Chapter Two

It’s a moment or two before she can find her voice again. 

“Well that sounds…” Allie casts around for an appropriate word. “Ominous,” she says at last, resisting the sudden urge to squirm on the bed and fold all of her limbs closer together. “And what exactly is the Transcendent Program?”

“Oh you know, just your run of the mill secret organization masterminding the next big thing in scientific advancement.”

Allie can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic. 

“What kind of scientific advancement?”

Lucas takes a breath, clearly gearing up for a complicated explanation.

“You know that idea that twins are so much better attuned to each other’s thoughts and feelings than normal people? Because they share a womb and genetic code, essentially?”

“Sure.”

“Well, the idea was that if this were true, couldn’t the genes of twins be modified in a way that say, allowed them to easily share those thoughts and feelings?”

“Other than the way normal people do it?” 

Lucas laughs as though he’s trying not to do so. “Yes, other than that.”

“And this magical method of communication is?”

“Touch.” 

“Come again?”

“Touch,” Lucas repeats. His fingers brush hers again with all the deliberation a butterfly has in every beat of its wings; Allie’s heart stumbles. “Just touch. No words, no coded signals, just touch, and you can share every thought, every memory, every feeling you’ve ever had.” 

Allie swallows and fails to suppress another shiver. “What’s that like? Hypothetically,” she amends after a moment. She thinks of a book she’d read as a child, in which wizards and witches conducted entire battles inside their minds, stealing secrets and memories like pirates pillaging for treasure. What could possibly come of such a skill here, now? How is it even possible? 

Her companion goes very still; she can practically feel the halting of dust in the air, frozen and cold.

“No idea,” Lucas says at last. His tone tries for casual but fails. “Never tried before.”

“Do you"” Allie struggles to form a proper question. “Have you met your brother?”

A beat. 

“No.”

“Oh.” In spite of her growing curiosity that is overtaking her doubt, Allie can tell the subject is closed. There are too many questions fighting for spoken right inside her head, half-formed and only somewhat coherent. Trying to choose one is a losing battle, so she gives up and lets silence settle between them. She’s almost fallen asleep when Lucas speaks again.

“His name was Adam,” he says, so softly that Allie has to strain to hear him. “He"”

Lucas lets out a noise that sounds like a cough covering up something else; the metal frame of the bed creaks as he shifts and resettles on the mattress. 

“You don’t have to tell me,” she whispers, because a part of her too large is irrationally afraid of what he might say next. There is a rustling sound then, soft and strangely steady, and it’s not until she feels the tug of the sheets beneath her that Allie realizes how fiercely Lucas pulls them into his grip, only to let them go again. Once, twice, like the flow of the tide, and then"

“He died. I don’t"I don’t know how or when, all the file says is ‘deceased’ so after Morgan left I came here, where his adoptive parents live but""”

She listens to him inhale, sharp and long as though his ribs were rattling inside his chest from the effort. Lucas exhales. Allie does too.

“But then I found you.”

“Okay, what is it.”

Ryan’s grin is cheeky over the edge of the menu. “What, a brother can’t just take his favourite sister out for a slice of her favourite cake at her favourite café?”

“First of all, I’m your only sister. And adopted, might I add. Second, you have been acting super weird"”

There’s a crash as a boy by the door rightens himself next to a small table occupied by a displeased-looking couple. He throws them a half-smile in apology, clearly distracted, because he’s staring right at her, a kind of electric shock clear as day on his face. Allie can feel her own face growing hot. 

“Al?” Ryan frowns as he stares at her, his back to the mysterious open-mouthed boy. Her brother turns around, and the boy’s mouth snaps shut abruptly as he crosses the cafe in long strides to order at the counter. Allie’s eyes follow even though she knows they shouldn’t. 

The back of his neck is pink. 

“What the"”

The front bell clangs. 

“Everyone put their hands up. No one has to get hurt.”

Ryan’s open, blank eyes are the last thing she sees before the dark swallows everything.

