*Julie-Eight watched the digital clock on the desk. Eight o’clock and Cindy’s apartment was silent. And Julie-Eight was still in bed, in borrowed pajamas with messy hair.
How late did normal people sleep?
She got up from the futon and padded down the hall to the bathroom. The door to Vanessa’s room was still closed. Julie-Eight shut the bathroom door as quietly as she could and then flipped on the light switch. On the edge of the sink, her new toothbrush rested on a white hand towel. She grabbed it and squeezed some toothpaste onto the tip when something caught her eye.
Small, framed pictures lined a shelf on the wall above the toilet. She balanced the brush on the edge of the sink and closed the toilet so she could stand on it for a closer look. There was a picture of a grown-up couple, probably Cindy’s parents. Beside it was a portrait of Cindy and Todd, all dressed up with crowns on their heads. The name of their school was on a sign behind them.
She carefully picked up the last frame and stared at the photos. Two pictures and two girls. Her gaze shifted from one to the other and back again. Identical. Like she and Juliet were.
But one photo was discolored, and the clothes were…older. She glanced at the door and back to the frame. Turning it over, she slid the hooks free and lifted the back.
The pictures had writing on the backs. One Vanessa and the other…Cindy.
Julie-Eight had overheard Billy and her sister talking the first night they slept at his house. He’d said it was impossible for them to be twins. And there was another word—clone—but she didn’t know what it meant.
Did Cindy?
Her hands trembled as she rushed to get the frame back together and placed it on the shelf again. If Cindy and Vanessa were just like she and Juliet were, then why didn’t they have to be perfect, too?
It didn’t make sense.
And it wasn’t fair.
She got down and lifted the lid on the toilet. At the sink, she brushed her teeth, counting the seconds for each side and top and bottom, just like her momma had trained her, but inside, something burned, bitter and hot. Vanessa played video games and had friends. She slept late without morning inspections. She went to school. Real school, not at home with her mother.
Julie-Eight tightened her grip on the toothbrush, anger bubbling in her belly. Juliet would tell her to calm down, tell her to be grateful they have each other.
But Juliet wasn’t there.
*
Juliet got out of her sleeping bag quietly, leaving Billy sleeping. Yesterday he’d insisted on staying busy. They’d spent all day combing through phone numbers and bank accounts until well past midnight. They found names to cross-reference for Zack, but for now, they were still empty-handed.
She sat in front of one of Zack’s computer screens and started flipping through the digital photos he’d compiled for her from social media surrounding Eden Incorporated. Her job was to see if she recognized any of them. So far no one looked familiar. Not that she’d seen many people in her life. There was the male doctor who brought her a few graphic novels, her father, and an older woman who only came by once or twice a year. That was it.
Juliet had never been introduced or even told their names, but the woman always made her father jumpy. Whenever she visited, Juliet’s usually aloof father would trip over his words and rush through the exam. She’d mentioned the visitors to Julie-Eight a few times, but her younger sister never had visitors at her physicals.
Zack came into the garage, and Juliet startled, barely stifling a scream. He put his hands up, noticed Billy still sleeping, and whispered, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” He pulled over another chair. “Recognize anyone yet?”
She shook her head. “There were only two other people I ever saw in my house other than my parents. I guess our chances of finding them is going to be slim.”
“Every lead can help.” Zack scrolled through a website that said Facebook at the top.
She flipped through a few more pictures and glanced over at his screen again. Her breath caught. “Wait. Go back.”
He looked over his shoulder. “What?”
She moved next to him, pointing at the screen. “Go up. I saw someone.”
Zack crawled up his newsfeed, and she tapped the screen. “Him. That’s the doctor who was in my house.”
“This one?” Zack pointed.
Juliet started to nod when the pull-out bed creaked behind them. She turned around as Billy stretched and came forward. “You guys should’ve woken me up.” He squinted at Zack’s screen. “Why are you looking at my pictures from my parents’ barbeque?”
Juliet looked at the photo again. “I recognized this man.”
Billy came closer, frowning. “That’s my dad.”
Now that she studied the man’s face, Billy and his father had the same bright-green eyes, but the resemblance ended there. His father had pale, freckled skin with more angular features. Billy must have gotten his skin coloring and expressive features from his mother.
