– Chapter Nine –
After some protesting, and time wasting, Leigh stood waiting outside the house with her things while Rat refused to leave the house. The hacker had agreed to the task, only to change her mind at the last minute.
"If we're gonna go, we should go NOW," Leigh said loudly. "It's almost midday for God's sake."
Katja was unwilling to put up with Rat's stubbornness. It wasn't long before she forced Rat out of the house physically while Rat shrieked something about personal space and boundaries, and everyone else just stared. When they reached the front door, Katja shoved Rat out and slammed and locked the door quickly.
"KATJA!" Rat shouted, her voice echoing. After a moment, Katja's face appeared at the window, and she opened it to toss Rat's bag out onto the grass. Rat hurried to hold the window open as Katja went to close it. "You can't be serious! This is madness!"
"No, no it is not," Katja told her. "Zee sooner you go, zee sooner you come back."
"I think she's serious," Aila said, she too appearing at the window.
"Ve vill take care of doggies, no problem."
"Katja," Rat said desperately, "let me back in-"
"You are vasting time," Katja sternly interrupted. "Ve must contact Childs, so get going."
"For God's sake," Leigh grumbled to herself. "If she's gonna faff around like this, I'm going by myself. I'll call you all later to let you know I'm safe."
Leigh bounded off quickly, leaving everyone else to stare after her.
"Leigh!" Aila cried out. "Wait! You can't…you can't just go off alone!"
"Keep a close eye on Lucas, yeah?" Leigh shouted back over her shoulder. "If anything happens, let me know! And keep safe!"
"LEIGH!" Aila shouted again, but Leigh simply waved and hurried off. Rat watched after her, and then helplessly turned back to Katja, who was staring at her with raised eyebrows.
"You are locked out. You may as vell go."
"Katja…I will never forgive you for this," Rat hissed.
Katja broke off a piece of her cookie and threw it at Rat's face. "Go," she repeated, throwing more and more bits of food out of the window, to which Rat held up her hands to shield her face. "Go on!"
Rat glared at her venomously, before gritting her teeth hard and whipping around to practically run down the path after Leigh.
Aila sighed and shook her head to herself. "Wanna bet she'll be back within the hour?" she asked dryly.
"If she ez, I vill knock her out and throw her on plane myself."
The trip to the airport was tense, and the longer Leigh was with Rat, the more uneasy she became. After her initial fit, the hacker seemed to have retreated into herself and didn't speak a single word. She was completely tense, and kept her arms crossed and her head down, her hands shaking as she followed Leigh in silence.
Leigh didn't know what to make of the woman's odd behaviour, but she didn't dare question it and just tried to focus on getting to Italy without another incident. They needed to get a bus to Zurich, before they could fly to Florence for that afternoon.
With over an hour until the plane took off, Leigh quietly led Rat towards a small café when she started to feel hungry, figuring that lunch would pass some time at the very least. The hairdresser didn't bother questioning it when Rat went straight for a small, enclosed booth near the back of the place, and simply followed her and sat down, looking over a menu as she did.
They ordered food, and then Leigh took out her phone to let Aila and Katja know they had arrived at the airport. More than anything, Leigh worried about leaving them alone with Lucas. He seemed genuine, but Leigh had taken her paranoia of things going wrong at the house with her, and she knew it was going to be difficult not to check up on Aila and Katja more times than was necessary. She only hoped they would understand her concerns and not become annoyed at her constant texting.
Leigh placed the phone on the table before her, and simply stared at it. Rat still had not uttered a word to her, and Leigh was finding it difficult to strike up a conversation. She wasn't sure she even wanted to talk to Rat at all. Why had she agreed to this again?
"So, erm," Leigh forced herself to speak anyway. "Why 'Rat'? That's obviously not your real name."
Rat hesitated, but glared. "That's not for you to know," she responded. "'Leigh' isn't your real name, either, is it Ashleigh?"
"Yeah," Leigh muttered darkly, shrugging, and averting her gaze again. "Keep forgetting you know everything about everything. I hate the name 'Leigh', anyway. It was a nickname that kind of stuck."
