“But why would you lose me?” I see Theodora and Maude marching past us, carrying two compromised DNA parents on their backs—Frederica Leroy and Zeke Choate.

“I wanted to tell you the truth, but who tells their three-year-old that she’s a replacement for another girl? You don’t put that kind of burden on a child. I told myself I’d confess it all to you once you were old enough to understand. But don’t you see the impossible position I was in? Once you were old enough to handle the truth, you were also old enough—are old enough—to choose to leave me.”

“But you’re my dad. My family.” I gasp when I hear another shot behind me. I’m so torn. I have to get my dad out of here. But the others—we can’t leave them…

“But what about the Similars? You’re almost eighteen now, Emma. You could choose to live with them and leave me behind.” This is more vulnerability than I’ve seen in my dad my entire life. Of course he’s emotional. He’s been locked up in this cage for months.

Before I can formulate a response, I hear a commotion behind me in the hallway. “Theodora!” a voice screams. Ollie, my dad, and I turn to survey the hectic scene, and that’s when we see Theodora on the concrete floor, convulsing.

Maude’s at her friend’s side within seconds. The rest of us follow. I meet Maude’s eyes, knowing it as fully as she does. It’s the stealth virus. Gravelle keyed in those commands an hour ago, and now it’s taking full effect. I watch, horrified, as Theodora’s arms and legs thrash, her limbs flailing like they’re moving independently from her body. Then she goes completely still.

“Theodora. Wake up. Please.” It’s a voice I don’t recognize. I scan the group until I see who’s run up to lean over Theodora’s prone body. The girl’s long hair, unwashed and hanging in greasy clumps from months of confinement, shades her face. It’s Tessa, freed from the cage, looking stronger than my dad and some of the others. “Help her,” she cries out. “Somebody help her! She’s not waking up,” she pleads, accusing the guards who stand nearby. “What’s wrong with her? What did you do?”

“I’m afraid it was what she did.” Gravelle appears in the doorway, shielded by his own personal guards, looking like a parent forced to tame a wayward child. “I warned her. Defying me would force my hand. A deadly stealth virus has been activated in her DNA, Tessa. I hated to do it, but your Similar gave me little choice in the matter. Guards? Handle this.”