"Taya, I'm your sister."
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
Phoebe stood in front of me, tears running down her cheeks. Behind me, Aria had gone completely silent.
I looked at Phoebe's face.
The same eyes.
The same nose.
The same little crease beside the mouth that appeared whenever I tried not to cry.
I had noticed our resemblance before, but I had never imagined it meant something like this.
"No," I whispered.
Phoebe flinched.
"No?" she repeated.
"You can't just walk into my room and tell me you're my sister!"
"I know how this sounds."
"You know nothing about how this feels!"
My voice rose, and I immediately hated how much it trembled.
"Do you have any idea how many times I've asked questions about my childhood? How many times I've sat in that chapel praying for answers? And you were here the entire time!"
Phoebe wiped her face.
"I didn't know how to tell you."
"Then why come now?"
She glanced at Aria.
"Because you found the photograph. And because I can't keep pretending anymore."
I turned towards Aria.
"Did you know?"
Aria shook her head quickly.
"I knew Esther believed Phoebe was connected to your past. I didn't know she was actually your sister."
"Actually?" I repeated bitterly. "Does anybody in this place know anything for certain?"
Phoebe reached into her pocket.
"I brought something."
She placed a small silver pendant on my palm.
It was shaped like a tiny star, with a faint scratch running across one side.
The moment I touched it, something stirred in my memory.
A woman's voice.
A warm hand holding mine.
A lullaby I hadn't heard in years.
Then the memory disappeared.
I stared at the pendant.
"Where did you get this?"
"It belonged to our mother."
My eyes lifted slowly.
"You remember her?"
Phoebe nodded.
"Not everything. I was little when they separated us, but I remember her voice. I remember her holding me. And I remember crying for you."
My throat tightened.
"Why would they separate us?"
Phoebe's expression changed.
"Because someone believed keeping us apart was the only way to protect a secret."
"What secret?"
"I don't know everything, Taya. I swear."
I wanted to believe her.
But I had spent too long trusting people who gave me only half the truth.
"Then tell me what you do know."
Phoebe took a shaky breath.
"After we were separated, I was given a different name. The people who raised me told me my past was complicated and that asking questions would only hurt the people who cared about me."
"And you believed them?"
"I was a child!"
Her voice cracked.
"So were you!"
Silence filled the room.
For the first time, I saw something other than mystery in her expression.
I saw grief.
Perhaps she had been searching for answers too.
Perhaps we had both been living inside a lie.
But one question still haunted me.
"Why did you come to this orphanage?"
Phoebe looked down at the pendant.
"Because three years ago, someone sent me a photograph of you."
My heart skipped.
"Who?"
"I never found out. There was no name on the envelope. Just the photograph and a message."
"What message?"
Phoebe met my eyes.
Find your sister before they discover she's still alive.
A chill passed through me.
"Who is they?"
"I don't know."
"And Esther? What happened to her?"
At the mention of Esther's name, Phoebe's face went pale.
"I was supposed to meet her the night she disappeared."
Aria stepped forward.
"You knew Esther?"
Phoebe nodded.
"She found me outside the orphanage. She told me she knew who I was and promised to help me speak to Taya. But before we could meet, someone discovered what she was doing."
"Who discovered it?" I demanded.
Phoebe shook her head.
"I never saw their face."
I looked at the photograph in my hand.
Two little girls.
One woman.
A past that had been carefully buried.
And now, a sister I had never known stood before me, claiming we had been separated by people who were still watching us.
I wanted to embrace her.
I wanted to slap her.
Mostly, I wanted to know why my entire life had been decided by strangers.
Before I could speak, someone slipped a piece of paper beneath the dormitory door.
Aria picked it up.
Her face changed as she read it.
"What is it?" I asked.
She handed it to me without speaking.
There was only one sentence.
STOP SEARCHING FOR ESTHER, OR YOU WILL LOSE YOUR SISTER AGAIN.
Beneath the warning was a signature.
SISTER CATHERINE.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
"No," I whispered. "She wouldn't do this."
Phoebe gripped my arm.
"Taya, listen to me. There's something you need to understand about Sister Catherine."
I turned towards her.
"What?"
Phoebe looked at the door, then lowered her voice.
"She wasn't the one who brought us to the orphanage."
I stared at her.
"Then who did?"
Phoebe's eyes filled with tears again.
"Our mother."