\u201cThe other me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody knew what to say.<\/p>\n
The little girl sitting on the hospital bed had Lily\u2019s hair, Lily\u2019s teeth, Lily\u2019s birthmark, even Lily\u2019s nervous habit of hiding her fingers inside her sleeves.<\/p>\n
Yet she was telling us she was not Lily.<\/p>\n
I asked again what name belonged to her.<\/p>\n
She said she had never been allowed to decide.<\/p>\n
Lily.<\/p>\n
June.<\/p>\n
L-Two.<\/p>\n
Numbers.<\/p>\n
Labels.<\/p>\n
Whatever Creston needed.<\/p>\n
I asked where she had lived.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe downstairs place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the facility?\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you allowed outside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes they showed me outside.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not took her outside.<\/p>\n
Showed her.<\/p>\n
The distinction made me feel ill.<\/p>\n
The implant beneath her shoulder flashed again.<\/p>\n
She panicked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hospital technicians tried isolating the signal while police guarded every entrance.<\/p>\n
I stayed beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me about Lily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe visited.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow often?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLots.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe talked to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The girls had become friends inside Creston.<\/p>\n
Lily had told her about ordinary life because ordinary life was the one thing the unknown child had never possessed.<\/p>\n
School lunches.<\/p>\n
Swimming lessons.<\/p>\n
Christmas mornings.<\/p>\n
Emma\u2019s nonstop talking.<\/p>\n
My disastrous pancakes.<\/p>\n
The girl had built a picture of our family from Lily\u2019s stories.<\/p>\n
Then she said something I would remember long afterward.<\/p>\n
\u201cLily said you would help me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThursday.\u201d<\/p>\n
The day of the operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened Thursday?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked toward the door.<\/p>\n
Morales promised no one from Creston would enter.<\/p>\n
The child did not seem convinced.<\/p>\n
Still, she spoke.<\/p>\n
Sarah had arrived with Lily.<\/p>\n
Mark came later.<\/p>\n
Sarah wanted to take both girls away.<\/p>\n
Mark told her Ethan was dying.<\/p>\n
They argued.<\/p>\n
Lily overheard Mark and Dr. Vale discussing a final procedure.<\/p>\n
She became convinced the unknown girl would not survive it.<\/p>\n
Sarah finally understood that the \u201ctesting\u201d had become something else.<\/p>\n
She removed the child\u2019s numbered bracelet.<\/p>\n
Put Lily\u2019s clothes on her.<\/p>\n
Covered the fresh incision.<\/p>\n
And sent her home with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did Lily go?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas she left there?\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl nodded.<\/p>\n
I turned away.<\/p>\n
My sister had made an impossible choice badly and then tried desperately to undo it.<\/p>\n
She had sent one child toward safety while leaving her own daughter behind.<\/p>\n
Maybe because she thought Lily had more protection as Mark\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
Maybe because the nameless child had none.<\/p>\n
Maybe because there had been no good option.<\/p>\n
But the girl Sarah had now found at Creston was not Lily either.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
The child looked at me as if the answer should be obvious.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there are more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMore who look like you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd other children?\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
Creston had rooms containing children resembling children from outside.<\/p>\n
Not perfectly.<\/p>\n
But deliberately.<\/p>\n
The implications were impossible, yet every fact in front of us supported them.<\/p>\n
Morales received another call.<\/p>\n
Creston had multiple locations.<\/p>\n
The facility Sarah entered had been emptied in a hurry.<\/p>\n
Records destroyed.<\/p>\n
Equipment removed.<\/p>\n
Someone knew police were coming.<\/p>\n
The hospital suddenly felt less like protection and more like another compromised building.<\/p>\n
I demanded to know where Sarah was.<\/p>\n
En route.<\/p>\n
The second girl was coming with her.<\/p>\n
The child beside me began crying again.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s not Lily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we find Lily.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me with the exhausted disbelief of someone who had heard promises from adults before.<\/p>\n
I sat beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what Creston taught you about adults keeping promises. I can\u2019t fix that tonight. But I can tell you what I\u2019m doing next. I\u2019m staying until we know where Lily is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma climbed onto the bed beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you need a name.\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl blinked.<\/p>\n
Emma shrugged. \u201cEveryone needs one.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time, the child seemed to consider that she might be allowed to choose something for herself.<\/p>\n
Before she could answer, security rushed us toward another room.<\/p>\n
Sarah had arrived.<\/p>\n
When I saw my sister, anger and relief collided so hard I could barely separate them.<\/p>\n
Her face was bruised.<\/p>\n
Her blouse was torn at one shoulder.<\/p>\n
Beside her stood another six-year-old girl who looked almost exactly like the child we had been protecting.<\/p>\n
Sarah saw me.<\/p>\n
Then she saw the girl beside Emma.<\/p>\n
Her knees buckled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh God.\u201d<\/p>\n
I crossed the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Lily?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I found her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second girl wore a yellow identification band.<\/p>\n
She would not speak.<\/p>\n
The first girl watched her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
The second child looked up.<\/p>\n
Recognition.<\/p>\n
That was all the confirmation we needed.<\/p>\n
Not Lily.<\/p>\n
Another Creston child.<\/p>\n
Sarah covered her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI left my daughter there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were trying to get this child out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI left Lily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to find her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took Sarah\u2019s wrists and pulled her hands away from her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut falling apart in front of these girls does nothing for Lily.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stared at me.<\/p>\n
Then nodded.<\/p>\n
Barely.<\/p>\n
The first child finally chose a name.<\/p>\n
Maya.<\/p>\n
She had heard it on television once.<\/p>\n