Rat remained still and silent. It was clear to Leigh she had no interest in sharing back stories, and she certainly wasn't going to give Leigh her real name.
The hairdresser sighed and looked around at the various pictures on the walls. She hoped the trip would be over quickly. When their food arrived, she ate in silence and found her thoughts lingering on Rachel.
It had been nearly a month and a half since Leigh had run away from London, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered what the other self-aware clone was doing at that moment. Probably sitting behind a desk somewhere being pampered by her staff as she continued to be the best at everything that came her way.
Leigh sighed, staring down at her plate as she daydreamed. What a mess she'd gotten herself into. She never dreamed she'd have to be so guarded all the time. She never realised before how simple and carefree her life had really been before now.
"I can only see this going one way, and it's a way I don't like. We just say 'screw it' and go up to her and see what happens, like we did with Janika."
Leigh and Rat had recently arrived at their destination, and were rushing through the airport to leave as fast as they could. After Leigh had once again made contact with Aila, she had finally managed to engage Rat in conversation by suggesting ways to approach Aryanna.
"That will end badly," the hacker responded with a roll of her eyes. "You do not want to take a leaf out of Katja's book."
"Yeah, I know it's not ideal, and if you were listening, you'd have heard me say 'it's a way I don't like'…but come on, she can't talk. How're we gonna communicate with her unless it's face to face?"
Rat grumbled something as she and Leigh left the busy building, apparently thinking. Weak sunlight greeted them along with fresh air. "Perhaps we should observe her from a safe distance and then decide how to approach."
"You mean spy on her?" Leigh asked, eyebrows raised. "Good God…"
"We'll get to know what she's like. How she reacts to things, if she's easily startled, that kind of thing, and then approach her when she's alone, somewhere quiet."
"Poor girl will have a heart attack," Leigh murmured. "She works in a spa, doesn't she?"
"Yeah," Rat nodded. Leigh stopped walking, and so did Rat. They watched each other for a moment.
"So what if we go and observe her while she's at work?" Leigh asked, shrugging.
Rat stared with wide eyes, and her mouth hung open. She knew what Leigh was thinking, and she did not like it. "Oh God," she groaned. She followed after Leigh, who was now speeding away, clearly more enthusiastic about receiving spa treatment than the hacker was.
When the two arrived at Kami Spa, Rat sighed, clearly not enjoying the idea of just walking into the place. "And what should we say when people start questioning why exactly there's two random people here who look just like one of their employees?" she asked dryly.
Leigh tilted her head. "We could say we're related?"
"Yes, because that wouldn't attract her attention at all if someone mentioned it to her," Rat muttered. "And what if her monitor is here too?"
Leigh shrugged. "We'd just have to deal with it if it happened," she said. "Take things one step at a time."
Rat sighed, but followed Leigh into the building. The spa was warm and smelled of oils and flowers, and being inside somewhere seemed to make the hacker at least somewhat more relaxed than she had been outside. The building was comprised of narrow hallways, and seemed to be largely populated by Asian employees. Looking around more, it soon became apparent why that was, as the place's full name was Kami Oriental Spa.
There was a young woman at the desk who was eyeing the pair curiously, next to various signs pointing to changing rooms, baths, massages, and other such treatments. Leigh looked rather enthusiastic about this particular venture, and walked up to the woman at the counter to see how much everything would cost.
Soon enough, the two clones were making their way down towards the changing rooms. Rat had fallen silent again, looking around with her head down as they passed by various people of all ages walking around in towels.
Leigh wasn't sure if paranoia was creeping up on her again or if each member of staff they came across on the way to the changing rooms was eyeing her and Rat. She picked up the pace, silently wondering why she had thought this would be a good idea…but then she stopped abruptly when someone stepped in front of her.
It was an enthusiastic and excitable young man with dark skin and even darker hair. He was grinning at Rat and Leigh and speaking very fast in Italian. From the outfit he wore, the women knew he worked here. He had obviously recognised them.
"Err…English," Leigh said nervously.
