She stood in the drenching downpour and looked at the two babies, so nearly lost forever to unknowable horrors. The two best things in her life, whom she lived for, and loved more than any others. Who were watching her from under the bright hoods of the car seats. The one dressed as Morgan was looking at her, and smiling strangely. She knew the clothes, a yellow stripy all-in-one that she had picked out herself from the nice little shop on Division Street. The whorl of hair at the front of his head. The curve of his nose and the shape of his earlobes. Riley gazed at her in the same strangely intense way as his brother, clasping his hands together in an identical position. For the first time, she questioned if she’d know which one was which without the green and yellow colour coding that was only for Patrick’s sake anyway. Had they been changed around, dressed in each other’s colours? Both had the same blue-grey eyes they’d had before they were taken. But Morgan didn’t look like Morgan, not exactly. Riley didn’t either, something about the way his lip curled.

And then she knew, with a terrible certainty. It wasn’t Morgan and Riley, not anymore. Something else was looking at her, out of the eyes of her babies. That creepy, evil woman—she’d done it, somehow, exactly as she’d threatened she would. She’d taken the boys and put her own in their place.

I can make sure they look just the same.

She stared at the babies, and as she did, a smell of rotting river-weed filled her nostrils. The twins had been changed. She knew it in her soul. It was just like in the story, the horrible story in the Twin Tales book.

If they are changed, what am I to do?

You must throw them into the river.

These creatures had come from the river. That must be where the woman had hidden Morgan and Riley. There could be no hesitation. She turned the stroller towards the rising water and started to run.

Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

By the time they’d loaded Lauren into the ambulance and shut the doors, the rain had stopped completely and the hot sun was back. White light reflected off the wet pavement and the surface of the river into Harper’s eyes, making her squint.

Patrick stood on the steaming asphalt with one hand on the handle of the stroller, watching as the emergency vehicle drove across the bridge and turned onto the Bishop Valley Road, heading away from the city. In the stroller, Riley and Morgan were awake, alert but silent, taking everything in. Their matching postures, hands clasped together in front of them, serious faces, made them look like tiny vicars. Patrick gave them each a squeeze, saying don’t worry lads, but they were serene, as still as dolls. Perhaps they’re in shock, thought Harper.