can get her to kiss me on the head and feed me pancakes.”
Nick raised his fist and, like a mirror image, his double raised his. He took a step to his right and at almost the same time, his doppelgänger matched his movement. He cut back to the left and Evil Nick was right there.
“Look,” Evil Nick said. “We know all about the things you guys have done in the past. We have your memories too. But what you need to realize is, that’s all over now. We think like you, we act like you, we look like you. And in another twenty-four hours, we will be you.”
Evil Carter pointed at Carter and laughed. “What’s freaking hilarious is that if you guys had gotten here a day earlier—”
“Stop talking so much!” Evil Angelo scolded. “Go check the kitchen. Maybe there’s a bag of doggie treats for you to snack on.”
“Why don’t you go read a book?” Evil Carter said. “Try looking up the Latin translation of know-it-all.”
Nick’s double raised his hands as if to say, How do you put up with this? “Here’s the thing. By now you know that we are what you call doppelgängers—although we have existed long before that name.”
“You might want to write this down in your monster notebook,” Evil Angelo said. “Which, by the way, I’m planning on keeping up when you’re gone.”
Angelo frowned, but he unzipped his backpack and took out his notebook anyway.
Evil Nick shook his head. “In the past we were spread across the world, appearing now and then to people, watching them, warning them, occasionally causing a little mischief. But mostly trying to teach them.”
“Teach them what?” Carter growled. “How to be buttheads?”
“Buttheads,” Carter Junior repeated weakly.
Angelo’s evil double held a hand out toward Angelo. “Please tell your companions that if they continue to interrupt, we will never get through this. But use small words or they might not understand.”
“I don’t tell my friends what to do,” Angelo said.
Evil Angelo shook his head. “Another reason your attempt to stop us has always been doomed to failure. Very well, let’s make this brief. In the past, our kind tried to teach your race to stop hiding their true feelings—to let their inner personalities come out. Not everyone liked our message. They started rumors about us, blamed us for their own misfortunes, and trapped us in ‘sanctuaries’ like the one where you discovered us.”
“Luckily, you doofuses opened the door,” Carter’s doppelgänger said.
“I told you to zip your lips,” Evil Angelo told him.
Evil Carter snorted. “And I told you to stick your head in a toilet. If it would even fit.”
“What door?” Angelo asked.
His doppelgänger brushed the question away like swatting a fly. “It’s not important. What is important is that we’re free now, and we’re not going back. Trying to teach you didn’t work. So instead, we’re going to become you. It’s already happening. Once we finish becoming, you disappear.”
Nick balled up his fists. “We didn’t know we were letting you out or we never would have done it. And we’re going to find a way to send you jerks back where you belong.”
“Dream on,” Evil Nick said. “It’s too late to send us back. And even if it wasn’t, you weenies would never have a chance. Haven’t you noticed you’re losing your strength? Your shadows are disappearing; you’re feeling sick, tired. Trust me, you’re the ones who are going where you belong—bye-bye.”
“I wouldn’t have put it in those exact terms,” Evil Angelo said. “But he is right. We are replacing you. Once we scrape out all the things that get in the way—what you call being polite, civilized, and kind—we will dominate the rest of your species, then the world.” He held out his hand. “So leave the homunculus here and you can go.”
Carter grabbed the metal cage and held it over his head like a weapon. “We aren’t leaving here without Carter Junior.”
“If you knew he was here, why didn’t you come and get him yourselves?” Nick asked. It didn’t make sense. “What do you need him for?”
“We don’t need him,” Evil Carter said. “Little dude’s about to croak anyway. It’s just that—”
Evil Angelo whirled around, his jaw tight. “I told you to stop talking!”
While Evil Angelo was facing Evil Carter, the real Angelo slipped his hand into the backpack he had unzipped moments before. “While it does appear to be true that you have both our physical and mental capabilities, there is one thing you do not have.”
“And what would that be?” Evil Angelo asked, his tone and expression clearly indicating he couldn’t imagine anything he didn’t have.
Angelo pulled a small metal can from his pack, flipped the cap off with his thumb, and shot a cone of mist at the Evil Twins. A thick vapor filled the air around the doppelgängers and they immediately fell back, coughing and gagging. “Pepper spray.”
“I have something you don’t have too!” Carter shouted. He flung the cage he’d been holding and it bounced off Evil Carter’s head with a loud twang-g-g.
“Put th
ese on,” Angelo said, pulling out three surgical masks. “And cover your eyes.”
