Brody stared at me. “Duh,” he said.
I looked at Aaron, mouth-breathing with his head flopped to the side. “Yeah, a friend who would love to kill me,” I said skeptically.
Brody looked at Aaron and then back at me. “He doesn’t know you. He just has to see the real you.”
“Yeah, before he kills me,” I answered, rolling my eyes. I didn’t think about it before I said it. I sometimes had a difficult time keeping my inside thoughts from spilling out. But Brody smiled. I shook my head. “I can’t believe we’re joking about this.” Brody had reached out to me, and I appreciated that. He had all the capabilities of being dark and brooding, with his dark hair and dark eyes, but the crinkle in his eyes when he smiled gave him away.
There were people out there who always knew to do the right thing, reach out when someone was crying, listen when someone had a problem, laugh at a sarcastic comment. No matter how much I observed, I couldn’t seem to pick up on those subtle nuances. I didn’t know if it was because of what I was and because I never had a chance to become a real person, the person I was supposed to be, or maybe everyone felt the way I was feeling, but they kept those feelings to themselves. So even though everything inside me said to pull away, I did the opposite. I daringly reached over but then pulled back, unsure.
Brody studied me, his face suddenly growing serious. “Do you second-guess everything you do?”
I blushed, angry he could read my mind, and defiantly put my hand on his hand.
Brody looked down at my hand. I knew he could see through me. My discomfort. My nerves. He was probably thinking about how foolish I was. Maybe he was thinking I was stupid to think he would want to touch someone like me. Reaching out to someone was not in my nature, but when I went to pull my hand back, Brody held on tightly.
“You’ve heard enough about me. Tell me about you.” My brain could barely focus on him as he held my hand. Even if this wasn’t real, and if he was pretending to care, I could still use this to my advantage to get some information on him.
“Ah, there isn’t much to tell,” he started. “I was a high school athlete with a drunk dad. My mom left us when I was fourteen. She couldn’t take care of my dad anymore, and I couldn’t leave him.” He stared at something off in the distance, maybe the trees racing by the window. “He taught me everything I know about sports.” Smiling, he continued. “Anyway, he got worse, and I finally realized I couldn’t change him. Aaron’s family was the most stable thing in my life, and then one day, they were gone.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. I tried to focus on our conversation, but my mind kept zeroing in on his warm hand wrapped around mine. I wondered if he was feeling any of the feelings I was. How did anyone know what the other person was feeling? Was that possible?
“You have no need to be sorry. My dad was as sorry as they come, and he told me every single day, but I got over it. The only thing I regret in my life, the only thing I would change, would be what happened to Aaron’s family. It was wrong. Reg wanted to fix things. To help the mimics. To stop the Agency. He wanted to right the wrongs, and for that, his family was assassinated.” Brody’s voice caught. I squeezed his hand. “It shouldn’t have happened.”
Brody said that Reg wanted to help the mimics. It made me curious, but this wasn’t the right time. I needed to know the truth. “So how can you forgive me? How can you forgive me when Aaron’s family was yours as well?”
Brody squeezed my hand tighter. “Because, it was my dad who taught me all about sports, but he also taught me that sometimes, good people are put in bad situations. Sometimes, good people can’t help the things they do, but that doesn’t mean they’re still not good inside.” He once again looked out the window at the landscape passing quickly by, and I could tell he was thinking about his dad.
My skin prickled and my eyes began watering, but I tried to fight it off. Brody had been through a lot, and I felt for him. I watched as he tried to pull himself together, then I felt guilty. I wished I could give him some privacy. I looked around the camper, and when I looked up to the front, Aaron was awake and watching us. Brody and me. His eyes narrowed when he saw we were holding hands.
chapter 11
I quickly released Brody’s hand and let my feet fall to the ground. Brody looked at me and then looked back over his shoulder to see that Aaron was awake. They made eye contact, and there seemed to some unspoken dialogue between the two. I stared at Aaron, waiting for him to say something or react, but he turned and looked out at the two-lane highway that stretched in front of us.