"Aye! Please forgive me," the man apologised quickly. "But you must be related to our Aryanna, yes?"
"Y-yes," Leigh managed. She was thankful the man could speak English. The man's grin grew bigger.
"She never mentioned sisters, let alone twins! Then again, she always was very private. You are not from around here?"
"Triplets," Rat said quickly, and Leigh nodded a little too eagerly. "It's a long story; we live in different countries. Only...only she doesn't know we're here-"
"It's a surprise," Leigh added.
"Yeah, a surprise. Is she here?" Rat asked.
"Sì, yes," the man said, still grinning excitedly. He called out to another staff member. "Julie, dove è Aryanna?"
The woman, Julie, paused for a moment, and then said, "Uhm...camera con tre penso?"
Leigh and Rat glanced at each other, not understanding a word of what was being said, before the excitable man spoke in English again. "She is working in room three today. I can lead you, yes?"
"Um, t-that's OK, we can find it. Just make sure nobody mentions us being here, yeah? Don't wanna go and ruin the surprise," Leigh said with an awkward, forced smile. What a surprise it would be…
Rat glanced around, not liking the degree of attention they were getting as they awkwardly stood in the middle of the hallway.
"Ah, I will keep my mouth shut about the surprise," the man said with a wink. "Do let me know if you need assistance! Just ask for Robbie!" He gestured to the tag on his chest where his name was printed, and moved away from the clones, almost skipping as he went.
Leigh turned her attention back to Rat. "We should get changed," she said.
"Sod that," Rat shot. "Let's just go to room three and find Aryanna."
"We kind of need to blend in," Leigh told her, rolling her eyes. "We go in dressed as we are, we'll stick out like a sore thumb."
"I'm not walking around dressed in a friggin' towel," Rat growled, sounding very annoyed now. She turned on her heel and began walking aimlessly to find room three.
Leigh groaned and scurried after her. "You don't wear a towel; you get a robe," Leigh hissed at her. "I thought the whole point of this was to make sure we're not seen? Besides, we've paid to be here, so we might as well make use of the facilities…"
Rat stopped suddenly. Leigh almost walked into her, and she frowned when Rat turned to glare directly at her. "If you wanna doss about, be my guest," she told Leigh irritably. "But that's not why I agreed to come here. I'm not gonna waste time getting my nails done or whatever when there's a serious reason for us being here!"
Leigh opened her mouth to protest, but quickly paled as she saw something over Rat's shoulder. "Shit!" she squealed, dragging the hacker around the corner.
Rat protested, but fell silent as she saw what had startled Leigh so much. Just down the hallway was the unmistakable face of a clone with long, straight brown hair. She was smiling brightly, signing to a woman wearing a robe before the two shook hands and kissed cheeks. The woman in the robe then walked down towards the opposite end of the hallway while Aryanna went back into the room.
"Well I guess we know where room three is now," Rat commented after a moment.
Leigh looked around at the people staring at them and whispering. "Oh sod it. Do what you like, but I'm getting a robe. We're sticking out too much in our street clothes," she said, before rushing away towards the changing rooms.
Rat glanced around at the people who continued to stare at her. "YES?" she snapped at them loudly, before grumbling and following Leigh.
Spying on Aryanna was proving to be difficult. Twice, Leigh and Rat almost came face to face with her, and twice, Leigh was able to dodge out of the Italian's way just in time, pulling an extremely angry Rat along with her. At one point, the hairdresser threw herself behind a large plant standing in the corner and gestured desperately for Rat to join her, but Rat refused, especially when members of staff approached to ask what on earth they were playing at and to see if they needed help.
"No, no, no," Leigh assured the workers quickly. She made a point to hide her face under the hood of her robe, and threw a towel over Rat's head to hide her too. "We're OK. Honest…we just…"
"We just…" Rat added, but she couldn't seem to find the words to speak. Instead, she and Leigh trailed off, and hurried away from the workers and into the nearest room. Thankfully, it was empty, but it contained massage beds and various products, and Leigh wasn't sure how long it would be before someone came bursting in.
