Cress stopped in front of her father's house again for the second time in the day. She and Jacin walked up the steps towards the house. When they entered, Cress saw no sign of her father, but all she saw was his old grey, newspaper cap left on the kitchen table. Gesturing Jacin to follow her, Cress walked down the hallway and slowly pushed open her father's bedroom door open.

The sight that Cress saw shocked her. Her father was lying across his bed, with an empty beer bottle in his hand. More bottles lined the wall and trash can around the room.

"Oh stars, he's drunk," Jacin muttered. Cress ran over to help her father as he groaned and sat up.

"Dad, this is Jacin, my friend," Cress began, "We just wanted to ask you a few questions. About, about my twin." Cress said this last part cautiously, she didn't want Dr. Darnel to do anything unpleasant, like throw a bottle at them. But instead, to Cress and Jacin's relief, all the old scientist did was raise his tired head, and groan.

"What is it Crescent? I'm not in the mood to answer your questions." Dr. Darnel muttered into his hands.

"Come on dad, just one question. Just one," Cress begged her father. Dr. Darnel sighed, and grumbled, " Okay, but only one," Cress felt a small sliver of hope make way through her chest like a sunrise.

"Okay dad, where is our birth certificate? I mean my twin and mine's." Cress inquired to her father. Dr. Darnel fell back on the bed and let out a cough. "I don't know where they went. I was allowed to keep them, but I think I threw it away on your 5th birthday Cress." Dr. Darnel hiccuped. "Cress, I'm pretty tired. I know this wasn't the answer you wanted, but it is the answer. I don't know where the birth certificates are. You're going to have to look at the government files. I'm sorry Crescent," And with that, Sage Darnel fell into a deep sleep, snoring for good measure.

Cress hung her head in disappointment. "I can't believe it. How could he throw such an important document away?" Cress could understand her father's grief at the time, but she was still irked. Jacin just sighed, and replied, "Come on, Kinney will be able to help us then. His shift just started now anyway."

And with that, Jacin pulled a shocked Cress from the bedroom, and led her outside.

Cress was hoping with all her heart that Kinney would be able to help her. She was so grateful towards Jacin for helping her with this. Without him, even with her tech skills, she wouldn't have known where to begin. The walk to the castle was fairly short, as the village was meant for the palace staff. In no time, Jacin was pushing Cress towards Kinney, who looked at them with a curious expression.

"What brings you two here? Jacin?" Kinney acknowledged Jacin and turned to Cress. "It's been a long time Cress, is there anything you need?" Cress gulped and said in a squeaky voice, "Well, um, I need to see the government documents and files pertaining to shells and adoption." Kinney raised an eyebrow at this.

"Hm, well I suppose I could do that for you, but I'll have to oversee what you're looking for. Is that alright with you?" Cress nodded.

'Well, alright, follow me," Kinney led them down a hall and through a door, leading them in a very formal room. It had huge vid screens and it was updated with the latest port screen models. It looks like Cinder had taken Cress's advice on updating the file room. Kinney pulled out a swivel chair for Cress.

"Here you go. Take as much time as you need."

"Thanks Kinney," Cress hopped onto the chair and began typing. She searched for shell children. She knew that wasn't her main priority, but she wanted to take a look at her birth certificate...and found nothing. Disappointed and confused, she turned towards Kinney.

"Cress," Kinney paused, searching for the right words, "Levana, well she thought recording the birth of shells onto government files were pointless, and quoting her, shells were considered 'a monster and disgrace to society' so she never did. Only parents of the shell could keep it, but most Lunars threw it away." Cress bit her lip, and tugged at her hair, which was now past her shoulders. Her hair grew crazy fast, as she learned from her stay at Luna.

"Oh," was Cress's disappointed reply, and she continued working, searching for adoption files. She found plenty of document cases pertaining information to adoption and fostering care, but she found none that matched the name of her parents, or her name either. Cress suddenly grew curious and looked the last user of the file room. The name stared up at her in a bright glowing blue. Sybil Mira.

"Kinney, why was Sybil Mira the last user of this? I thought she was a thaumaturge." Jacin's voice cut through Kinney's. "She was Levana's most trusted thaumaturge. Sybil was in charge of all the files and documents pertaining to Luna's government information. She was here a lot, in fact. She was required to keep updates on everything. She even had her own account."

Cress took no time in hacking into Sybil Mira's account, it was pretty tough, even for Cress, and was soon looking at all her former mistress's work. Sybil had done a good job on updating everything, but, she had deleted something. Cress's hand hovered over the red icon and clicked on it. There was a screenshot of a conversation between Sybil Mira and a Lunar. It read:

Sybil, please, I beg you, delete the adoption files and the birth certificates. If Her Majesty sees, Sage and I will both be dead. I don't really care about children, never had, but the consequence of having them is enough to make me go insane with fear. For my safety, and Sage's.

-Cylia Stell Darnel

My dear Cylia, do not worry. I have deleted the files of both your children. Including the shell, obviously. There is no need to worry. Her Majesty will not suspect a thing. Your daughter though, she is a filthy shell. But I can save her from obvious death. She may be useful later in life, coming from two prestigious scientists such as you and Sage. Best wishes to you and your husband in perfecting the disease.

-Sybil Sola Mira

End of comm.

Cress stared at the screen in shock. How? Sybil had destroyed her and her sibling's files. Because they should never had been born, Cress realized as her father's story came back to her. Royal scientists weren't allowed to have children. Sybil had helped her mother out by hiding the birth. And had saved the lives of her parents from Levana's wrath. And had saved Cress from death out of friendship towards her mother. Cress felt a warmth in her heart at the cruel thaumaturge. It was true that Sybil had been nothing but fear and pain to Cress, but she did save her parents and herself. To that, Cress sent a small prayer of thanks up to Sybil.

Back to reality though, Cress was faced with bitter disappointed. She had accomplished nothing. No birth certificates. Not even an adoption case. Kinney snapped Cress out of her mental stupor.

"Cress? You alright? Jacin told me the story while you were searching. It must be hard having to deal with that news. I really hope you do find your brother. " Cress smiled.

"Thanks Kinney, for the help. Come on Jacin. We should get going. I did promise you a coding lesson." Cress got up and walked out, nodding Kinney her thanks. Jacin followed, his face serious.

"I hope you do find your brother. If you need any help, you can always ask me," Jacin said. Cress smiled again.

"Thanks Jacin. You've been a big help. I'm glad to have a friend like you."

Hey guys! I've gotten better at this now. One follow and one review! Not much, but hey, one step at a time, right? If anyone has notices any mistakes throughout the story, please don't hesitate to review! Like I said before, criticism is appreciated. Thank you halfbloodbugsy for being my first follower, and to BookLuver28 for my first review! You guys got a special place in my heart now :D Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

-starstruck02