As Nick put on the mask, his doppelgänger stumbled toward him, eyes streaming. Nick grabbed one of Kimber’s chairs and swung it like a baseball bat. It caught Evil Nick just at belt level, doubling him over. “Now who feels sick?” he shouted.
“Run!” Angelo yelled. He covered his eyes and ran past the reeling doppelgängers.
“Ignore the smell,” Carter told the homunculus, tucking it inside his shirt. “I forgot to shower this morning.”
Nick covered his eyes with his hands and ran after his friends into the hall. As soon as they were past the pepper spray cloud, they turned and raced down the stairs.
“Get the bikes,” Angelo shouted. They charged out the door and ran toward the front yard. Behind them, in the house, Nick could hear furious shouts and pounding footsteps.
“Look out!” Carter yelled.
Nick turned around just in time to see an old woman coming at him with a rake. “What are you boys doing in that house?” the woman shouted, lunging toward him.
A wave of guilt surged through Nick and he nearly stopped before Angelo yelled, “No shadow, she’s not real.”
Knowing it wasn’t a real woman he was doing it to, but feeling terrible about it anyway, Nick ducked under the swinging rake and stuck out his foot. He caught the doppelgänger right in the ankles. “Whup!” the creature squawked, throwing out its hands and flying forward.
In the brief glimpse he got before he turned back toward his bike, Nick thought it looked sort of like Superman leaping into flight—if Superman was a seventy-year-old woman with a bathrobe for a cape. Based on the thump and gasp behind him, he had to assume the flight hadn’t lasted long.
Carter was the first one to his bike. He yanked it up by the handlebars and jumped on without losing a step. Angelo was a few feet behind him as he threw his pack over the handlebars of his bike and kicked off. But with a faster bike, he quickly caught up.
Across the street, a muscular man with a big belly came running out of his house. He was wearing only a T-shirt and a pair of boxers. His hairy legs pumped as his bare feet slapped against the ground, but like the old woman, he had no shadow. “Stop, you punks!” he yelled, running into the street.
Angelo managed to pass the doppelgänger, but Carter wasn’t fast enough to make it. Instead he dropped his head, aimed his girl’s bike directly at the man, and screamed, “Banzai!”
Nick—who had just reached his bike—watched in horrified fascination. Pedaling like a madman, head lowered, feet a blur, Carter charged. At the last minute, the man realized his danger and tried to turn aside, but it was too late.
Carter and the doppelgänger collided in the dead center of the street. It was like watching a speeding Volkswagen run into a mostly stationary SUV. The girls’ bike flipped end over end into the air. With a woof of dismay the man fell backward. Carter, his feet still trying to pedal, launched like a skunk-haired rocket. He somersaulted once, ducked his head, and landed directly on the man’s belly, before bouncing like a kid on a trampoline and miraculously landing on his feet.
Nick snatched his bike and rode up next to Carter. “Get on!” Carter grabbed his shoulders and jumped onto the back of Nick’s bike. “Are you okay?” Nick asked, racing to catch up with Angelo.
“Never better!” Carter grinned. “Who knew bellies were so bouncy?”
“We have to get out of the neighborhood,” Angelo said.
“Which way?” Nick gasped for air. Riding with Carter on the bike was twice as hard as riding by himself, but it was more than that. Although it was still morning, it felt like he’d been going all day.
Behind them, a black sedan raced around the corner, its tires squealing. “Right!” Angelo shouted, nearly colliding with Nick as the two cut around the corner.
The sound of the car’s engine grew louder. Nick felt Carter turn to look back. “Faster!” Carter yelled. “It’s going to run us over!”
Nick pedaled as hard he could, switching the bike into its highest gear to get all the speed possible. At the next corner, the boys jumped the curb and cut across a lawn. Behind them, the car screeched its brakes, trying to make the turn.
Ahead of them, another car pulled into the street. It was a police car, its blue and red lights flashing. Nick felt a flicker of hope. Maybe someone had seen the kids running and called the cops. The police wouldn’t believe their story, but they wouldn’t let anyone take them either. He started toward the car, but Angelo shook his head. “He could be a doppelgänger.”
“Where do we go?” Nick said. Behind them the black sedan was coming fast. In front of them, the police car gunned its engine.
“There!” Carter pointed to an opening between two yards. It was a bike path—too narrow for cars, but perfect for the boys. They turned into it just as the cars skidded to a halt behind them.
