“Fair enough,” Seymour says. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot to do to make sure these three clones are settled comfortably back in their home. I’ll be informing Principal Fleischer of what happened, so there’s no need to worry. The originals won’t be accused of any reprehensible behavior. One more thing, before we part ways,” Seymour adds. He looks over at Ollie. “I am sorry for what happened the summer before last, Oliver. You came to me for answers, and I stood in the way of helping you get them. Indeed, I regret that now. I had no idea you’d go seeking those answers on your own.”

“And travel to see my maniacal father on his micronation island?” Ollie snaps. I take in a breath, feeling so much for Ollie right now that my heart’s racing in my chest.

“You must understand,” Seymour says, his voice betraying his emotion. “I believed I was protecting you. Your father is who he is. It was my wish for you to never personally know him, or anything about him. It was far, far better for the world when Johnny Underwood was dead.”

“His death was a lie,” Ollie counters. “You can’t protect someone with lies. I would have thought someone as brilliant as you would know that.”

I grab Ollie by the arm, suddenly feeling like all I want to do is get out of this eerie park, and not subject Oliver to these painful truths any more than we have to.

“Let’s go,” I say quickly, gently shoving Ollie behind me. The others follow my lead, turning to go.

“Thank you,” Maude says to Seymour. We aren’t his biggest fans—not after how he treated Ollie, and what he allowed to happen to that Oliver Duplicate—but at least he’s told us the truth.

“I hope we don’t see you again,” Pru tells him as we leave the park.

We walk quickly, hoping we can return to campus before anyone realizes we’ve been gone. “I still can’t believe I’m related to him,” Ollie says as we make our way back up the country lane. “Seymour I’ve made my peace with. The guy’s a kook,” Ollie tells us. “He loves science so much, it blinds him to everything else. It’s Gravelle who makes me ashamed to be me sometimes.” Pru, Maude, and I don’t have a good response to that, so we don’t say anything at all. I reach out and squeeze Ollie’s hand, though. It’s all I can think to do.

“I feel sad for them.” Pru’s voice rings out in the silence, wavering a little. “The Duplicates, not having a life. Wanting one so badly they came here to try and live someone else’s.”

“I know the feeling,” Maude says quietly, as we begin the uphill walk back to campus, and our home.

Jane Ward