She stirs and opens her eyes. “Are you ready?” she asks me, her dark eyes meeting mine. I feel such strong affection for her in this moment, it’s almost too much to bear. We’ve been through hell and back, Pru and I. I can read all of it on her face, in her expression.

My heart hammers in my chest as Pru and I exit our dorm room and meet our friends at the edge of campus. It’s barely six thirty when everyone arrives—the rest of Darkwood is still asleep. That’s our plan, of course. To leave before anyone has a chance to question our whereabouts or contact my father or the other DNA parents who’ve been replaced. The rest of the Similars have told Duplicate Jane an airtight story about which kids they’re going to spend the break with.

I’ve called a car to take us into town. It’s a stretch SUV, and we’re silent as we all pile in. Each of us carries no more than a small bag or backpack, and we’re all as tense as we could possibly be. It’s one thing to plan to show up at Bianca’s rally and potentially have to face Gravelle’s guards; it’s quite another to actually be on the cusp of doing it. After all, if we don’t save Bianca and Jaeger, we’ll have failed completely. And Bianca’s clone could become the next U.S. president. It’s too awful to consider. Who knows what Gravelle might program or brainwash her to do then, to further his twisted agendas? Sure, there’s the possibility that, over time, she would become less and less anti-clone—eventually even reversing her stance on cloning, under Gravelle’s influence. It’s tempting to think of having a clone supporter in the White House, and Gravelle is, in his own way, the most pro-clone of anyone.

But we’ve talked about it at length. It would set a dangerous precedent if Gravelle got away with so directly influencing a major world leader. The potential dangers far outweigh any theoretical benefits. As much as we hate what Bianca stands for—the real Bianca—we can’t let Gravelle get away with this.

After the SUV drops us off in Derby, we wait for the self-driving bus that will take us to Manhattan. We’re tense and silent, and it’s been so long since Levi and I talked directly that I feel the chasm between us acutely.