Chapter 19 - The Last FaceWe found her two days later.
Or so we thought.
The woman at the airport had used three passports.
The trail led across four countries.
Then it stopped.
At the same old Bellwether Hotel.
The building had been sealed by police.
But someone had entered.
Maya found the hidden entrance.
We went down.
The archive vault was empty.
Someone had taken one box.
Only one.
The Twin Protocol.
I knew exactly what that meant.
She wasn't interested in Halcyon's victims.
She wanted us.
We found a note on the floor.
COME ALONE, EVAN.
Jake grabbed my arm.
"No."
"I have to go."
"We go together."
The note contained an address.
My old home.
The house where Dad had thrown me out.
I returned alone.
Every room felt frozen in time.
My old bedroom still had the scratches on the door.
The kitchen still smelled faintly of smoke.
Then I heard someone behind me.
The woman with the silver triangle stepped out.
"I knew you'd come."
I stared at her.
"Why?"
"Because the mirror always returns to the original image."
I shook my head.
"You used me."
"We needed you."
"You destroyed my family."
"We gave your family purpose."
"You call this purpose?"
She smiled.
"I call it survival."
She placed the Twin Protocol on the table.
"Your mother lied to you."
"So did my father."
"So did Jake."
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because I'm the only one who can tell you what happened to the missing 413th person."
I froze.
"There were 413?"
She nodded.
"Your father was wrong."
"Who was the last one?"
She slid a photograph toward me.
It showed a young boy.
About thirteen.
Dark hair.
A scar across his eyebrow.
My face.
But not mine.
I stared.
"Who is that?"
She smiled.
"Your brother."
I looked at the photograph again.
Jake.
But younger.
Different.
I felt sick.
"That's impossible."
"There were not two twins."
She whispered:
"There were three."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"The third child was erased from the records."
"No."
"He survived."
"Where?"
She leaned closer.
"Closer than you think."
The door behind me opened.
Jake stepped inside.
His face was pale.
Maya was behind him.
Jake stared at the photograph.
Then he whispered:
"I remember him."
I looked at my brother.
"You knew?"
He shook his head.
"No."
He touched his temple.
"I remember now."
The woman smiled.
"The archive never contained the whole truth."
Then she pressed a button.
Every light in the house turned on.
Screens appeared on the walls.
Hundreds of faces.
One face after another.
Then the final image appeared.
A child.
A twin.
Our twin.
May you like
And beneath the photograph were two words.
STILL ALIVE.