After hours in the vehicle, most of which were spent silently, Dan finally spoke up. “I gotta take a pee, and I need to shut my eyes,” he announced as he pulled into a rest stop. It was clear he was too tired to drive but didn’t trust anyone else to. When Dan got up and stretched, his eyes were bloodshot. Aaron couldn’t stop yawning, and every time he let one loose, Dan would catch it and yell at Aaron for yawning again.
Aaron got up and crawled up into the bunk located over the driver’s seat while Dan briefly left the camper and reentered just as quickly, returning to the driver’s seat and reclining, probably to make sure no one else tried driving.
Brody stood up, grabbed a blanket from the cabinet towards the back, and handed it to me. Dusk had settled, and through the windshield, I could see darkness descend in the parking lot in the way station. It seemed it would be smarter to drive at night and rest during the day, but I wasn’t in any position to make suggestions.
Brody interrupted the quiet as he sat back down next to me on the couch. He leaned close in a whisper, trying to make sure he wouldn’t disturb the boys, though Dan was already snoring. “Meda, if you don’t mind my asking, what really happened to your mother? Do you know?” I could see him by the light of the street lamp outside the camper.
I paused. It was something I didn’t talk about, with my father, my sisters, with anyone, or with Aaron potentially listening in, but Brody had been so honest and kind that I felt like I needed to give him something.
I whispered, even quieter than Brody. “Well, I told you what my dad told me. That they took her. He didn’t know about the Agency, but he knew the government used mimics, so that was what he assumed. I don’t know what my mom told him. But what do I believe?” I asked Brody. Again, he remained silent. “Well, before he told me, for the longest time, I believed she left us. That she chose to leave us.”
“What would make you think that?” Brody asked.
“I…I mean. I don’t know. I know it couldn’t be for lack of love. My father loved her so much, and she loved being a mother. She was the best mother a girl could have. But I remember her changing. I can’t say exactly how. But I sensed it. A few weeks after the twins were born, she was gone. Maybe the responsibility of two babies along with me was too much for her.”
He looked confused. “Do you really think that was it? Do you really think she just turned off the mother switch?”
“Mother switch,” I huffed. “Nice.”
“Sorry,” Brody added. “I didn’t mean…”
“No. It’s okay. I mean, the thing was, my dad didn’t talk about her past ever. A few times he had hinted at her rough life before they met, but he never went into detail. He tried to get it across to me that she was a free spirit, but free spirit to me means selfish. If the Agency did take her, it would make sense, but this last year I was with them, I never saw her, and no one spoke about her. I only heard of one other mimic, and even that was information I wasn’t supposed to get. Who knows what really happened? I doubt I’ll ever know.”
Just then, I realized I’d given Brody a lot of information, and I tried to see his face through the now-darkened interior of the camper. He had pried it out of me. He asked me about my mother. I thought back to what I had said to him. Was there anything he could use? Then it dawned on me. Maybe he knew something about my mother. Maybe that was why he asked.
“Brody?” I asked.
“Yes?” he said. His voice sounded sleepy, but I co
uldn’t be sure it wasn’t an act.
“Why do you care about my mother?” I knew I sounded suspicious as soon as it came out.
“I . . .” He paused to yawn. “I wanted to know more about you.” He reached over and squeezed my arm. “Why don’t you get some rest. It’s going to be a big day tomorrow.”
I pulled my hand away from him and leaned over on the arm of the couch. I felt him settle in on the other end, then crossed my arms and rested my head on them. Thoughts of my dad and my stepmother and my mother and sisters swirled along the river that ran through my brain. While on one hand, Brody was right about feeling better by confessing to someone, I still wondered what he was digging for, and I thought about what I had left out of that confession as I drifted off.
I didn’t know how long I slept when I awoke to a quiet clicking noise. I moved over to the window of the camper and pulled back the blinds. There was a soft glow of light in the darkness. I leaned closer to the window. Someone was out there, holding a cell phone. I felt my blood rush to my head. I could make out the shape. It was a woman. Then, the woman slowly looked up, and I stopped breathing. Outside the camper stood my mother.
