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“Good news or bad news?”

“Bad,” I reply without hesitation.

He removes his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. I like him better with the glasses. “The bad news is, well, you have the evil gene.”

I shake my head. “No, you’re wrong. Go on, what’s the good news?”

“You need to take me seriously.”

I straighten my spine, fold my hands in my lap, and tighten my lips together like a strict librarian. “Is this serious enough for you?”

He suppresses an eye roll with so much difficulty, the act of not rolling his eyes makes the exact same point as if he had. “I’m not wrong. The results were there. Your genes match the villain’s.”

I wave my hand. A lump forms in my throat but I swallow it down. “What is the good news?”

“I’m not exactly sure how to explain this.” He meets my eyes. “Your blood is normal. But your power is …”

I roll my hand, signaling for him to get on with it already. His head tilts to the side. “Your power is doubled.”

“Come again?”

“Two strands of power flow through your veins, working together as one. I think it comes from you being a twin.”

I give him a wary look. “Maybe twice the power explains why I’m incredibly fast and strong.”

“And humble!” He sits next to me on the bed and knocks me with his shoulders. “You make a good point. I don’t know what to decipher from it. Of all the power I’ve tested, none of them has looked like this. You literally have twice the power flowing through you than anyone else.”

“That explains why that nurse was so obsessed with my ability to heal myself,” I say, thinking back to that day at the hospital. A knot forms in my stomach at the memory of my dad. “She wanted to take some of my blood and Dad stormed in and forbid it. He was pretty pissed about it.”

Evan stares at my chest, though not in an awkward way. “It has to be a twin thing. I’d bet all twins have that, we just don’t have any other twins to test. On one hand, you definitely have the evil genetic codes. But on the other hand your power is doubled. It has both good and evil in it.”

“So I can utilize the good side.”

“You can also utilize the evil side.”

I give him a sardonic glare. “I am not—”

“Evil, I know.” He shakes stray hair out of his eyes. “The truth is in your power. You can choose to be good every day of your life, but the evil is still there. Central won’t want to hear that. And they never will because I destroyed the lab results.”

He pulls the hair tie out of his ponytail, letting his hair go back into non-research mode. He slips the hair tie back on his wrist.

“I’m still going home,” I say.

“You need to stay until we have a plan.”

I wish I could stay. I wish I could C’est la vie to the rest of the world and spend my remaining days on this island with Evan, while everyone else went on without us. The world can apocalypse itself for all I care, as long as I’m with Evan when it happens. But I can’t do that to my family and friends. The world needs saving and I’m the only one who can do it.

But an eternity with Evan sure sounds wonderful.

Evan’s thigh is my pillow. I’m vaguely aware that lying in his lap on the couch is normally considered romantic. Only vaguely. The gentle tapping of his thumbs on the game controller lulls me into a dream-like state. Sleep overtakes me and I welcome it. It’s been a long day.

Ugh. That damned alarm not only ruins my day, it ruins my dreams as well. Desperately, I try to hold on to the last tendrils of the dream I was having, the peaceful serene landscape before me, but my subconscious ruins it by inviting the memories of the lockdown alarm into my mind. I squeeze my eyes, tossing and turning, trying to get my dream back—no, I don’t want to wake up. Please don’t make me wake up. Stop thinking of that stupid alarm!

“Maci!” My eyes fling open at the sound of Evan’s voice. My head is thick, dizzy from sitting up so quickly. Evan grabs my shoulder. Hard.

“Ow,” I groan, slapping at his hand. “Get off me. I’m awake, god, why do I still hear that alarm?”

“You’re not dreaming.” Weight presses on my shoulder as he uses me to stand. “It’s happening again,” he says. I grab a glass of water from the coffee table since my mouth is so dry I can’t talk.