“What Levi means,” Theodora chimes in, “is yes, we know all about his monkey experiment. But that’s classified information.”
“Wait a second. Go back,” Henry, the boy who asked Theodora on a date, interjects. “What do you mean, Albert Seymour created you? I thought that lab technician created you. And that you were an accident, of sorts.”
“What he meant,” Theodora clarifies, “is that Dr. Seymour’s technology brought us into this world, though he did not directly supervise the procedure. You’re right, that happened at the hands of Evan Soto, the lab technician.”
“The one who was later sent to the mental hospital,” Henry confirms.
“Yes,” says Theodora.
“Emmaline Chance?” a voice rings out, interrupting Henry and Theodora’s dialogue. It’s Principal Fleischer. “Come with me.”
My heart sinks. What could this possibly be about? Prudence? I don’t ask questions; I simply follow her across campus. Thankfully, she doesn’t speak to me. I can tell she’d rather be doing anything other than escorting me on this errand, whatever it is. When I arrive at the front doors of the library, Pippa is already there. My heart aches at the sight of her—so like Pru, and yet so not.
Except my heart lurches twice, because Pippa is standing close to someone I haven’t seen since watching the feeds the day the Lorax brought me to school. Pru’s father, Jaeger Stanwick. Though he’s still as lean and athletic as ever, Jaeger looks more frail today than I’ve seen him before. His scrabbly gray hair is unkempt, and his clothes look rumpled and neglected.
Pippa pauses their conversation at the sight of me, and as Jaeger turns to acknowledge me, I get an eyeful of the weariness played out on his face. It’s as if he’s aged a million years since the last time I saw him. He reaches out to grab my hand, and it’s like he’s moving through mud, not air. Every move looks painful.
“It’s good to see you,” he says simply.
“Is Pru…?”
“How is she?” Pippa adds. “Where is—?”
“Can we take a walk?” he interrupts. “I hate standing still. Always have.”
“Of course,” Pippa and I answer, following Jaeger down the steps. I notice Principal Fleischer leave as we walk along the path that leads to Dark Lake. The wind whips at us, and my heart pounds in my ears as I imagine what he might be here to tell us, in person: Pru is dead.
“Emma, before I forget,” Jaeger says, pulling a paperback book from his coat pocket and handing it to me. “This is for you. Prudence always said you love the classics. I thought you’d like it.” I take it and thank him. To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ve read this novel for class, but I don’t have my own copy. I slip this one into my coat pocket as Jaeger stops to take in the lake. “Prudence loved it here,” he mutters. “I told her this school had its pitfalls, but she never believed me. Was always saying Darkwood was her favorite place in the world.”
“Was?” Pippa asks carefully. “So it’s true, then? She didn’t make it?”
Tears prick my eyes. I bite my lip to keep from crying out.
Jaeger turns to Pippa. “Make it? Oh, no, Pru didn’t die. She’s struggling, but she’s alive. They didn’t tell you?”
I shake my head. So does Pippa.
“We had her transferred to a hospital in Massachusetts so she could be near her mother. Pru’s mom is too immunocompromised to fly and too sick to make the drive.”
“Can we buzz her? Talk to her? When can we see Pru?” The questions fly out of us like rockets.
Jaeger rubs his temple, then squints as though he has sunlight in his eyes.
“She’s in a medically induced coma,” he says. “I thought you knew. The attack left her with multiple skull fractures and a brain bleed, which the doctors were able to stem with surgery. They induced the coma afterward so her body could rest.”
My voice feels divorced from my body, but I’m pretty sure I say, “The attack?”
Jaeger looks from me to Pippa, and then out at Dark Lake. Pru’s father nods. “The severity and nature of her injuries suggest that it wasn’t an accident.”
Guardian
That afternoon, during duty, I tell Levi about Jaeger’s visit. Though things are still tense between us, I feel I owe him that. After all, he was the one who carried Pru to safety.
“Thanks for letting me know,” he says, distant.
