LXXIV. Twin

Edward

My brother hadn't lied.

It had been his face I'd seen as I'd felt the first fire of change. It had been him who'd turned me. It meant he knew how to make Ancients, a secret that was supposed to belong only to Singers. It meant he knew far more than he was letting on.

Determined, I reached out and grasped the ruby.

The moment my skin touched the ruby, I felt myself being sucked into the memory like a vacuum. The room vanished, replaced by startling blue skies and the fresh smell of rain.

Now that I knew what to expect, it was easier to distance myself from the memory, to separate Andronikh's emotions from my own.

Still, this memory felt different from the previous ones. The images were blurred at the edges, many objects hazy, and it hit me that this memory was human.

"Nikhy!" There was a shriek and someone tackled my brother to the ground. They rolled in the wet grass, the mud squelching and sticking to their clothes until the girl landed on top of him, giggling. "Found you!" she said triumphantly.

Leaves and twigs were entangled in her hair, which looked like it could be blonde if it weren't so dirty. Her eyes were a startling blue and her grin revealed a missing a front tooth. She looked about six years old.

I looked at her in wonder. Who was she?

But my brother only pushed her off. "You peeked!" he complained. "You always peek."

Her eyes widened with obvious guilt. "No, I didn't."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not! Did not, did not, did not!"

Andronikh crossed his arms. I marvelled at how small and childlike his hands were; I'd never seen my brother as anything but adult. "Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

The girl looked down at herself. "They're not on fire."

"They will if you keep lying. The gods are listening."

"No, they won't." But she looked worried. "Fine, I looked. Just a bit. Because I won't find you if I don't."

"But you never ever play fair."

"You peek too!" she said defensively. "I saw you looking yesterday!"

Heat crept up Andronikh's face but he only said, "I don't want to play with a cheater."

The girl's bottom lip trembled and her wide eyes filled with tears, easily upset in the way of children. "You're a meanie! I hope the fairies take you away!"

"I hope the fairies take you away!" he shot back.

She started to cry in earnest. "I hate you!" She turned tail and started to run away.

Andronikh ran after her. "Mama says not to go to the house. Dee!" He grabbed her arm but she slapped him. "Ow! You're the meanie! I do hope you'll disappear!

"I hope I never see you again!" she shouted.

"So go away! Mama says you're useless and she's going to sell you."

Didyme—because that's who she had to be—stared at him and began to cry even more. "You're the worst person in the world, Nikhy. I never want to talk to you again!"

"So don't. I don't want to talk to you either."

"I wish you'll disappear! I don't want a brother like you. From now on you're not my brother!"

"That's stupid. You can't change your blood," he said.

"I'll find a new family," she said. "And you'll be sorry."

"You're stupid," he said again.

"No, you are!" She continued to run and he chased after her, stopping only when the house came to sight.

A man wearing a hood stood at the door, facing away from us, talking to a woman with a blurred face. Her features changed constantly. At first sight, her hair was black, but when I looked again it was blonde. When I next looked, it was bronze. It was the same with her mouth. Sometimes her lips were thin, other times they were full. I realised with some surprise that my brother had never hidden our mother's face from me—he couldn't remember it either.

Didyme ran to our mother, still crying as she hugged her legs, and our mother's face grew pale with rage. She raised a hand to strike her and Andronikh stiffened, crouching lower between the bushes. But the strange man deflected our mother's strike with one hand and pulled Didyme towards him with the other.

"Silly woman," he said, not letting go of Didyme's arm when she tried to squirm away. "Don't you know you must never strike the face? Scars make them less valuable. Now, where were we?" He unsheathed the dagger at his side. A crescent ruby gleamed in its hilt, vivid and gleaming brighter than anything else in the memory. "Ah yes. The boy."

"For the last time, there is no boy," Mother said.

"Listen, you—" Whatever word he'd called her buzzed in the memory, incomprehensible to a child's ears. "I wouldn't waste precious time chasing after my bastards if our laws didn't demand it. You've run long enough. I want my son. The Singer clan demands it. Give me the boy or I'll kill this one." He jerked his head at Didyme, whose arm he held in a death grip.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again." Mother sounded irate. "I only have a girl. And she's yours."

The man didn't lower his dagger and the ruby glowed unnaturally bright. "Our Oracle said it would be a son."

"Look at her hair," Mother said. "Her eyes. Lightning strike me if she's not yours."

The man studied Didyme with interest, the ruby's glow fading, and finally, he put the dagger away. "You're right. She is mine." He looked pleased. "Daughters are better reservoirs of power. My blood will be even greater than in the prophecies. What is your name, child?"

