SIX WEEKS LATER
Caroline
"Dan?" I shouted, struggling to pull my suitcase up the stairs. "Can you give me a hand please?"
Suddenly Dan appeared and took my suitcase, easily hauling it up the stairs to my bedroom. I watched his back as I followed him, noticing that he almost trudged up the stairs. I wondered if he'd gotten into a fight with Zoe. Ever since V95, they hadn't been exactly the same around each other – Zoe had become slightly irritable and short-tempered.
As Dan pushed the door to my bedroom open with his shoulder and dumped my bag in the middle of the room before he turned to face me. "How was your camp, Care?"
Instead of answering, I studied him, taking in the agony he was hiding behind those blue eyes, which were exact replicas of my own. "What's happened, Dan? Did you and Zoe have another fight?"
"It's none of your business, Caroline." Dan replied, trying to push past me, but I held my arm out to block him and pushed against his chest. Dan made a hissing sound through his teeth as he walked back a few steps, but he sighed heavily and sat down on my bed. I watched as he reached up and ran a hand through his blonde hair, leaving parts of it sticking up. He didn't say anything for a long time and . . . his silence scared me. I'd never seen him like this. Even though we were technically twins, only a few minutes separating us, Dan was always the older one. He was born first and he was the protector. He'd held me when lightning storms scared me. He'd brushed my tears away when I'd had my first breakup and only half-jokingly told me that he would find a shotgun from somewhere and shoot the guy's kneecaps out. He was the one who'd somehow managed to keep both his sister and his girlfriend safe when all the odds were against us.
"Zoe's leaving." Dan finally managed to choke out. "She found out she has family scattered – "
He broke off as I pulled my MI9 ID, practically shoving it in his face. Dan squinted to read the writing on it, but he sighed almost in relief.
"Her 86 sisters." I said. "Or should I say, fellow clones."
"Wha – "
"That 'camp' I've been on for the past six weeks? It was an MI9 training camp."
"So you know then." Dan said quietly. "You know about her sisters, you know about the clones, you know . . . You know what KORPS did to her."
I nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, Dan."
"I knew . . ." Dan said softly. "I knew, when we first started dating that in the end, I would get hurt. I knew that. But I still did it because I love her. And then after everything with V95, I thought that was it. I thought we'd be fine again. But now . . ." He scrubbed furiously at his eyes, obviously hoping that it would disguise the tears sparkling in them, before he looked up at me again. "I don't want her to go, Care."
He sounded so small, so vulnerable, that I couldn't help it – I moved forward and hugged him the way he'd held me when we were much younger and I was much smaller and more terrified – tight, as if I was afraid that he would fall apart if I let go. From the way he was shaking, it wouldn't have surprised me.
"Oh, Danny." I said softly, rubbing his back gently.
"I love her, Care." Dan whimpered.
"I know." I told him. "It'll be okay eventually, Dan. I promise."
Dan
A few hours later, I managed to pull myself together and throw on some warmer clothes which consisted of jeans, a black t-shirt, a red hoodie and a pair of shoes – I didn't even bother checking what ones I'd thrown on. Then I walked into Caroline's room, where she pressed pause on the remote to her DVD player and looked up at me expectantly. I looked at the screen, where a man with a bald head, scars and strange tattoos was frozen in place. Amused, I turned to Caroline. "Seriously? Beastly, again?"
"What's wrong with Beastly? I mean, seriously, that Kyle is fit."
"Not right there he's not."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Fine. Alex Pettyfer is – "
"I do not want to hear about how hot you believe a guy you will never meet is." I said. "I'm heading out."
"Going to see Zoe?" Caroline asked, blue eyes swimming with worry.
"She doesn't want to say goodbye to me." I said, shoving my hands deep into my pockets. "She doesn't get a say in whether I say goodbye to her."
"Dan – "
"I'll be fine, Care." I told her. I took in her worried blue eyes and sighed loudly. "Honest. Look, we'll talk about it when I get back, okay?"
"Fine." Caroline agreed, knowing that was the closest she was going to get. "Do you know how long you'll be?"
"Being me and Zo? I honestly have no idea." I told her. Noticing the knowing glint in her eyes, I rolled my eyes and made a small exasperated noise. "That's not what I meant."
"Of course not." Caroline said sarcastically. "A teenage guy wanting to get laid is an absolutely ridiculous idea . . ."
Irritated, I said, "Just because I'm not going over there to have sex, it doesn't mean I don't think about it."
Caroline smirked and I rolled my eyes. "I am not . . . I am not having this conversation with you now. Or ever, for that matter."
"Whatever. Just make sure you use protection." Caroline said, resuming her movie.
"If Mum and dad show up while I'm gone – "
"Tell them you're at Tom's. yeah, yeah, I know." Caroline said.