“You’re welcome.”
We get to work reshelving books. All I can think about is Pru lying in that canoe, and the fact that she didn’t fall. It wasn’t an accident. Someone hurt her. Deliberately. Someone might have been trying to kill her.
But who? And why?
My gaze falls on that corner table, empty now, where Tessa, Madison, and Jake were sitting yesterday. That’s when it dawns on me: maybe I know more than I think. I remember overhearing Tessa. Madison didn’t show up yesterday for her blood work. I have no idea what this blood work business is all about, but what matters is that Madison missed an appointment the same afternoon that Pru was attacked. Tessa didn’t mention what time that appointment was. Still, I can’t help but wonder if Madison wasn’t getting her blood work taken because she was in the boathouse, knocking Pru over the head with a rowing oar. Madison’s made it clear from the beginning that she hates Pru and resents her being in the Ten.
Did Madison attack Pru?
I don’t have any answers, and I won’t until I can find some proof Madison did this. So I turn up The List and dive into organizing books until it’s nearly dinnertime. Alone with my thoughts, I remember the package Jane sent me. Suddenly I really want to open it.
Once duty ends, I race back to Cypress, fetch the package from under my mattress, and slit open the envelope with the beveled edge of my key. My hands tremble as I pull out the letter. It’s written in the bot-generated handwriting I recognize as Jane’s.
Dear Emmaline,
This letter has taken me weeks to write. I hope you are well, though I know it’s a loaded term. I hope you are better than I am. That’s not saying much, I suppose.
The days are long, and each one makes me feel like I’ve lost him a little more. I’m sorry I haven’t seen you since the funeral. We haven’t forgotten about you. You were always like a daughter to us.
Have you heard about the dedication ceremony? Booker and I donated a sizable fund to Darkwood for a new arts building in Oliver’s honor. We will be there after fall break when they break ground. I look forward to seeing you.
This is for you. There is a note enclosed…from him.
All my love,
Jane
A note from Oliver? My pulse thuds in my throat as I fish in the envelope for the hard object I felt when I first picked up the package. I pull out a gold key, and with a rush of emotion, I realize it must be Oliver’s. It was on a chain around his neck when I found him in his room, not breathing. Jane must have removed it before he was buried. And now, it’s mine.
The note is a folded scrap of paper. I weigh it in my hands. Whatever’s written there will be the last words from Oliver that I’ll ever read. I can’t open it. Not yet. I stuff the note in my hoodie pocket and make my way to the dining hall, suppressing tears.
One day passes into the next, and when I arrive at the library for my next duty, Levi isn’t sorting yet. He’s reading another paperback. I get close enough to glance at the cover. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
“It’s not what you think,” he says, snapping the book closed.
“I wasn’t thinking anything.”
“You were feeling sorry for me. The sad, test-tube clone. I don’t think I’m Frankenstein’s monster, you know. I don’t believe I’m a freak of nature. Though part of me has been struggling to figure out why I’m here, ever since I understood that I was different.”
Levi looks at the worn pages of his book. “Of course, Frankenstein’s monster wasn’t a m
istake at all. He was quite wanted by his master, at least when he was first created. I can’t say the same for myself.” He pauses. “I’m sorry about your mother,” he says. “You really don’t remember her?”
“No.” I turn to the book cart. “For a lot of my childhood, I told myself I did. But when I was about ten, I realized I’d been recreating who I thought she was from old photographs. They weren’t memories at all. The mind can be quite convincing when it wants to be.”
“But you had a mother…once,” he says. “That means something, Emma. Not all of us can say the same.”
“So you didn’t…?”
“Have a mother?” he asks, turning to face me. “No. We had artificial wombs, motherless births. I believe we were the first babies to be successfully gestated outside a human body.”
I have to admit, I’m taken aback. “I always assumed a surrogate carried you,” I say softly.