Juliet never would have guessed Billy and the doctor were related. “He’s the one who brought me comics.”
Billy pulled a chair over to sit beside her. “I still can’t believe he’s involved in this.”
She glanced at Billy. “He was only at my exams a few times a year. Maybe he didn’t know what happened to all my sisters.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “My mom said the research was more important than her life or mine.” He met her eyes. “She wore a disguise to our meeting yesterday and whispered the entire time.” He cleared his throat, looking at the screen where his parents smiled together. “I think she knew what had been going on inside Genesis, and she was risking her life by telling me anything. How could they rationalize raising kids in captivity and killing them if they…weren’t perfect?”
Juliet’s stomach twisted as he clicked through the photos. His mother was beautiful. He definitely had her smile. Had she known what was happening to Juliet and her sisters and looked the other way?
The final photo was his dad smiling in front of a grill. She couldn’t believe he’d lived just down the street all this time. She used to look forward to his visits. Being trapped in a house with only her parents and sisters had turned any outsider into an exotic treat. She’d never really gotten to talk to him, but his secret gifts of comics and graphic novels had been treasured.
Did he know they were planning to kill her in a few days and put her body on display as an example of their genetic engineering victory? Like some kind of trophy?
She popped up from the chair and went to the door, aching to turn the knob and run. But where would she go? Her feet remained glued to the floor while she blinked back tears.
Zack mumbled something about donuts and vanished into the main house. The silence settled onto her shoulders like an invisible weight, smothering her.
Billy came up next to her, his voice barely above a whisper. “I had an older brother. His name was David. I was six when he started getting sick. He’d be so tired that he’d fall asleep doing homework. He didn’t want to go to Little League practice or go out and play.”
She glanced up at him, but he wasn’t looking at her, just staring straight ahead.
“Then the headaches came. He’d cry because they hurt so bad. My mom took him to the doctor, but they recommended Tylenol and sent us home. Pretty soon his nose started bleeding. He’d lose so much blood, and they came more often every day. My dad is a researcher, not a pediatrician, but he knew it wasn’t normal.” Billy rubbed his forehead. “He took David to the emergency room, and after a bunch of tests, they diagnosed him with leukemia, and the fight began. I didn’t really understand what it was, but it scared my parents, and that terrified me. My mom cried at night after she thought I was asleep, and my dad mostly stayed at the hospital with David.”
Juliet worried her lower lip. “That must’ve been awful.”
“Yeah.” He met her eyes. “My dad could map DNA, but he couldn’t save my brother. We celebrated David’s tenth birthday in his room in the pediatric oncology ward. I’ll never forget it because we all had to wear masks. None of us could blow out the candles.” A sad smile curved his lips. He cleared his throat. “It was the last time I ever heard my brother laugh. He died a week later.”
“I’m sorry.” She took his hand, and he laced his fingers with hers.
“I’m not telling you this for sympathy. I just want you to understand. They weren’t always like this. Losing David changed them. Until now, I never realized how much.” He sighed. “For a while, my dad lost faith in science. He even quit his job at UCLA, but after a month, he found a new one. That was why we moved here. I didn’t know it at the time, but he must’ve heard about Genesis and…” He gave her hand a squeeze. “My mom said they were on their way to ending childhood diseases and birth defects. My parents think they’re saving other families from going through what we did.”
“But the research is flawed.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “They killed any children who were anything less than perfect. A cold, a bruise, it didn’t matter. Making more…copies of my DNA isn’t going to keep children from dying.”
“We know that, but they probably don’t tell their donors anything about the failures. As far as the money people know, you and Julie are the only ‘specimens,’ and they may not even realize you were kept locked in that house.”
“We have to tell someone.”
“And we will.” He nodded. “Once we have a few names other than your parents so we can back up your story. We have the journal, but they’re not going to believe us unless they can corroborate it. We need proof.”
*
Zack cracked the door to the garage and poked his head inside. “Hey, Bill.” Regret lined his eyes. “They just had a news spot about your mom on television. The police are asking for witnesses to come forward.”