“You were there.” 

The rush of this realization is a little too much; air is stuck somewhere between her ribs,  and refuses to come in or out. It’s a good thing she’s already lying down, Allie thinks in a daze. Her brain shoves at cogs and gears that will not turn. How can she recall nothing about this boy from the café? Not his height, his hair colour, any details of his face. How could he have just been wiped from her memory? 

“Allie"”

“Wh-why were you"were you following me?”

Allie scrambles up into a sitting position, ignoring the protest in her arm as she rearranges to account for the very small amount of slack. From the sound of it, Lucas does the same.

“I can explain"”

“Were you?”

“No.” 

He is so adamant that it momentarily stuns her into silence. 

“We have to get out of here,” he says in a rush. “Once they realize you’re awake""”

“I’m not going anywhere until you explain this to me.”

Lucas mutters under his breath then, something that sounds suspiciously like, “Just like your sister,” before taking a breath so deep Allie can almost hear it move inside him. “Okay. Here goes. But if you interrupt we are never going to get anywhere, okay? I’m serious, the guys who took us are not playing around. I’ll explain everything I can if we can just agree to make some kind of plan to get the hell out of here. You are seriously just going to have to suspend your disbelief for a minute, just humour me. Deal?”

Again, Allie considers her very limited options. For the first time, she remembers her parents. What in the world could they be thinking right now? 

“Deal.”

“Morgan and I grew up together. Bike rides down the street, went to the same schools, the whole thing. Six months ago some people showed up to her house and gave her a folder, a manila one even, you know the kind they use on all those crime shows? They call it the Debrief"these Transcendent people.”

Something pricks at the edges of her memory: a crisp brown folder and her brother’s waving hand. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“I know this,” Lucas says before she can even phrase the question, “because the year before, I got mine. It’s technically a secret and what not, but who were we going to tell that would actually believe us? We talked about finding our siblings when we had the chance, how cool it would be to have brothers and sisters and finally not be the only only-children on the block.” 

Ryan’s face swims behind her eyelids. Allie slides her arm around her knees and just lets the pain press in while she listens. She looks with growing misery at the yellowed doorway light, knowing full well that danger lurks in its deceiving warmth; but the dark is too suffocating and she is crushed with the desire is to be able to see and remind herself that she is really here.

“We tried with each other,” Lucas continues, sounding rueful and affectionate. “She slapped me clean across the face thinking about her first kiss with Max Limen. I felt it, alright. Did not feel like butterflies. I thought we’d both gotten over the initial shock of it, and I guess I was right, because she waited until two weeks ago to disappear.”

“You had no idea where she went?” 

It’s an obvious question, but Allie has to say something to dispel the image of another self  riding bikes on a different street, living a different life. She is torn between wanting to learn everything there is to know about her apparent sister (does she love the red of her hair as much as Allie? Does she keep it short or long? Has she figured out how to make those tiny gold flecks in their eyes stand out from the green?) and closing herself off from learning anything. It’s a little too much all at once, but there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to go but on. 

“Well, actually I thought she was going to find you.”

And then she’s back, in the dark, small space with with only the voice of a boy she should be able to recognize to keep her company. “Me? How"”

“The file.” She’s beginning to realize this is a thing, Lucas answering questions Allie hasn’t even asked. “The Debrief file, it lists where your twin’s adoptive parents live. In mine, there were Adam’s. In Morgan’s, there were yours. It’s kind of funny, actually - you guys live in the same city.”

“How did"”  

“How did I know you were adopted?” Lucas asks, his voice going cold and steely. “I’m pretty sure we all are.”

“We?”

“Program participants.” The words come out sharp and sounding bitter. “Quite the euphemism, isn’t it? We’re even numbered. I’m participant 0002.” He pauses, but there’s no way Allie can prepare herself for what comes next. “Did our parents even want us? Did they just shuttle us off to be poked and prodded like lab rats?”