“We made it!” Carter shouted. But his excitement quickly disappeared as they came out on the other side. The street was filled with men and women—some on foot, others on bikes. Three quick pops sounded and the boys’ Evil Twins appeared in front of them.
“Whoa!” Carter gasped as the boys braked their bikes. “How did you do that?”
Evil Angelo clucked his tongue. “I told you your plan was doomed to failure.”
Nick searched for some way out, but there were too many people—all of them closing in. Behind them, the bike path was blocked off by the police car. “Raise your hands and surrender,” the policeman called over his loudspeaker.
Just then, an SUV came screaming around the corner. Nick recognized it at once. The back door flew open and his dad yelled, “Get in!”
Throwing down their bikes, the boys darted away from the crowd and dove into the backseat of the car. Nick’s dad punched the gas and smoke billowed from the tires as the SUV shot away.
“How did you find us?” Nick asked, clutching his hand to his chest. His heart felt like it was going to pound straight out of his rib cage.
Dad grinned into the rearview mirror as he turned a corner. “It wasn’t easy.”
“You’re not going to believe this,” Carter panted. “But those people behind us weren’t real. They were doppelgängers.”
“Oh, I believe it,” Dad said. He touched a panel beside his seat, and the back doors locked. “I believe all of it.” He raised his hand and held it toward the windshield, making sure the boys could see.
Nick gasped. There was no shadow.
“You’re a doppelgänger,” Nick said.
His father’s double nodded. “Guilty as changed.”
Carter grabbed the door handle, but the door wouldn’t open. He tried the window, but that wouldn’t open either. The doppelgänger had turned on the child locks.
“Where’s my real dad?” Nick demanded.
Evil Dad drove straight through a red light without stopping and cars swerved to avoid them. “He and your mother are resting peacefully. They’ve both been feeling a little worn out this morning.”
Below the seat, where the doppelgänger couldn’t see, Nick made a spraying motion to Angelo. If they could pepper-spray Evil Dad, they might be able to reach the locks and escape.
Angelo moved to reach for his backpack before looking wildly around. Nick realized he’d left it on the handlebars of his bike. The pepper spray, along with any other gadgets he might have brought, were gone.
They pulled onto the freeway, cutting in front of a truck driver, who blared his horn. Nick looked out the window. “Where are you taking us?”
“Somewhere you three will be out of the way, while we finish becoming you and your neighbors,” Evil Dad said.
Nick felt sick. It was the worst feeling in the world to look into the face of your own father and know that he was planning to destroy you—even if inside you knew that it wasn’t really him.
Angelo shook his head. “You doppelgängers keep saying there’s nothing we can do to stop you. So why bother chasing us?”
> Evil Dad turned on the radio and began to hum. “I think that’s enough talking for now.”
Huddled in the backseat, Nick, Angelo, and Carter tried to come up with a plan. “When he gets off the freeway, we smash out the window and make a break for it,” Carter said.
“With what?” Nick asked. “It’s not like you can break out a car window with your fist. And even if we could, where would we go? We’re on foot and he has a car. Maybe we could attract the attention of another driver.”
Carter shook his head. “What would we tell them? The doppelgänger looks just like your dad. And by now, they’ve probably copied all our parents. People would think we’re wacko. They’d probably send us to a hospital or protective services.”
Angelo pushed his glasses up on his nose. “We’re running out of time. If our Evil Twins were telling the truth, we have less than a day to stop them. We can’t afford to get caught up in some bureaucratic nightmare.”
“Then what do we do?” Nick asked.
“Our best chance to escape is once we stop,” Angelo said.
Carter took Carter Junior out of his shirt. The homunculus lay limp in his hands, his eyes halfway shut. “The first thing we have to do is get him back where he belongs. Look at the poor little guy. He’s barely breathing.”
Nick looked out the window and realized where they were headed. “He’s taking us back to where we found Carter Junior. Why would he do that?”
Angelo sighed. “I have no idea. But whatever it is, it can’t be good.”
For the rest of the ride, all they could do was sit and worry as the woods got closer and closer. When they turned off Highway 17 and pulled onto the fire road, Carter Junior sat up for a moment before collapsing back onto Carter’s lap. Nick understood exactly how the homunculus felt. He’d been getting more and more tired as the trip went on until it was all he could do to keep his eyes open.
“How are you doing?” he asked Carter.
“Okay,” Carter said, jaws cracking in a huge yawn. “I just need to take a little nap.”
Case File 13 #3 Page 13