"This isn't working," Rat spat angrily.
"You think?" Leigh said coldly. "If you would just put your robe on like a normal person-"
"It's got nothing to do with the ROBE!" Rat shouted.
Leigh raised her hands fearfully. "Will you shut up?" she whispered, hushing her. "Honestly – you're gonna get us kicked out-"
"ME?!" Rat even laughed now, looking completely astounded as she stared at Leigh in open mouthed shock. "Who's the one hiding behind people and dodging in and out of rooms with a friggin' TOWEL on her head? You look like some kinda spa ninja bandit…thing-"
"Oh shut up," Leigh snapped nastily as she went to open the door. "Look, let's just go on out there, try one more time to get close to her, and if that fails, we'll just have to approach. Agreed?"
"No," Rat groaned, rubbing her eyes in complete frustration.
Leigh pulled open the door anyway. "Thought you'd say that," she said with a sigh, and she strode out into the corridor to resume her plan, leaving Rat fuming behind her.
The hacker watched Leigh leave to resume practising her failed ninja skills, and walked out of the room, heading in the opposite direction. This was ridiculous. They'd wasted the better part of the afternoon dodging around the whole spa like idiots and hadn't learned a single thing about how Aryanna would react to their presence.
Rat made her way up to the front of the spa, and nearly ran into one of the staff members. She glared and opened her mouth to tell him where to get off, but paused as he recognised the eager young man, Robbie, from earlier, and forced an awkward smile instead.
"Oh, hello again miss! Need any help?" Robbie asked happily.
"Actually, yes, if you wouldn't mind…do you think you could discreetly get Aryanna to go to that empty room there? Without saying anything about me, of course…" she said, trying and failing to sound pleasant as she did, ending up looking more awkward than anything.
"Uh, sure thing miss, no problem," Robbie said with a smile, and turned to seek out his co-worker.
Rat sighed and shook her head at herself, making her way back into the room she was just in to wait. "Well that could've gone better," she muttered to herself. "Least it worked somewhat…at least we'll have the room to talk alone."
Meanwhile, Leigh had finally managed to get close enough to her Italian counterpart, and was watching her closely from behind a doorway. Every so often, the hairdresser pulled back quickly to duck behind the wall. She swore under her breath when an impatient staff member approached.
"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she said rudely. "You're clearly not here for the right reasons-"
"No, no, I am," Leigh insisted, peering around the woman's figure to look in Aryanna's direction. To Leigh's horror, Aryanna had moved, and was nowhere to be seen. "Fuck's sake," Leigh added.
The woman raised her eyebrows. "That language is NOT appropriate," she scolded Leigh. "If you do not move, I will have to call for security."
"Shit," Leigh whispered as the woman grabbed her upper arm to steer her through the corridor. Protesting would cause a scene, so Leigh bit her lip and nodded. "Let me get my things?" she asked crossly. Her clothes and possessions were still locked away in the changing room.
The woman held in a sigh, but nodded, and began escorting Leigh to the changing rooms. Leigh looked this way and that for a sign of either of the other clones in the building, but what happened next caused her jump in fright and shriek in terror.
She and the woman rounded the corner only to come face to face with Aryanna herself, who was following Robbie. Leigh shrieked a few more times at the startled look on Aryanna's face, and Aryanna stumbled back in panic.
Rat raised an eyebrow at the sounds of screaming just outside the door, recognizing the voice as that of a clone. She groaned, face-palming. "Leigh, what the HELL did you go and do?" she muttered, feeling more than a little frustrated as she peeked out of the room in time to see Leigh freaking out and Aryanna scared out of her wits.
The scene didn't take long to unfold, and as more and more people showed up to see what all the screaming was about, Aryanna turned and fled, vanishing into the crowd somewhere.
Rat looked between Leigh (who thankfully stopped screeching like a banshee) and where the Italian clone had been just moments before, and could only face-palm repeatedly. "Leigh…vous putain de crétin!"
Leigh and Rat were kicked out of the building after receiving a warning that they would be reported to the police if they came back to cause more trouble. The members of staff were confused, especially because of how upset Aryanna appeared, but Leigh and Rat were not keen on the idea of hanging around to get arrested.