Bill ground his teeth together. He’d sat right across the table from his mother and had heard nothing. With a long-range rifle and a silencer, the shooter could have been anywhere. “I hope someone saw the shooter.”
Zack raised a brow. “You’re not going to talk to them? There’s a hotline you can call anonymously.”
“And tell them what?” Bill shook his head. “I didn’t even realize she’d been shot until it was too late.” He sat in Zack’s computer chair, eager for something else to focus on. The grief sat on his chest like an anchor, ready to drown him if he stopped treading water. “Can I check my email on here?”
“Sure, just open a new window in the browser.” Zack set a bag on the table. “Donuts are here if you want them. I’ve gotta run a couple errands for the folks, but I’ll be back soon.”
Bill opened a fresh window in Zack’s high-tech Firefox browser, went to his email, and entered his password. “Later, Z-Man.”
After the door closed, Juliet scooted back over to her computer screen, clicking through photos while he deleted spam messages from his inbox. The simple, hollow clicks seemed surreal. His mom had died yesterday, and yet the offers for male enhancement products and lottery winnings were still coming. The world moved on despite his unrealistic urge to stop it, to scream, to curse, and maybe even cry.
He wanted to call his dad, but after yesterday, he worried any contact might put his father’s life in jeopardy, too. He stopped clicking and glanced at the pictures Juliet was flipping through. When this was over, would his father go to prison? How deep was his family tied to Juliet’s?
She looked his way. “Are you all right?”
“Not really.” He shook his head and focused on his inbox again. “But hopefully I will be.”
A subject line caught his eye. It was only one word: Iridescence.
That was the safe word his parents had given to him on his first day of school in case of an emergency so he’d know it was safe to go with the person they sent to pick him up from school if they couldn’t for some reason. After losing David, they were hyper-vigilant over Bill’s safety. They worried someone might kidnap him from school and had multiple fail-safes to ensure that never happened.
Bill hovered the mouse over the email address and frowned. Neither of his parents used Hotmail, but he was too curious to delete it without opening it first.
His pulse sped up as he read the email.
Bill –
I never wanted you to find out about my research this way. Please understand your mother knew the risks of talking to you, but your safety meant more to her than anything in the world. I couldn’t keep her away from you.
Your life is in danger. They are searching for you. Your mother and I set up an emergency fund in your name, just in case. The account information is attached. Go to the bank, withdraw the money, and get out of town. Hide. You’re all I have left in this world.
Stay safe.
Love,
Dad
Bill stared at the screen. It could be a trap. Would his own father lead him to the slaughter just to protect his work? He didn’t want to believe that, but he also didn’t want to dwell on the fact that this email made it clear his father wasn’t going to the police for justice for his mother’s murder. How could he stay and support the people responsible for killing her?
Bill shoved the bitter thoughts aside. Maybe his father was trapped, unable to talk to the authorities. Or maybe this was all a trick to get Bill out in the open so the Genesis Foundation could grab him. After losing his mom in the middle of a Starbucks patio, he wasn’t going to take any chances.
Bill grabbed his cell phone and started texting Zack.
“What’s wrong?” Juliet asked.
He stopped, his eyes darting to her face. “I got an email from my dad, but I want to see if Zack can trace the email address or the IP address. Maybe it can help us find Genesis.”
“You don’t think your dad sent it?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. According to the email, my dad has a secret bank account in my name. He told me to use the money to get out of town, but it could be a trap. I don’t know if I can trust him.”
Saying those words out loud hurt, but he forced himself to press on. He sent the text to Zack and logged out of his email. If it really was from his dad, that money would be a big help. He could take Juliet to Los Angeles. It’d be much easier to hide in a big city, and the longer they stayed at Zack’s the more danger they put him in.
But what about Juliet’s sister? She was safer with Cindy. There was nothing tying the Huffs to Todd’s girlfriend. There would be no reason for the police to come sniffing around. If they brought her with them, there was a better chance someone might recognize the two missing sisters.
Bill ran his fingers through his hair. Juliet wouldn’t like leaving Julie behind, but she was probably safest with Cindy. Todd’s girlfriend had no ties to Genesis or Juliet. They’d have no reason to look there.
He just needed to convince Juliet.