Sleep had escaped her. Ava lay in bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling, the city light creeping through the curtains, her mind chasing over and over the words of Caldwell: "So much like your mother."
She never spoke to him like that before. She never spoke with him at all about their mother, or either of their parents. Caldwell's reserve had always remained unbreakable. But tonight it had relaxed.
Down the hallway, Adrian opened his door. "You awake?"
Ava sat up and followed him into the hallway, their footsteps muffled on the carpet. At night, the penthouse was still, a sort of hush that pressed against the skin, a physical weight, heavy and oppressive.
Adrian stopped in front of the hall where the rooms were locked. The doors loomed there, high and dark, not entered in seventeen years. Their parents' wing.
"She knows something," Adrian whispered. "And if she won't tell us, we find out ourselves."
Ava paused. "What if Caldwell finds out?"
Adrian's lips curled into a sick smile. "Then we find out faster."
He took from his pocket a thin metal pin. Ava's eyes went wide. "You—? Adrian, where did you"
"Internet's good for more than homework," he growled, dropping to his knees beside the lock. For months, maybe years, he'd practiced this.
The lock snapped open too easily, as if it had been waiting for it.
The door opened slowly, creaking.
The air that leaked out was colder, dustier, with a whiff of something Ava couldn't define old perfume, old leather, and something metallic beneath.
The interior room was dark, but moonlight spilled through the massive window, illuminating rows of books, pieces of paper that covered the floor, and a dusty desk.
Her heart pounding. Her father's office.
Adrian went in first, his hands tracing over the table. "They didn't just leave…" he said. "They left in a hurry."
Ava's eyes flashed to a leather notebook half-hidden under a stack of papers. She brushed the dust off, touching it. The initials on the cover sent a shiver down her spine. E. V. Their mother's.
She clicked it open. The cover was filled with her mother's writing lovely, frantic.
They've found us. If anything goes awry, the children can never discover it. The penthouse will keep them safe. But for only so long.
The letters spun as Ava's air caught. She looked up at Adrian, but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at the wall in front of them, his face pale.
"What's the matter?"
He raised a shaking hand and waved.
There, balanced on the bookshelves, was a small black lens, shining softly in the moonlight.
A camera.
And its little red light was blinking.
Ava's heart crashed into her ribcage. That blinking light wasn't a warning by itself it was an epiphany.
"Someone's watching us," she whispered.
Adrian grabbed a book off the shelf and hurled it at the lens. Glass shattered, sparks crackled, and the blinking red light ceased. For a moment, all was silent once more.
But it wasn't the same silence as before. This one was charged, threatening.
Ava clutched the journal to her chest. "Adrian, if that was live someone knows we're here."
He turned back to her, his jaw tight. "Good. Let them know we're not blind anymore."
Ava longed to protest, but her hands shook too hard. She forced herself to riffle through the journal, pages crinkling in the dark. There were sketches, floor plans, random flashes of ciphered words, and scribbled notes that fought to make sense.
One sentence leapt out at her:
The walls are not safety they're a prison. Trust no one within.
Her stomach twisted. "She knew," Ava gasped. "She knew we were imprisoned here. But why did she not let us out?"
Adrian crouched over her shoulder, his brow furrowed. "Unless she couldn't."
The floorboard creaked.
Both of them froze.
Ava spun around the doorway. For a held breath, the shadows shifted.
Then Mrs. Caldwell moved in. Her face was pale, eyes tougher than glass, and gripped in her hand glinting weakly under the moonlight was a keyring.
Her voice was calm, too calm. "You shouldn't be in here."
Ava's grip tightened on the journal. "You lied to us."
Mrs. Caldwell's gaze flicked to the shattered camera, then back to them. For the first time, her composure cracked.
"You've ruined everything," she hissed.
Adrian stepped protectively in front of Ava. "Tell us the truth. About our parents."
But Mrs. Caldwell did not answer. She leaned back over her, and the dreaded click turned the door's lock.
They were trapped.
The boom of the lock sounded louder than it might have, imprisoning the room in a heavy silence.
Adrian balled his fists at his sides. Ava's heart thudded in her ears as she clutched their mother's journal as a charm.
Mrs. Caldwell's shadow swept across the study floor, dark and menacing. "I told your parents this would be the case," she spat. "That curiosity would be your ruin."
Adrian's tone was cold, unyielding. "Where are they?"
Mrs. Caldwell's eyes flicked to the journal Ava clutched. "Let that go."
Ava shook her head. "Not until you reveal to us what you've been hiding.".
For the first time, Caldwell's expression faltered. A flash of fear, quickly buried beneath her usual steel mask. "You don't understand what you've stumbled into. That book doesn't belong to you. It was never meant for your eyes."
Adrian stepped forward, shielding Ava with his body. "Then explain it. Now."
Caldwell's lips pressed into a thin line. Her hand trembled so slightly Ava almost didn't notice as she stuck it into the pocket of her apron. Moonlight hit the flash of metal.
Ava's stomach dropped like it'd hit the floor. "Adrian…" she whispered.
It wasn't keys. It was a syringe.
Caldwell's voice was flat, on the verge of sorrow. "You should have stayed in your rooms."
Adrian's muscles coiled, ready to spring. But before either twin had even moved, the room was shattered by a loud high-pitched beep-beep-beep.
The three of them froze.
It was coming from the other end of the room, where a red light began flashing persistently.
Not the camera. Something else.
Caldwell's eyes widened in horror. "No… not yet," she breathed, as much to herself. Then more loudly, her voice shuddering for the first time: "They've found us.".