“Did you hear me?” asked Liberty.
“Yep. Just trying to figure out how to best unpack that one,” responded Daisy. “French braid or what? Give me more details.”
Liberty groaned.
“Hey, could make all the difference.” Daisy grinned. “Think harder. Have you heard anyone in your dreams call him by his name?”
As Liberty began to shake her head no, she stopped, a strange sensation moving over her. “Weird. I kind of want to call him Boris, or even Jackass.”
Daisy’s eyebrows shot up. “Boris? Jackass? Yes, he sounds like a really sweet guy. Hope we find him soon.”
“He’s not a bad guy,” argued Liberty. “I already told you.”
Daisy nodded. “I know. He was nice to you.”
“Well, he was.”
Daisy twirled the end of her long blonde hair. “Okay, other things we know. We know we have overlapping early childhoods. We’re pretty sure we were held at the same place. And we’re fairly certain there were other kids like us who would be about our age now.”
From the second Liberty had met Daisy and Isobel, she’d felt connected to them and had been sure she knew them well. When they’d opened up about what they could do and what they could recall from their childhood, they knew without a shadow of a doubt their pasts were interlinked.
Daisy lifted her hand and raised a finger. “We know we’re not like other people. Not by a long shot. And we’re pretty sure something was done to us when we were little that made us this way, right? That we weren’t born this way. Those tests you did on us at the university, they showed weird things, right?”
“Yes.” Liberty touched her stomach, the sick feeling still there like a shallow pit. Since she was working on her PhD in molecular genetics and microbiology, and worked at the university to help cover the cost of tuition and living expenses, she had a certain amount of access to labs others didn’t.
Liberty had been curious for as long as she could remember, always wanting to unlock the secrets to everything. That included the mystery of what they were and how they’d come to be that way. When she’d broached the subject of digging deeper and looking for something on a genetic level, Daisy and Isobel had jumped at the opportunity. They’d been quick to let Liberty take blood and tissue samples. She’d taken her own as well. Then she’d snuck the samples in with the rest that were set to be tested.
Preliminary results had come back with clear indications something was certainly different about each of them. Something that extended far beyond the known limitations of gene editing, venturing right into science fiction territory.
But when Liberty had tried to access the full reports and dig deeper, the information went missing.
So had the scientists she’d worked under.
The last she’d seen of the men had been at the lab at the university. She was the last person to see either of them and had already been questioned more than once by campus police and the local authorities. Liberty had nothing to offer other than they’d been fine when she’d left them there. Of course, she’d neglected to mention what they’d been working on for her prior to going missing. Guilt clung to her over the ordeal, and she couldn’t help but wonder if helping her was why they were now missing.
Both had been nice men who shared her passion for demystifying the human genome. It had been three weeks since they’d been seen or heard from. Three weeks of Liberty trying to find out what, if any, headway had been made on the case.
There had been a detective who had originally interviewed her who’d seemed interested in digging deeper, and like he might be approachable for updates, but when Liberty had gone to the police station, they’d told her they didn’t have any detective by his name.
That was just one of a string of weird things that had been happening.
The day after the scientists went missing, it became nearly impossible to use a cell phone in the house and the internet had been on the fritz.
As much as Liberty didn’t want to buy into any of Isobel’s seemingly endless conspiracy theories, it was starting to feel like something bigger than they could have imagined was at play. If Isobel was to be believed, their house was now bugged, and the government was listening to everything they did and somehow jamming their cell phone signals.
Falling down Isobel’s weird rabbit hole of spy novel crap wasn’t high on Liberty’s agenda, yet all other explanations were starting to wear thin.
“You okay?” asked Daisy, pulling Liberty from her thoughts.
“Yes. Just thinking about everything. I’m with you on feeling like we’re close to getting real answers, but I also feel like—”
“We’ve opened a dangerous can of worms?” asked Daisy, finishing Liberty’s thought.
“Yes. Exactly.” Liberty took a moment to think before saying more. “What if Isobel is right?”
“Do you think we should stop looking for answers?” Daisy watched her closely.
Liberty thought more on it. “I’m torn.”
“Same. What I remember happening when we were little isn’t anything good,” said Daisy, her voice low. “It’s pretty far from good, actually. If it really happened, then I firmly believe the people behind it all could and would kill to keep it from coming to light. And I’m wondering if Isobel might be on to something. Maybe I’m being dramatic.”
“I don’t know that you are,” confessed Liberty.
“I’d like to figure out what was done to us and what, if anything, it has to do with what’s going on now.”
“And you want to find the blue-eyed guy who smells like pie,” said Daisy with a wink.
“I do. I feel like I owe him a thank you.”
Daisy sat up quickly. “I’m guessing he was part of the group of men who saved us. I remember them kicking in the doors, coming in from all angles. I was scared at first—but then I wasn’t. They weren’t in tactical gear or anything, but they were armed. I remember