Impossible, I thought, but even as that thought entered my head, we locked eyes, and I knew it was her. I continued to hold my breath. Then, my mother raised a finger to her lips, motioning for me to be quiet, and waved for me to come outside.
I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, though since the boys had taken me, life itself seemed to take on a dreamlike quality. I cringed as my nails dug into my skin, then I looked out the window again. My mother was still there. She motioned to be quiet and waved again. Though I knew it was a bad idea, I made my way to the door and held my breath as I quietly slipped out into the night.
chapter 12
I slowly pushed the door closed behind me, willing it not to make a creaking noise I would expect from an old camper. Luckily, there was no creak, just a quiet metal clink as the door shut. When I turned around, there was no one in the parking lot with me. It was empty.
I thought I was going crazy. I scanned the parking lot. There was a slight breeze, and I could hear cars on the main road. I walked around the back of the camper, avoiding the front just in case one of the boys awoke and glanced out the window. There was no one in the back. The other side of the camper faced a tree-lined forest. I didn’t want to go to the forest side because I had an irrational fear that maybe what I had seen was a wild animal, like a bear. Well, considering where we were, it probably wasn’t irrational.
My feet silently padded across the pavement as I made my way to the other side of the camper. I tensed, squinting into the darkness of the forest. There was no way I’d walk over there. I must have been seeing things, but as I turned to walk back around to the camper door, I stopped short of running into someone who had snuck up behind me.
I nearly screamed but clamped my hand over my own mouth and blinked a few times. It was my mom. She had the same dark hair, though it was chopped off in an edgy bob that highlighted her long, slender neck. Her features were dark except for her eyes, and even though I couldn’t see them in the dark, I knew they were green like mine. I hadn’t seen my mother for all those years, but she looked the same as she had in all of the photos.
“Mom?” I whispered. I couldn’t move. She didn’t either. We stood near the back of the camper, staring at each other. I wanted to ask her what she was doing here, where she had been all this time, a million different questions, but I couldn’t speak.
“Meda, you’ve grown so much.” She smiled, shaking her head and bringing a clenched fist to her mouth.
I was fighting back tears, but when she stepped forward to hug me, a few sprung loose. Her scent was spicy and unfamiliar. She smelled like the wilderness. Not like I remembered.
She pulled me back and whispered quickly, “We need to get you out of here.” She kept one hand on my shoulder as she tried to guide me towards the forest.
“Where? What? How did you find me?” I tried to stop her. I needed to talk to her.
“Meda, there’s no time. We need to go now. You don’t belong with these boys. They’ll get you killed.” She kept pushing me along, but I resisted, and I wasn’t sure why.
“But, where have you been? And what about Dad? And Ginger? And Georgia?” I blurted out, trying to get her to stop.
That made her pause. “What do you mean, what about Dad?” Her eyes flashed with anger, but only for a moment, and then she continued. “Your father will be fine. I already had him moved.” I looked at my mother, confused. How could she have had him moved? How would she even get to him and then find me? What are the odds? Something tugged at my brain as she continued to usher me on. “You need to come with me now.” She looked and sounded like my mother, but I was starting to have doubts.
Suddenly, the camper door clicked open and banged loudly against the outside of the vehicle. Because we were around the backside of the camper, whoever had exited was only seconds away from finding us. I looked at my mom, and her reassuring face was now a blank slate. She turned to walk away from me. “Wait,” I called, taking a few steps toward her.
Brody came around the backside of the camper in a low crouch, and when he saw us, he trained his gun on my mom. “Don’t move!” he called out. My mom turned and faced Brody. The corner of her mouth hitched up in a smirk.
“Mom?” I stepped hesitantly towards her but looked back at Brody.
“She’s not your mother, Meda. Back away from her.” He glanced at me but kept the gun on my mom.