"You just HAD to go and eff it all up, didn't you?" Rat started as they hurried away from the spa. "I had it under control, and you just-"
"I didn't know you went and asked for a private room!" Leigh interrupted, sounding as though she might cry. "Honestly – she just…came out of nowhere-"
"Oh don't give me that," Rat cut across her.
"Look, at the very least, she's seen us now, so she's bound to have questions and maybe even ask around for us!" Leigh was speaking loudly now, trying to justify what had happened. "We either hang around for a bit and let her find us out here on her own terms, or we scare the poor girl again later by showing up at her house uninvited. Come on Rat, you're the smart one; you figure it out!"
"FINE!" Rat shouted, and some by passers glanced at her and Leigh curiously as they argued. The hacker marched over to a public bench under the shade of some trees, sat down, and folded her arms moodily. "We'll wait and see what happens! But don't DO anything this time! Let me handle it!"
Leigh simply flopped down on the bench as well, staring at the ground in silence. She sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest, feeling bad about messing up their first attempt with Aryanna.
Rat said nothing more on the matter and reached into her bag, taking out a small plastic container. Leigh eyed her curiously as she silently dry-swallowed a small pill before putting the container back in her bag.
"The hell was that?" Leigh asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing you need to be concerned with," the hacker responded immediately, and Leigh just shook her head, not having the energy to get into another pointless argument.
An hour later, Leigh glanced over and spotted Aryanna exiting the building, alongside Robbie. The Italian clone was signing something to him, still looking freaked out.
"What's she saying?" Leigh asked. "Er…signing, whatever."
Rat watched for a moment. "She's explaining that 'those weird people aren't my siblings, I'm an only child'."
"Well shit," Leigh cursed tiredly.
She watched as Aryanna and her colleague continued to sign, but Rat kept quiet. The hacker looked almost pained for a moment, before apparently realising it and masking the emotion with a bored look. Leigh didn't bother asking, not wanting to cause more drama over nothing.
Suddenly, Robbie looked up, and his eyes found Leigh's. Then he looked at Rat too.
"Shit!" Leigh panicked. She held up her rucksack to cover her face, while Rat rubbed her forehead in sheer exasperation.
"Too late," she muttered, annoyed. "They've seen us."
Rat watched as Robbie said something to Aryanna, and then walked across the street towards the two. Leigh peeked out from behind the bag and paled. "Shit!" she said again, not sure whether to stay or run.
Robbie stopped a few feet in front of them, trying to look somewhat intimidating. "Look, I dunno who you guys are or what you want, but stop harassing Aryanna!" he said boldly. "She said she doesn't have any sisters…"
Rat raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, and we both look identical to her because we feel like it," she said dryly. "We just wanna talk. That's it." Without waiting for Robbie to respond, Rat looked over to Aryanna and signed something to her.
Robbie shook his head. "Just…stay away from her, alright?" he said with a frown, before slowly making his way back over to the Italian clone.
"Hang on a minute!" Leigh snapped, lowering her bag at last and standing up. Robbie and Aryanna looked back anxiously, but Rat rubbed her temples, fearing the worst.
"Leigh, just don't-"
"No, Rat! We didn't come all this way with such important information just to be told to do one! Look, Aryanna, we're not here just to mess around! We need to talk to you!"
Aryanna simply shook her head and turned to leave again, but Leigh wasn't in the mood to be ignored. She hurried to cross the street, only to be stopped by Robbie, who stepped in front of her.
"I don't want to have to call the police-"
"Oh, shut it," Leigh snapped. "You think this fun for us? Honestly, I can think of a million other things I'd rather be doing, but the fact is, ARYANNA," she spoke the Italian clone's name loudly, causing Aryanna to stop and look back again, "we can't run away from this, and neither can you. So you either agree to meet us later on, or we'll just come and find you again."
