Terminus (The Transcendent Trilogy Book 3) by K. A. Riley

Author:K. A. Riley [Riley, K. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

28

Twins

Offering Cardyn a mental “Thanks” for helping put Branwynne’s mind at ease, I join Brohn in flipping out two of the mag-stools for the twins, who plop down in them, practically melting into puddles on the hard, round seats. Even their skin looks tired.

Dressed like the other Juvens from the Processor in matching green hospital scrubs, the twins are dirty, scratched-up, and out of breath.

Brohn sits down on the edge of one of the truck’s fold-out benches and asks the twins where they came from just now.

Chace grimaces as she raises her head to try to meet his eyes. “The Processor.”

“How’d you get out here?”

“We ran.”

“I mean, how did you escape from the Processor?”

“Those other twins.”

I point to where Lucid and Reverie are sitting. “Them?”

“Yes,” Chace manages through a strained smile. “It was them. They got us out. During that big explosion last night. We were in the same building.”

“The Zeta Cube.”

“Right. The one with the labs with the scary chairs and the needles in the mirrored rooms.”

I turn to Lucid and Reverie who don’t answer when I ask them, “Why didn’t you escape, too?”

Instead, it’s Chace who explains. “They told us they could have. We were in one of the labs together all day yesterday. They did something to make the doors open. Me and Trax ran out, but they wouldn’t come with us. They said they were waiting for you.”

“Waiting for us?”

Chace reaches over to brush a patch of dirt off of her brother’s cheek. “Not all of you, Kress. Just you.”

“Me?”

“That’s what they told us.”

Brohn swings around and asks the twins how they could’ve known we’d even be there. “And I’m glad you waited for Kress. But why? What’s going on?”

It takes a second into the deep silence that follows before I register that they haven’t answered him.

Chace’s head swivels over to where Lucid and Reverie are scanning her and her brother with their own suspicious, narrowed eyes. The mysterious, black-haired twins turn their attention to the rest of us, skimming over us with hollow, almost-lifeless eyes before fixing their gaze on me.

Cardyn catches their wordless exchange and says how freaky it is to have two sets of twins on board. “Twins. One set’s weird enough. Isn’t two sets a sign of bad luck or something?”

With her arms draped across her knees and her eyes down, Manthy grunts and shakes her head. “Sometimes I don’t know how you don’t just go falling over under the weight of your Terk-sized ignorance.”

Terk cries out, “Hey!” and Manthy tells him, “Nothing against you, Terk. You’re not an idiot.”

Mollified, Terk grins and folds his arms across his chest. “Okay, then.”

The Auditor, always chock full of random information, jumps in to tell us about how the Yoruba of Nigeria once considered twins to be unlucky.

Cardyn points from Lucid to Reverie and then over to Chace and Trax. “See!”

“But over time,” the Auditor adds, “they grew to consider twins as extremely lucky.”

Manthy sticks her tongue out at Cardyn. “See?”

“Don’t worry, Card,” I say, reaching over to put a consoling hand to his knee, “we’re not the Yoruba of Nigeria.

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