I looked at the woman who stood before me and then back at Brody. “Mom?” I asked. My mom moved so my body blocked her from Brody’s gun. I turned to Brody. “How do you know?” But when I turned back, I saw her draw her gun from the waistband of her black jeans. She stepped to the left and didn’t hesitate before pulling off a shot.
I crouched down, putting my hands to my ears and closing my eyes. The sound of the gun was jarring in the night. Brody dove and rolled across the pavement, successfully dodging the shot, and was back on his feet with his own gun up.
My ears were ringing, and I was confused. When I looked back at my mom, or whoever she was, she now had her gun aimed at me. A shot rang out. My whole body clenched, awaiting the impact of the bullet and pain to follow, but no bullet hit me.
I looked back to the imposter, and a small bit of blood trickled down her arm. Her gun clattered to the ground as she grabbed her wounded shoulder. I followed her stare and saw Aaron, now standing at the front of the camper, gun in hand. He had hit his mark.
Then, my mother flickered, and I caught a glimmer of a different person. A younger girl. A girl with black, spiky hair and a thin, but muscular, rangy appearance. This had to be the other mimic. The mimic who the Agency used for kill jobs. It had to be Isi. Suddenly, she lunged at me. I was too slow because I had been watching her phase in and out, so she managed to grab at my arm, but she faltered. She was having a hard time keeping my mother’s form. I wondered if the bullets the boys used had some kind of silver like the cuffs, and that was what was affecting her ability to shift.
When she lost her grip, I dove for the gun she dropped. She lunged with me, but I got my hands around it quickly. I watched people handle guns all the time, but I wasn’t good with them because they scared me, but I couldn’t let her see that. I picked it up and aimed it at her. Now all three of us stood, surrounding her. Brody to my left and Aaron to my right.
“You have nowhere to go,” Brody said to her. “Just stay calm.”
The girl looked at me, almost smiling. “Aw, Meda. You wouldn’t shoot your own mother, would you?” She fake pouted at me.
“Who are you?” I asked. I was pretty sure I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from her. The girl looked at me and sighed. She began to shift before my eyes and turned into my stepmother. It was surprising to see her face again, and I began to understand why people were so easily fooled when I shifted into someone. You live your entire life
learning to trust your eyes. “Stop it!” I yelled, shaking the gun at her. She flickered again, her face going smooth for a moment before returning to the form of my stepmother.
“Meda, honey. Don’t you feel betrayed?” she asked with fake sympathy, closing her hands together.
“You’re not her either,” I spit at her. “I know who you are.” I held the gun up but backed towards the camper. I didn’t want her to lunge at me. I didn’t want her to make me use the gun.
The girl who wore the face of my stepmother sighed and let out a huff of air like she was bored. “You’re right. Good for you. You get a gold star.” Her arms dropped to her sides. “Of course, I’m not your mother or your stepmother. I’m surprised you didn’t guess that right away. I didn’t think it would work, but they insisted you would fall for it. But, I mean, come on. You’re one of us! How can you be so stupid?” She emphasized the last word.
“You’re Isi,” I said. She didn’t answer, but her eyebrows raised slightly. She was surprised I knew her name. She moved slowly towards me as I continued to back up. Brody and Aaron kept their guns pointed at her.
“Neat trick. Where did you get my name?” I didn’t answer. I knew enough not to show all my cards. “I know you. I know you’re not going to pull the trigger. You never could.”
A pebble rolled towards us, which made Isi look. Brody had been moving closer and closer. She laughed, looking at the boys who were now nearly at my sides. “Oh, you got me!” she cried in fake dismay. “I surrender!” She laughed, dropping to her knees and putting her hands behind her head. “I wouldn’t do anything stupid if I were you. You guys are surrounded.” She shrugged but kept her hands behind her head.
As if on cue, the sound of a helicopter caught on the breeze. All three of us looked up, trying to spot the bird, but Aaron wasn’t going to let it get any closer. “Let’s go!” he yelled. “Leave her.” Brody moved to my side. He grabbed me by the arm and led me to the front of the camper. I didn’t take my eyes off the girl. She continued to grin at me with her half smirk.
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