Page 196 of Everdoll

“But why?”

“Are you stupid?” She pouted and averted her eyes. “I told you. You’re the one I love. What else was I supposed to do?”

“Mina… I… Mina… Mina…” I kept muttering; it was the only word I could chant.

She smiled. “What’s that? Are you casting a spell?”

Though weak, her teasing tone was back. But I stayed silent, I only wanted to cry for experiencing this moment.

“Oh, Raymond. You should’ve said if anyone’s a witch, it’s you. You’ve gotten so rusty.”

My pale cheeks changed colors, I could feel it. When my siblings came rushing into the room behind me, she turned her eyes toward them, and I drew a deep breath.

“Dolls…” she murmured.

My eyes widened. “Did Aneta tell you? How much do you know?”

She seemed just as startled. “And you? How long have you known? You only told me your family experimented on you for power.”

My jaw tightened. “That’s not a lie.”

“But they wanted to protect you, too.”

“Protect me from what? They’re the ones responsible for all this.”

She blinked up at me, then wrinkled her nose. “You’re right. Sorry.”

Her face fell, and I realized my voice had come out too harsh. I drew a shaky breath, ready to speak, but Bugan cut in first.

“Even I didn’t know about the Dolls project until this year.” he admitted. “But the Committee came to us and explained everything, saying our brother, Raymond, was ungrateful and all that. There was a whole group of people who hated him for not doing what they wanted.

Penelope nodded. “Me and Bugan were obedient; we didn’t want to die. But my brother…”

“I couldn’t die,” I finished for her.

“Not anymore.”

A voice I hadn’t heard in years drew my attention to the doorway. Two women stepped inside and crossed the room toward the bed.

Damn, that was my mother. Eleanor Kern. Full-flesh. Alive. Beside her was Dr. Aneta.

“She’s not your real mother,” Mina whispered, as if she read my mind. “Your mother created a clone just in case things went south.”

Goosebumps rose on my skin. “In case I ended up destroying the planet or something?”

“I believe she cared about you, too.” The woman bearing Eleanor’s face spoke.

I didn’t have time for this nonsense. My eyes travelled to Mina. I wanted to hold her closer, to talk to her more, but the room had become far too crowded.

“What did you mean by ‘not anymore’?”

“The test results came back,” Dr. Aneta announced. “There is no fuel left in your body to regenerate your cells.”

“Before that, why are you here? What happened to the ship heading to Crysaora?”

“After your escape, Krivan committed suicide. Everyone connected to him who went there was sent straight back here.”

“Oh, great.” I muttered. “Wait… my escape? What did I escape from?”