I blink.
Because wow. This kid is an exact copy. The same pin-straight, pale blonde hair. The same large, round brown eyes.
“She’s a little shy,” Lilia explains.
I smile at the girl. “Hello, Dawn.”
Dawn doesn’t respond. She just stares.
And then—all at once—everyone looks at Kai.
His gaze flicks to me, then back to Dawn. Then, after a beat, he finally gives a short, polite “Good Afternoon.”
Dawn immediately retreats behind Lilia again.
I lean toward Kai, dropping my voice so that only he can hear it. “I think you’re scaring her.”
He shifts slightly, his gaze flicking toward Dawn again. “You’re in my brother’s year, correct?”
Dawn peeks her head out just a little, still cautious.
There’s a silence.
“His name is Elliot,” she says, and I freeze.
I blink. Once. Twice. Trying to process what she just said.
So, his brother really is the boy from the bench. I thought so after seeing the photo at Kai’s house.
I must make a face because when I glance at Kai, he’s already watching me. His gaze flicks to mine, catching the exact second the realization dawns on me.
I stare. He stares back.
There’s a beat of silence.
Dawn, suddenly red-faced, ducks back behind Lilia.
Honestly?
Same.
TWENTY-NINE
Liam
104 days ago
My leg bounces against the cold tiled floor of the waiting room, a dull thud in the otherwise quiet space. I’m not even sure why I’m so nervous. It’s probably nothing. Everyone gets headaches. Everyone gets a little dizzy sometimes. I’ve been a little stressed lately, so maybe that’s it. Maybe.
Maybe. Maybe.
But I don’t need a “maybe” or a “you’re probably overthinking it”. I need a real answer so that I know what exactly I’m dealing with here. And yet, no one’s telling me. It almost seems like everyone around me knows something I don’t—and what was with that look the doctor gave me before?
I’m sweating now, the thin fabric of my shirt clinging to my back. My hands tremble slightly as I clasp them together, tight enough that it begins to hurt. It’s nothing. I keep telling myself that. But the more I repeat it, the less I believe it. Like peeling back a layer of ignorance I didn’t know I had. Maybe it’s not nothing.
I see the door to the office open before I hear it, mostly because I’ve been staring at it for the past eleven and a half minutes.
“Liam Grey?”