Rat sighed, but stood up too to walk and stand next to Leigh. In spite of herself, she nodded. "Like I said, we just want to talk," she spoke in calmer tones than Leigh did. Then, Rat began signing something to Aryanna, and Leigh could only guess she was trying to convince the mute to at least listen to what they had to say.
Aryanna looked back and forth between the two, still looking entirely freaked out, before turning and quickly walking down the street away from them.
"Fuck's sake!" Leigh said, making as if she was going to run after her, though Rat held out her arm to block her path.
"I told her where we're staying. Let's leave her be for a bit until she calms down," she said, and Leigh grumbled quietly before turning around to walk back to their hotel.
That evening was spent largely in silence. The only sounds in the hotel room were the gentle taps of keys as Rat sat on her bed with her laptop. She was back to her usual edgy self after the effects of whatever pill she'd taken earlier wore off.
Leigh was sitting on the far side of the room, away from the other clone, perched in front of the window as she observed the street below. The area was fairly well lit, even though it had long since turned dark.
Off in the distance, she could see the outline of the Colosseum, and other traditional Roman landmarks. Leigh wondered if she could come back here one day as a regular person and see the sights. The city really was as beautiful and charming as she'd heard about growing up.
So far there had been no sign of Aryanna, though really Leigh and Rat didn't expect her to appear after just one meeting. They'd already called Katja and Aila and to fill them in on what had happened in full detail, much to Leigh's indignation. All they could do now was hold back for a bit and wait until they could talk to Aryanna again, preferably without Robbie present.
Leigh tore herself away from the window and instead turned to stare at Rat. She silently observed for a while as the hacker typed away, though from the deepening frown on her face, Leigh could tell Rat was aware of her watching.
"What?" Rat snapped after another few moments.
"Nothing," Leigh sighed, shrugging.
"Well stop staring. It's weird."
"Sorry," Leigh said shortly. "I was just…" she considered asking Rat what she was doing just to strike up a conversation, but thought better of it. Rat was not the social type. "Forget it," Leigh added instead.
She spun back around to stare out of the window again instead. This had been such a bad idea. She didn't know how safe it was to go outside and venture, but being stuck inside with Rat was boring and painful. With the little progress they had made, Leigh had to wonder why on earth she had let Katja talk her into this at all.
Just to give herself something to do, Leigh made her way to the wall where she'd left her bag. She spent a few minutes removing the various files she'd brought with her, and opened up Aryanna's. She'd been wondering if Robbie was her monitor, but upon further inspection, it appeared Robbie had no connection to DYAD whatsoever. No, Aryanna's monitor was-
"Her girlfriend?" Leigh read off the paper.
From across the room, Rat heard her and looked up from her laptop for a second, as though curious as to what Leigh was doing. The hacker shrugged. "It's not that weird. A good number of us have identified as lesbian or bisexual," she said, looking back to what she'd been reading. "Hell, a handful of us have even identified as transsexual if you can believe it."
"Well I know it's not weird, but I just…I dunno, we're clones right? So shouldn't we all have the same preference in that area?"
"Evidently not," Rat said, shrugging again. "That type of thing isn't purely genetic. We're living proof of that."
Leigh paused, considering her next question. "What about you?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" the hacker said flatly, raising an eyebrow.
"You heard."
Rat was silent for several minutes, and Leigh wondered if she'd answer at all. "I have no time or desire for such things," Rat muttered, averting her gaze slightly before going back to her laptop.
Leigh resisted the urge to roll her eyes, figuring she should have guessed that. She really couldn't picture the hacker seeing anybody with how anti-social she acted. "I suppose you already know what I am," Leigh grunted, to which Rat merely nodded. "Rat…" Leigh began in more serious and desperate tones this time. She focused her full attention on the hacker. "What do I have to do to prove I'm not one of them? I have never been involved with DYAD. The only difference between me and all the others is I was always awake when I had tests done on me. I knew they were happening, but only to me; I didn't even know more of us existed until recently. If you really know everything about me, you'll know that I'm just a hairdresser from London, and I never visited DYAD unless I had to."
