Twisted Circles (Secret Society 2)

“So you’ve said.”

So I’ve said. I walked in the doors and went straight to the elevator, taking it to the fifth floor, where Dr. Neil Maslow’s office was. I usually got off on the fourth floor, where Dr. Deb was, but I tried not to think about that or fixate on the fact that I was about to try to trick a person I knew. Dr. Maslow’s secretary let me into his office just as he was finishing up his lunch.

“Well, don’t you look well-rested today.” He smiled wide as he stood up and waved at me to have a seat on the sofa in the sitting area across from his desk. “How were your classes?”

“Good.” I sat down, setting my backpack on the floor, my mind on his comment. If I looked well-rested, Stella must really get no sleep. “We talked about the Twin Study.”

“That’s nice. Dr. Nichols?”

“Yes.” I smiled. “Was she one of your interns?”

“Yes, years ago. She did her internship here.” He glanced at his watch. “I have a new one starting today.”

“Another intern?”

“Meredith dropped out of the program.” His eyebrows rose. “She decided to switch majors.”

“To what?”

“General practice. She was in the teen wing here and couldn’t handle it. You know not everyone can.” He winked.

“Yep.” I knew from experience because I’d been one of those teenagers.

I got the feeling Stella was as well. How had I never seen her here? God, I wanted to yell that question out into the universe, into Neil’s face, even if just to see the shock on it.

“Enough about that. What’s going on with you? How are you sleeping? Better?”

“Yes.” I cleared my throat and thought of the driver. “I just . . . ”

“What?” He crossed his legs, twirling the iPad pen in his hand and clicking the iPad so it was on. “What’s going on?”

“I saw someone who looks exactly like me.” I bit my lip, pausing to gauge his reaction. He gave nothing away, but jotted it down. “It was at a party on campus.”

“Were you drinking?”

“No, of course not.”

“And?”

“And it was like looking in a mirror.”

“Stella.” He sighed heavily, setting the iPad and pen down on the table between us. “Not this again.”

“She looked just like me.”

“We’ve been down this road before.” He stood up and went over to his desk, picking up his keys and unlocking the drawer to his right. He brought a folder out and opened it. “There was one time at the mall, a girl wearing the same shirt as you. The girl at your new church who sat too far away for you to truly see her, but was definitely your twin. So on and so forth.”

He stared at the folder for a second before looking up at me. “It’s completely understandable for you to want a sister, or a mother, or someone out there with your blood. I understand it, Sweet Pea, I do, but I’m sorry. We’re all you’ve got.”

My pulse roared in my ears. Sweet Pea was what his wife called me, what he called me on the occasion the three of us met outside of sessions, which wasn’t often, but had happened. Once when Karen was at the hospital for pneumonia and once when I ended up at the hospital with a broken leg. The Maslows were more than just therapists. To me, they were family. I knew I got treated differently than some of the other people in here and I always chalked it up to the fact that I’d been with them long before The Institute became what it is today. The Maslows had always had my back. She’d said I was an unbearable child, a bad seed, but The Maslows disagreed. They said seeds were only as good as the nurture they received. Karen didn’t outright disagree. She wasn’t one to speak against people with a title in front of their name, but she made comments at the dinner table every once in a while that told me she didn’t understand their thought process.

“Stella?” Dr. Maslow prompted. I blinked.

“So you think I’m making it up?”

“This isn’t the first time this has happened.” He walked back over and picked up the iPad again, tapping it quickly. “I just sent you a new prescription. Please pick it up and start taking it today.”

“The cops took me down to the station.” I cleared my throat.

“What? Did you get in trouble? Why didn’t you call?” That made him sit up straighter.

“I didn’t. They thought I was someone else.” I watched him closely.

“A lot of people look alike. Hell, Dr. Nichols is teaching you about it right now.” Neil sighed heavily. “If you had a twin, a real twin, we would have found her by now. You know Deb and I have worked with the orphanage and looked extensively into your past in hopes of finding answers for you about your mother. It’s difficult to trace these things in other countries.”