Our sister looked at our mother and then back at the man. "Didyme."

The man was silent. "Didyme," he said slowly, turning the word on his tongue. "Twin. If I know that you're hiding another—"

"I told you," Mother said. "There is no boy." In the same moment, she caught sight of Andronikh behind the bushes and her eyes tightened. "I have no son."

The man looked at our sister. "Is that true, Didyme?" he asked in the gentlest of voices. "Have you no brother?"

Didyme rubbed her eyes and set her chin stubbornly. "Yes. I don't have a brother."

The man relaxed. "Very well. Silly of me to think a common woman would know what Didyme means," he said. "Well, dear girl, what do you say to a hot meal? Do you like meat?"

Didyme looked at him with wide eyes. "Meat? Like chicken?"

He laughed. "Yes. Like chicken. You can have as much as you want."

"As much as I want?" Didyme repeated.

He knelt down and touched her cheek. "My darling daughter," he said. "We are Singers. My blood runs in your veins. Power is in your blood. Very soon you'll learn that anything you desire is within your reach. All you have to do is take it."

With that, he rose and began to lead Didyme away.

Our mother stiffened. "You can't take her like that."

The man stopped, his voice growing dangerous. "Oh?"

She remained firm. "I fed her, clothed her—"

"If it's gold you want, then say so." Carelessly, he reached into his pockets and threw several coins at her feet. As she reached to pick them up, he turned on his heel and continued to walk away.

"You're selling me short," Mother said, not even looking at Didyme.

"It's more than enough to raise two of her, you greedy woman," he said, not looking back.

I stared at our mother, unsure if the shock was mine or Andronikh's. Ariadnh and I had heard very different things about our mother growing up. Whoever this woman was, it wasn't the woman I knew from Andronikh's stories.

And Didyme wasn't just our sister. She was Andronikh's twin. And if the man was telling the truth, they were all Singers.

I stared at the man.

As he walked past with Didyme, a gust of wind tugged at his hood, setting long blond hair loose in the wind. His side profile was handsome and shockingly familiar. The man was the spitting image of James, except his hair was so light it was almost white. Was it James? No, there there were other differences—the heavier jaw, the thinner lips… Who was he?

Before I could see any more, the memory faded and I was once again back in the present, staring at my brother whose wound was half-closed. His thoughts were slowly returning, fuzzy and incoherent, and I slid the ruby across the floor and into the inner room, where it slipped underneath the bed.

Andronikh stirred, opening his eyes.

"You're a Singer," I said, still reeling from what I'd seen. "You turned me. That's why I'm an Ancient. You—"

He slammed his fist into my jaw. Stars exploded before my eyes as though I were human and my ears buzzed. I couldn't see, couldn't hear, could barely think—it was like being under the fog of Alec's gift. When it stopped, he was gone.

"Andronikh!" I said. "Andronikh!"

But there was no one there. I cursed and rubbed my jaw, finding everything intact. No physical force could have done that to me. It was another kind of power. Power is in your blood, the man had told Didyme. But I had no idea what kind.

I looked around, still dizzy.

I'd been moved to the inner room, where I was leaning against the dresser, chains around my wrists that were fastened to the window bars. More of the odd chalk markings had been drawn around me. I stared. Had my brother lost brain cells during the attack? Did he expect metal to hold me?

I gave it a light pull but it wouldn't give.

All right. Maybe this metal was stronger than I thought.

I yanked at it harder but still, nothing.

Frowning, I gave it a vicious pull with all of my strength and the force jarred through the chains, up to my teeth and I stopped, winded.

What the hell was going on?

I heard Ariadnh's voice. "Eumenes! Eumenes, where are you?"

"I'm here," I said.

"It can't have taken him that long to find the fire extinguishers," Marcus's voice followed hers.

"His scent is everywhere," my sister answered. "Where do you think he went?"

"I don't know, darling, but it seems freshest here." He entered the room and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Marcus," I said. "Do you know how to break this?"

His nostrils flared as he walked right up to the glass wall and stopped.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "Marcus?"

With a sinking heart, I realised he couldn't see or hear me. I looked around for something to throw at him, but just as I tried to reach for the ruby under the bed with my foot, he walked right out of the door. "Nothing here, darling," he called out to Ariadnh.

"I'm here!" I said, aghast. "Marcus, come back!"

I tried to walk to him but was once again stopped short by the chains. I swore loudly. I needed to find Bella. I needed to kill James. I couldn't be stuck here. What had my brother done?

"Andronikh! Damn you!"