Twisted Circles (Secret Society 2)

“Every single conversation and interaction you had with the fabulous Debbie Maslow was being recorded from the time you were . . . let’s see . . . seven months old?”

I let that sink in. “Karen said I had anger issues as a baby. Maybe they were trying to understand it.”

“Eva.” She shook her head as if annoyed by my excuses. “They ripped us apart when we were just months old. They did the same thing to countless other twins and triplets. They did it on purpose. You think they didn’t know we’d all develop anger issues? Depression? Anxiety? They knew.”

I thought about it. I let myself believe that for a moment. Rewound the tape of memories in search of something to back up that claim. Time and time again, I found myself sitting across from Debbie, answering questions, accepting hugs, and listening to her tell me who I was. Had the study been about multiples living apart or about the way they could shape and mold human beings into being whoever they told them they were? After all, when someone tells you who you are constantly, it’s only a matter of time before you start to believe them. I felt sick. A wave of nausea rolled through me. Without saying a word, I stood up and ran to the bathroom, crouching beside the toilet as I emptied whatever was in my stomach into the bowl. When I finished, I flushed and sat on the floor, my back against the wall. I wanted to see Adam. The thought seeped into my brain and sat there. I really, more than anything, wanted to see Adam. I looked underneath the sink, found an unopened toothbrush and used it before walking back to the living room.

“Do you have my phone?”

“No.”

“I want to call Adam.”

“Adam?” Wendy sat up. “Are you insane? He’s one of them. If you call him our whole plan will go to shit.”

“You haven’t even told me what the plan is. You keep talking about how my life is so much better than yours and how you tried to save me and how you’re going to end the injustice but you haven’t told me how I fit into all of this.”

The front door unlocked then, and opened. Wendy and I froze and looked in that direction. As Wendy predicted, Stella walked inside, shutting the door behind her, but she wasn’t alone. Dr. Thompson was walking right behind her, and behind them, Debbie.

“What the hell?” I said loudly.

“Oh my God,” Stella screamed, looking at Wendy. “You were the one sneaking into my room. You cut my hair, you bitch.”

“What are you doing here?” I looked at Debbie, at Dr. Thompson. “And you, you’ve disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

As I stood there, looking around the room, it occurred to me that maybe they were all in on this. Maybe I was the butt of the joke. Maybe the nuns had been right. Maybe I was the sacrifice they were all going to make tonight.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Adam

Nightfall came and Eva was still nowhere to be found. The show had to go on despite that. I knew it better than anyone. They wouldn’t let my absence pause whatever was going to happen. Not when they made it such a big deal, inviting all of the past members to partake in the big ceremony. They’d set up torches in a large circle around the clearing in the woods, surrounding the plots they’d dug. The ones closest to The Manor anyway. The woods were covered in buried caskets. There must have been three hundred of them wearing red cloaks. No one had checked IDs or faces; they just assumed if they were here, they were Swords or monks or nuns. The Chancellor himself said this was the most important ceremony of his lifetime when he called me this afternoon. He’d said it would be unforgettable and would unite us in an unbreakable bond. The most unbreakable bonds are the ones in which a crime is committed. The thought shook me to my core, but I knew it was true. If anyone spoke of the crime, we’d all go down. It was the way billion-dollar organizations dismantled time and time again.

“I was reading the history of this place recently,” Wolf said. “They say it’s built on a Native American burial ground. That has to mean it’s haunted, right?”

“America is built on a Native American burial ground,” Will said. “Where have you been?”

“Germany.” Wolf raised an eyebrow.

“True.” Will shrugged and nodded. “Your ignorance is semi-excused.”

“Can you focus?”

They both looked at me and quieted.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen tonight, but we need to do everything we can to protect Eva.”

“How do you know she’s even here?” Wolf asked. “Maybe they took her away from here.”

“She’s here. We need to try to separate her from them before the ceremony starts.”