“You and everyone else,” Levi quips. “But aren’t you lucky! You’ve got a real Similar, here in the flesh, to set the record straight. Go ahead—what else do you want to know?”
For some reason, I feel shy now—like I’m afraid to ask. “Um, if you didn’t have mothers or surrogates, did your guardian give you super formula?”
“Naturally. No one was there to nurse us, were they?” He adds, “But super formula is considered nutritionally superior to human breast milk, so it’s not like we were deprived.” The sarcasm in his voice is hard to miss.
I press on. “What was homeschooling like?”
Levi laughs sharply. “You could call it that. We had lessons from top specialists in every subject. They taught us everything from math and science to archery and forensics, but we never met any of them in person.”
“Forensics? Why would you learn that?”
He shrugs. “Our guardian thought it might come in handy.”
“And the martial arts?”
“I learned a mix of aikido, kung fu, and jujitsu with acrobatics and gymnastics.”
“You know all of those?”
“We each had to master a sport. That was mine. Surely you didn’t peg me as a basketball player.”
I ignore his joke. “Your guardian. Pippa mentioned him too,” I say as I stack some history books into a pile. The conversation is easier if I don’t look at him. “Who is he? What is he like? That night by the lake… You and Maude and Jago were talking about something he asked you to do. You called it deplorable,” I whisper.
“His name is Gravelle,” Levi says simply, ignoring the second part of my question.
“Gravelle,” I repeat. Levi Gravelle. “Like your last names?”
“He gave us his surname, and legally, he is like a father to us. He’s paid our expenses, educated us, raised us. In a sense.”
“Did you—? Was he—?” I stop, at a loss for how to pose this next question.
“Did he love us?” Levi finishes for me. “It’s okay. You can ask me.”
“Oh,” I say. “Well, um… Did he?”
Levi lets that sit for a few seconds, considering, and then responds. “In his own way, yes, I think he did love us. Does love us. He’s still my guardian, you know, until I turn eighteen. He’s still the only family I have. And according to him, the only family I will ever have.”
“What does that mean?” I press.
“Isn’t it obvious? Who knows what our lives will be like, whether we’ll ever be accepted in normal society. I don’t know if I’ll ever get married, have kids, live the American dream. That might not be possible for me.”
I don’t know what to say to that. How could I? So I change the subject.
“I got a letter from Jane,” I blurt. “Jane Ward. Oliver’s mother. Your DNA mother…”
“So what?” Levi says, his voice tight.
“She has to mean something to you,” I insist.
“She doesn’t,” Levi replies. “Besides, I thought we were tabling this topic until further notice.”
“Until the dedication ceremony,” I suggest. “Then we’ll see what Jane has to say when she meets you.”
“I will await the moment with bated breath,” Levi mutters.
I freeze. I’ve hurt his feelings. “I’m sorry…” But the words sound worthless, and I know my attempt to make it better has only made it worse.
* * *
That night at dinner, gossip in the dining hall is at a record high. From what I can gather by eavesdropping on the table next to me—they’re obnoxiously loud, so it isn’t hard—a sophomore chatted up a couple of locals when she went into town. She heard the police had pinpointed a suspect in Pru’s attack. The incident is no longer being treated as an accident.
My eyes immediately fly to Madison, sitting with Jake, Tessa, Archer, and the other senior Ten members, who are all talking animatedly.
The suspect they should be pinpointing is Madison…
I think about the other day in the library, when Tessa, Madison, and Jake referenced their blood work. If I could find out what that’s all about, I’d be closer to learning why Madison wasn’t there that day, why she missed her appointment. And if she missed it because she was attacking Pru…
“Attention!” a gravelly voice calls out. Everyone quiets down reluctantly as Principal Fleischer takes center stage. Pippa slips into a seat next to me, and I notice her friends across the room also listening attentively. “I have an announcement. It will not come as a surprise that one of our junior members of the Ten is, at this time, taking a leave of absence from the school.”
