“I absolutely do not,” Seymour says sternly. “But he is still my brother, and as you well know, blood is thicker than, well, almost anything. I remain in his life for one very important reason. I keep him from taking his schemes to the wild places they would go, if they were left unchecked. I remind him constantly of how tenuous this kind of scientific experimentation can be. The last thing I’d ever want is to put the students at Darkwood at risk. Or the Duplicates themselves.”

“Except for Oliver’s Duplicate,” Pru reminds him.

Seymour lets out a weary breath. “Except for Oliver’s Duplicate.” I’m happy he doesn’t try to deny it, that what happened to that boy—what Gravelle made happen—was unethical, and twisted, and wrong. It was murder. He goes on. “The only reasonable explanation is that the three Duplicates who came to Darkwood this weekend escaped their home on Pollux Island. Which is where they’re being returned, immediately.”

“Pollux?” Maude asks. “What’s that?”

“The twin island to Castor, where you grew up.”

“Like the Gemini constellation. The twin brothers immortalized in the sky,” I say.

“I know the myth,” Maude answers. “But I’ve never heard of this island, or seen it. And I lived on Castor for sixteen years. Where is this island? How could none of us know about it?”

“Pollux is positioned in such a way that it’s not visible to the naked eye from Castor,” Seymour explains.

Maude looks like she doesn’t fully believe that, but she doesn’t push it. I know she won’t drop this, though.

“As I was saying,” Seymour continues. “The Duplicates need far more training on Pollux—more nurturing and education—before they’ll be ready to assimilate into mainstream society. That’s clear now more than ever.”

“What will happen to them?” Ollie asks, his voice coming out in a near whisper.

“Sounds like they’ll have the same happy childhood we had,” Maude mutters.

“We’ll do our best to raise them with as much care as we gave you,” Seymour says thoughtfully, addressing Maude. “I know it wasn’t the perfect upbringing. But you can’t deny that we supplied you with everything you could want.”

“Except parents,” Maude cuts in.