I said it aloud.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaya.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her expression changed.<\/p>\n
A name should not have been a gift.<\/p>\n
For her, it was.<\/p>\n
Maya told us the girls were moved among several facilities. Their implanted devices tracked them and opened restricted doors.<\/p>\n
Then she revealed something worse.<\/p>\n
The implants could also hurt them.<\/p>\n
Possibly stop their hearts.<\/p>\n
Creston called it a reset.<\/p>\n
The children had been taught that escape could mean death.<\/p>\n
One of the girls had already been taken during the hospital confusion.<\/p>\n
Maya believed Creston had mistaken that child for someone called E-Seven.<\/p>\n
I asked who E-Seven was.<\/p>\n
Maya looked at Emma.<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
Before I could understand why my daughter mattered, my phone rang.<\/p>\n
Daniel.<\/p>\n
My husband.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
A man spoke.<\/p>\n
Not Daniel.<\/p>\n
Mark.<\/p>\n
Sarah stood instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Ethan?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark said their son was alive.<\/p>\n
Sarah demanded to hear him.<\/p>\n
Mark refused.<\/p>\n
Then he accused her of destroying everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou used our children,\u201d Sarah said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saved them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark\u2019s answer changed the direction of the entire night.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still think Creston is the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCreston is the treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
Then he said, \u201cFor Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the phone.<\/p>\n
Sarah stared at me.<\/p>\n
Mark began listing things from my life he should not have known.<\/p>\n
A car crash when I was nineteen.<\/p>\n
Internal bleeding I somehow survived.<\/p>\n
A dangerous complication when Emma was born.<\/p>\n
Illnesses I rarely suffered.<\/p>\n
Recovery doctors had called unusually fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of that proves anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were the reason the program continued,\u201d Mark said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat program?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attempt to repeat you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Maya.<\/p>\n
Then at Three.<\/p>\n
Their similarities to Lily suddenly looked different.<\/p>\n
Not copies of Lily.<\/p>\n
Branches.<\/p>\n
Experiments built around a family line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy Lily?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Sarah shares your genetics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Emma?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark became almost pleased.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmma carries more.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt physically sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is the closest result Creston has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gripped the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is my husband?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Ethan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark sent an address.<\/p>\n
Then ordered me to come alone.<\/p>\n
I refused.<\/p>\n
He threatened Ethan.<\/p>\n
Sarah grabbed my arm.<\/p>\n
Then Mark mentioned the missing child.<\/p>\n
Her implant had activated.<\/p>\n
She had less than two hours.<\/p>\n
I looked at the clock.<\/p>\n
10:17 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens when it activates?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark told me to ask Maya what happened at midnight.<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Maya had gone pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens?\u201d<\/p>\n
She touched the implant in her shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey turn it off.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n
She placed a small hand over her heart.<\/p>\n
Dr. Patel moved immediately.<\/p>\n
The device was not merely identification.<\/p>\n
Not merely access.<\/p>\n
Creston had built control into the children\u2019s bodies.<\/p>\n
The address Mark sent led to an abandoned medical complex.<\/p>\n
Police teams moved toward it while Sarah and I argued with Morales about going.<\/p>\n
Then tactical officers reported vehicles leaving the location.<\/p>\n
Four vehicles.<\/p>\n
They looked like police units.<\/p>\n
They carried no unit numbers.<\/p>\n
Creston had infiltrated or imitated law enforcement.<\/p>\n
One vehicle remained.<\/p>\n
Thermal imaging detected five people inside.<\/p>\n
Three adults.<\/p>\n
Two children.<\/p>\n
Sarah whispered Ethan\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Police prepared to enter.<\/p>\n
Maya insisted there was a concealed lower level that ordinary searches would miss.<\/p>\n
A false wall.<\/p>\n
A hidden floor panel.<\/p>\n
An access system activated only when an implanted child was nearby.<\/p>\n
She had been there before.<\/p>\n
She knew the building.<\/p>\n
She knew the doors.<\/p>\n
Morales relayed everything to the tactical team.<\/p>\n
Then the radio crackled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne child is moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the other?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Sarah squeezed my hand until her nails cut into my skin.<\/p>\n
The answer finally came.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second child is nonresponsive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah made a sound I never want to hear again.<\/p>\n
We still did not know whether the motionless child was Ethan.<\/p>\n
Or the missing Creston girl.<\/p>\n
Or someone else entirely.<\/p>\n
But there was one thing I understood.<\/p>\n
Whatever Sarah and Mark had begun six months earlier in the name of saving their son had uncovered something that reached backward into my own life.<\/p>\n
Creston knew me.<\/p>\n
Daniel knew something.<\/p>\n
Mark knew more.<\/p>\n
And somewhere inside an abandoned building, two children were running out of time.<\/p>\n
I looked at Detective Morales.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n
She started to object.<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark wants me there. Maya knows the hidden entrance. Sarah\u2019s son may be inside. You can arrest me if you want, but you\u2019re going to have to do it while we\u2019re moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morales stared at me for a long second.<\/p>\n
Then she reached for her radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah wiped her face.<\/p>\n
Maya took my hand.<\/p>\n
And as we hurried toward the elevator, the implant beneath her shoulder flashed once more.<\/p>\n
This time the light was red.<\/p>\n
Maya stopped walking.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does red mean?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
She stared at the light.<\/p>\n
Her fingers tightened around mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means they know we\u2019re coming.\u201d<\/p>\n