I jumped up and practically squeezed the air out of him. He hugged me back. "What happened to you?" I asked, brushing a tear from my eye.

"It's a bit hard to explain," he said, wheezing hoarsely. "But some enemies of VFD nearly found me and I got beat up in an alley."

Isadora ran over and hugged him too. Then Klaus and Sunny came over to meet him.

He sat down between me and Violet. "You must be starving," I said. "Can we get you anything?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine. What I could use is a place to sleep. I've had to sleep in smoky arson-affected houses and in alleys and on the streets."

"You can stay in my dorm," I said. "My other roommates wouldn't care."

"Thanks, bro."

He smiled at Violet. "So Dunn, who's this?"

I suddenly remembered she was in the picture. But she hardly was. She was practically drooling at Quigley.

"Oh, this is Violet, Klaus and Sunny's older sister."

"Hey," he said, shaking her hand. "Hey," she said back.

When we got to my dorm that night, Andrew and Brownley were all over the place, eating pizza and watching TV like complete slobs.

I cleared my throat. "Eh hem," I said. They didn't look up. Andrew knuckled Brownley on the head and Brownley took off after him.

Quigley shrugged. "I guess they just ate too much pizza. I'll go unpack."

I stopped him. "Oh no. You're getting the attention you deserve."

When Andrew raced by, I stuck out my leg, tripping him into the carpet, lying in a huffing and puffing heap.

Brownley jetted his way toward him, and my fist walloped the side of his head. He tripped on the stereo cord and landed on top of Andrew.

"Hey, what gives?" he said. He pointed at Quigley. "And-are my eyes deceitfully or am I seeing two of you, Duncan?"

"We must be dizzy, that's why," Andrew answered from under him.

"He's my triplet brother, you morons. And he's staying here."

Brownley got up. He sniffed Quigley and said, "Oh man. He better not be staying in my half of the room."

"He'll stay where he wants, and if you have a problem, you can stick it up your-"

"Wait," Andrew said, standing up. "You never said you had a brother."

"We thought he was dead," I said. "It would have made no sense to say he was my brother if he was dead."

I looked at Quigley. "No offense."

"None taken," he said.

Sorry for the delay! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, expect another one coming up soon!