Part of her is sure this is a rhetorical line of questioning, but a stronger part has never spoken these truths out loud. “I’ve been asking myself that for years. The wanting, not the lab rat part. I was adopted at eighteen months - my parents never even met my birth mother. And it was a closed adoption, so we don’t even have any contact information.” The final truth is the most bitter and difficult to swallow. “I don’t even know her name.” 

Lucas says nothing, and Allie is strangely grateful. She has to push away the knot in her throat before she can ask, “How long have we been here?”

“Almost two days?” He clears his throat with a cough. “They turn the light out at night, at least as far as I can tell. It turned off and on before you woke up the first time. You were out for a while.”

An uneasy twist pulls in her stomach. “That long?” She tries to take a breath, but it seems harder now, as if there were suddenly less oxygen in the room. 

“It’ll be alright,” Lucas says, soft and careful. “I promise.”

She wants to tell him not to lie but can’t bring herself to do it.

There is no sound as Lucas’ hand touches Allie’s in the dark, knuckles against knuckles, and lingers there. It’s an anchoring touch as Allie closes her eyes. 

They share exactly four breaths of silence before the door slams open.

The scream just rips from her throat as she leaps backward, knocks for the first time into Lucas, and feels her arm jolt with pain from the tension. His hands are on her elbows and the light is blinding. Dark shapes rush into the room, bearing down on them; fear locks Allie’s vocal chords together. 

“What do you want?” Lucas demands, and Allie hears a scuffling from behind her, a shout, and the snap of metal. She doesn’t think to turn around, can focus only on the beady, glinting eyes in the dark mask in from of her face. A hand touches her leg and she jerks away with a yelp, but Lucas’ solid presence is no longer there to steady her back. The bed groans as he is ripped away from her and pulled to his feet.

“Don’t touch her.” It comes out like a snarl and for the first time since those first seconds pinned beneath his weight, Lucas frightens her. 

“Don’t worry,” says the man in front of her, nasal and nauseating. “She’ll have her turn.” 

They’re hauling him from the room; it apparently takes two people with the amount of struggle Lucas is determined to give them. 

“Where are you taking him?” Allie is finally able to ask, trying to sound firm but it comes out more desperate than she would have liked. 

“We’re just going to go have a little chat. Man to man. You just sit tight, pretty girl.” 

Nasal man seems to be enjoying this way too much. 

It’s hard to see Lucas between the bulk of the two men strong-arming him out the doorway, and Allie’s eyes hurt too much from the glare of the bright yellow light from the hall. She catches the white of a t shirt, the slumping sleeves of dark shirt hanging unbuttoned, and a swinging necklace with two circular pieces dangling from his throat. Allie somehow finds the courage to look up at Lucas’ face. His eyes are pale and steely. 

The door slams shut again, and Allie is left alone. 

They are gone for what feels like hours. 

After sitting until her back hurts and slowly allowing herself to lay back down, Allie feels her away along the cool metal bed frame until she finds the end of the chain that bound Lucas next to her. The reality of something so strong holding her here pulses painfully in her gut. The end has been cut, presumably with bolt cutters or something similar, and Allie shudders at the thought of something so sharp so close to her skin. Her wrist aches from all the pulling around she’s been doing, but her skin seems fine and there’s that, at the very least. But then there are only her thoughts to occupy her.

Transcendent. Allie mulls over what Lucas has told her for a long time. She can’t decide whether she believes him, whether she should believe, or what exactly it is she’s supposed to do when or if they do make it out of here, wherever here is. Allie reaches around with her right hand, touching her back where she knows that star-shaped mark lies. She’d never thought anything of it until right this moment, only that it was strange it seemed so perfect, as if it had been inked on her skin. It looks exactly as any birthmark would look, with that pale brown colour, the only mark on her back at all. A birthmark is inconsequential but the more Allie considers it the more she realizes that Lucas could be telling the truth, about Morgan at the very least. It’s not as though she posts photos of her mark on Facebook; not enough people have even seen it to make it any sort of public knowledge. So how could Lucas know? 