I tense in my seat; Pippa does the same. This is clearly about Pru. A leave of absence? I think. That’s what they’re calling it? I meet Pippa’s gaze. She looks as pained as I feel.
“The rules governing the Ten are quite clear. In order to participate, students must be on campus for the duration of the school year. Given that, we have moved Emmaline Chance up to the fourth spot in the Ten, and another student will be taking the fifth slot.”
Murmurs ripple across the dining hall. Another student is being slotted into the Ten? Someone new will be part of Darkwood’s prestigious group?
“The student with the sixth-highest score on the original stratum test is…” Principal Fleischer pauses. The entire school waits with bated breath. “Pippa Gravelle.” Fleischer holds up a hand, heading off any vocal reactions at the pass. “I assure you, the fact that Prudence and Pippa bear a unique resemblance has nothing to do with this decision. It was based purely on test scores. You may finish eating.”
Fleischer walks off as everyone in the dining hall starts processing this development. I look over at Pippa. She isn’t celebrating—how could she? We both know, without saying it out loud, what this means: the school doesn’t expect Pru back anytime soon.
Commitment
After the announcement, I buzz Jaeger about Pru’s condition when I’m back in my dorm room, growing more and more anxious. I can’t reach him. I don’t know much about medically induced comas, but I imagine they’re like missing persons, and a patient is far more likely to recover in the early days, not the later ones.
The more my mind races, the harder it is for me to fall asleep. I don’t have enough concentration for homework, so I try to get through a few pages of Pride and Prejudice but keep rereading the same paragraph. Finally, I give up, turn out my light, and stare at the ceiling. Maybe I shouldn’t have flushed those pharmas after all.
A few weeks later, I still haven’t heard back from Jaeger. I’m so worried about Pru I’ve been sleeping even less than usual, and I’m bleary-eyed when I walk into the dining hall for breakfast to find the walls plastered in multicolored flyers. They’re all over every available bulletin board.
DAAM
The Darkwood Academy Anti-Cloning Movement
Not human…
Not like us…
Not right!
If you believe clones have no place at Darkwood, you are not alone. Join us in fighting for our rights, as humans, against those who commit hubris against God and man. Visit DAAM.darkwood.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Help us make the world right again.
“Who would do this?” Pippa asks as she rips down a flyer and studies it.
“I’ll give you one guess, and she looks just like one of your friends,” I say grimly. “Madison’s had it out for you guys since you got here. But this is totally unacceptable.” I grab the flyer from Pippa and rip it to shreds. “Speaking of Madison, did I ever tell you she missed an appointment?” I ask Pippa under my breath. “The same day Pru was attacked.”
Pippa stares at me, incredulous. “You think Madison had something to do with what happened to her?”
“I don’t know. But I wouldn’t be surprised,” I mutter as Madison walks past us, shoving a flyer at a couple of ninth-grade boys and, from the look of it, winning them over with her charm. “Would you?”
“It’s okay,” Madison tells the boys. “Most of us have been uncomfortable since the day they arrived, what with having our values so blatantly attacked, and in such a public way. DAAM is here for you.”
Sarah Baxter appears at Madison’s right side. “We’ll be holding office hours and organizing rallies,” Sarah says. “Stay tuned.”
“Sarah’s only doing this because she’s bitter she didn’t make the Ten, and she blames your friends,” I tell Pippa. I sit at a table nearby, and Pippa follows me.
“There’s a lot we can do, individually and as a group,” Madison continues loudly, the first-year boys hanging on to her every word. “My mother’s already apportioning millions to the cause. All legally, of course.” She laughs, and the boys laugh too. Sarah snickers.
That’s when the other Similars walk in.
Levi and I have barely had reason to speak to each other these last few weeks. We haven’t spoken since our last day of duty in the library, where we didn’t talk. We used the mountain of books to shelve as an excuse to ignore each other. My pulse quickens as I watch him sit down and open another paperback book. For a reason I can’t possibly understand, I want to know what he’s reading.
The Similars Page 11