Rat had frozen to listen to Leigh, but she did not look at her. After several minutes, the hacker sighed and set her laptop aside, focusing her full attention on Leigh, who was looking like she was on the verge of tears.
"Trust isn't easy for me, not with anyone, but especially not with someone who's ever been affiliated with them," Rat reluctantly explained. "They've been hunting me relentlessly for several years now. If anyone were to hand me over to them…let's just say it wouldn't end pleasantly for me. I wasn't kidding when I said they're like the friggin' Mafia. If you're really as ignorant as you say you are, you have no idea what that psychopath Leekie is actually capable of…what he does to people in the name of 'science'…that's why trusting you has been particularly difficult, because believe it or not, I don't know everything about you. I don't know what you might do for them or say to them, if anything. The official record is nothing but observations and reports made by monitors. Things can easily be excluded. Just because I have access to the database doesn't mean I have the full story. In fact, that's very rarely the case. Long story short; the less you know about me, the safer I am."
Leigh nodded. She had to admit that Rat's explanation made sense. "I understand," she told her quietly. "I suppose I never considered that about monitors leaving information out…but yeah, I get you."
The hairdresser stared blankly at Aryanna's file for a few minutes, thinking. She couldn't help wondering what sorts of things Leekie had done. "Leekie…" she spoke again, still not looking at Rat. "He…he raised another of us. She's…she's different. I always wondered if she'd be the way she is now if…"
Leigh stopped, unable to continue; unable to discuss Rachel's past and the loss of her parents. It was a personal matter, and however much Rachel annoyed her, it wasn't Leigh's story to share.
"You mean your sister, Rachel," Rat stated. "Yeah…that's another reason I don't know if trusting you is the wisest choice for me, seeing as Leekie practically groomed her to run DYAD. Blood runs thick, as they say."
It took Leigh a few seconds to register what Rat had said. Had there been some sort of misunderstanding? She looked up at Rat numbly. "My sister? Rachel's not my sister," she explained calmly, though she frowned a bit.
Rat stared at her. "That's not what my sources say," was her blunt response.
Leigh shook her head. "We were raised together as friends, with separate families."
"Yes, I know that," Rat snapped, rolling her eyes, and Leigh was feeling extremely sick suddenly. "But don't lie about it; the information is right here." Rat seized her laptop again and began typing as if to prove the point to Leigh, who was now sitting completely still.
"You're making shit up," she breathed quietly.
Rat managed a sarcastic laugh and shook her head. "It's right here in black and white, so stop denying it. Pretending she's not isn't gonna make me trust you more."
Leigh couldn't move as Rat found what she was looking for. She eyed Leigh, and then began reading off the screen. "Rachel Duncan, born Rachel Callingham. Daughter of Janet and Spencer Callingham; born 14th April along with twin sister, Ashleigh."
Leigh twitched slightly and felt her throat tighten. It was not true. "That doesn't make any sense!" she shrieked suddenly. It couldn't make sense; Leigh was older than Rachel by at least three weeks-
"The Duncans required a clone child, and Rachel was given to them," Rat continued, ignoring Leigh's comment. "Originally another surrogate mother was due to hand over her child to the Duncans, but things changed. They raised Rachel instead."
"I don't believe you," Leigh said angrily now. She was struggling to control her shaking voice. "You're making shit up! Either your sources are fucked up or you've made all this up yourself as some sick twisted-"
"It's right here in black and white," Rat said calmly, clearly not believing Leigh in the slightest.
Leigh managed to stand up and approach. She barely even glanced at the file on the screen before shaking her head again, mortified. "No," she said again, shaking her head. "That's not true. T-that CAN'T be true! I don't believe you!" she whispered, feeling angry and sick at the same time. "Rachel…Rachel can't POSSIBLY…"
Rat frowned, studying Leigh's expression carefully as she continued to deny it. What was the point in doing so? What confused her most was that something about Leigh's reaction seemed strangely…genuine. Either this girl was a really good actor…or…
"You actually didn't know?" she asked, watching Leigh's expression carefully.
Leigh didn't respond, but she grew pale before covering her mouth with one hand, and bolted out of the bedroom.