He’d know, of course, because Morgan would have the same birthmark. 

Allie’s head aches again. She is prepared this time for the sound of approaching footsteps, scrambling up into a sitting position on the edge of the bed and feeling tension snap her spine straight. The door flies open and a dark shape is pushed into the room, landing on the floor at her feet. Allie pulls as far as the chain will allow, sinking to her knees and staring down at Lucas.

He doesn't look at all like nearly two days in the dark caused her to imagine he would. The sickly yellow light from the hall is throwing strange shadow over his face, sharpening the deft angles of his features and deepening the bruises. His face is actually only slightly more flesh toned than shades of blue and red and purple, but Allie can still make out a narrow nose, high cheekbones, and a sharp jawline. 

Lucas' hair is not blonde and curled around his ears but dark, cut shorter at his neck and longer on top, falling over his forehead as though he'd styled it the day he'd found her and it's just been losing a battle against gravity ever since. 

His eyes are grey, or grey-blue, it's hard to tell""a coming storm is the first metaphor that springs to mind and it's terrible, but there's no time to come up with something better. His face is just inches from hers and his voice is so urgent that something cold smarts at the base of Allie's spine.

"Listen to me."

Lucas' fingers tremble very faintly as they rise, his hands bound with police-like cuffs, to touch her cheek or maybe brush back her hair, but they don't make it that far and hover somewhere between her jaw and the pulsing rhythm of her heart in her throat. Allie wonders if he can feel it in the air. She thinks of those callouses she'd felt over her mouth that first moment in the dark, and suddenly would give anything to feel them on her face again. 

"Pretend you know. Just enough, not everything. Not where she's gone. They'll believe you." 

"But-" He's told her almost nothing. She knows almost nothing. What is she supposed to say? Who is she supposed to say it to?

That question is answered when rough hands grab her arms and go to haul her to her feet. Allie can feel her body reacting without a distinct command; a noise lurches from her throat, torn out as she thrashes and tries to throw herself back down on the cold floor, towards Lucas, even though his hands are cuffed and he wouldn't even be able to catch her. 

The arms yanking her up are unyielding, the grunts of a man in her ear as Allie continues to struggle, pulling hard against her restraint and sending pain shooting up her arm. A hand grabs her wrist and through wide eyes, Allie watches as huge bolt cutters snap the manacle. The chain clatters against the bed frame and her arm just drops like a stone, aching. Panic is dominating her every thought. It was stupid, she thinks desperately, as Lucas leaps up and she's being pulled out of the room. It was stupid to think they could just wait in the relative safety of the dark in that room and just think of a way out. 

"Lucas!" She doesn't have to pretend to be afraid. She can feel the fear in her very core, like a living thing that has hold on every part of her insides, that twists her stomach and squeezes her heart even as her arms and legs continue to squirm. 

There isn't time for pleading, for pleases and help me's, no time to ask him why their mothers chose this path for them and if they'd known it would lead them here. There is just his name and this newfound, earth-shattering certainty that if Allie can just get back to him, she'll find enough courage to seek the answers to those questions herself.  

"Lucas!"

"Allie!" 

Even though his hands are useless it still takes two other men to hold him down. Lucas is pinning her eyes with his, his expression open and almost hungry, like he's just drinking in the sight of her until he drowns in it. Allie realizes then that this is the first time that he's laid eyes on her, just as she did him, but then a moment later she realizes that she is wrong. 

Because he's seen Morgan. 

Does he see her sister in her face? 

Is that all he sees?

"Allie!"

The door slams shut.

The man pulling her down the hall is laughing. Dread spreads ice cold down her back, numbing her everywhere. She is dragged through another doorway, and then even the yellowed hallway she'd yearned for is gone. 

Author's Note

I didn't look too too hard for small grammar mistakes so just ignore any if they're there, all of these chapters are pretty rough drafts, but let me know what you think!