“Interesting theory, Eden,” Seymour answers, completely ignoring Ollie and focusing his steely eyes on me. He no longer seems like the slightly nutty professor I’d made him out to be in my mind. The person he wanted you to see, I tell myself. He’d projected a certain image, and we had fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker. Now, I can’t believe I ever saw him that way, when his true nature is so abominable and staring me in the face, his mask removed. “You’re as clever as they come, Eden, I’ll give you that much. Of course, I already knew that, empirically, because I’ve studied your DNA at length. You are correct. I don’t merely tolerate the Duplicates. They are the culmination of decades of hard work, research, and experimentation. They are, indeed, my crowning achievement.”

Expendable

“Emma, save yourself,” my father’s begging me over the shots that ring out. Ollie and I wordlessly hoist my dad to his feet.

“Can you walk?” I ask him as Pippa rushes by with a zoned-out Bianca on her back.

“Get everyone to the exits,” Maude barks, wielding that gun. Now that she’s shot a guard, the rest see her as a threat and avoid her path. “Most of the DNA parents can’t walk,” Maude tells me, pacing the floor with that weapon gripped in her hand. “Jaeger’s lost too much blood. We can’t waste any more time!”

I spin and see Jago carrying an unconscious Jaeger on his back.

“Jago’s okay?” I ask Maude.

She nods, stepping in front of a guard to cut him off at the pass.

Archer also moves in, and one of his dads—Luis—hobbles next to him, leaning on his son for support. I note that all the parents seem far more compromised than their kids. Gravelle blames them for his expulsion twenty years ago and probably tortured them the most. I shake off that thought. We have only one priority now. Getting to the boats and off this island.

But first, Seymour. I feel an intense, boiling rage at this man who pretended to act ethically, but who deceived us all.

“You’re a monster disguised as a scientist,” I seethe. “You claim to be furthering knowledge for good…and yet, you’re nothing more than a common thief. You’ve stolen lives that weren’t yours to take!”

“I refer to it as bettering,” Seymour explains. “The Duplicates are living these lives a thousand times better than any of them ever could.”

“What does that mean?” my father demands, weakly. He tries to stand on his own but falters. Ollie steadies him.

“Dad,” I say, worried about how fragile he is. I need to get him out of here.