“What’s going to happen when we leave here?” I ask her, a new realization dawning on me. “The Duplicates at home—they aren’t just going to hand their lives back to their originals. They believe they are who they are.” I know this more than anyone, but I don’t say it out loud. “Even if we get all the originals safely home…”

Levi moves up, overhearing. “Who will ever believe that Bianca Huxley isn’t who she says she is? That Jane Ward is an imposter? How will we ever restore the real parents back to their lives? What if no one believes us about the time stamps? We won’t be able to force the Duplicates to submit to the infrared light. Everyone will think that these are the imposters. It will be nearly impossible to prove who they are.”

Seeing Levi here, now, I want to acknowledge what just happened. My father jumped in front of that bullet to save the boy I love. But I’m in shock. I can’t confront it, or this bombshell that I’m a Duplicate. If I think about it for even a second, I’ll crack. If I’m not Emma, but 002.34, does that mean everything that happened with Levi was a lie? Does that mean the feelings he had weren’t really for me, but for the “real” Emma?

“What if…” Maude wonders out loud. “What if we could somehow reprogram them? The Duplicates, I mean.”

“They aren’t robots.” I know I sound defensive, but I’m one of them. Of course, Maude and Levi don’t know that. They’ve been so caught up in the fighting, they must not have noticed the other Emma near my father’s body. Or if they did, they assumed she’s another Duplicate, since this place is teeming with clones. They wouldn’t have assumed that I’m the copy. And they didn’t hear Gravelle reveal my true identity, I’m sure of it.

“Of course they aren’t robots, but they’ve been brainwashed, haven’t they?” Maude goes on. “A reset,” she says, her wheels turning. “We have to get to the server room. Follow me.” Maude leads me and Levi away from the ongoing fighting, up a back stairwell and down a set of corridors to another sterile white room, this one with a bay of windows overlooking the beach. The sight of the opaque blue water nearly brings me to my knees because of what it represents—our freedom. If we can get there—out of this building, to safety—and find a way off this island… I see some of my friends loading the weak DNA parents onto boats, far in the distance, and I’m thankful. I hope we all make it out alive.

But first, we have to try to reverse all the damage Gravelle and Seymour have done.