Where Foundlings Hide

Chapter 16

Nervous laughter catches in the back of my throat, and when it escapes, it makes a choking sound. "But Lana and I are twins. We have the same parents."

Ivy looks at me despairingly. "No, I'm sorry. It was all a lie. Lana is from Displacia, she's not your twin."

The room begins to dip and sway around me. "What? No, what are you saying, that's-"

"You were each born to a different set of parents."

I push away from the table and climb to my feet, a wave of nausea rolling over me. "It's not true, it can't be." My legs are like jelly and I find myself sinking back down into my chair.

"It is. Lana was a Foundling child, I took her to Earth when she was a baby," Ivy says. "I was instructed to hide her. She and I took on new identities, we moved to Evergreen." Ivy places a hand on my shoulder, but I shake it off before I can feel any of her emotion. "This means...you're not my Aunt, are you?"

Even though I know the answer, I need to hear her say it. "Maybe not biologically, but I am still your Aunt, Casey. I raised you, I-"

"So who am I?" I raise my voice much louder than I intended and those around the table with notebooks start scribbling fervently.

Ivy opens her mouth to speak, but no words come out. She glances at her sister.

"Who am I? You said Lana and I had different parents, who are my parents? Where did I come from?"

Ivy and Roma exchange a silent word and then Ivy nods, as though Roma has granted her permission to speak. "After we took the Foundling children to Earth, they were safe for a while, but then -"

"No!" I slam my hand down on the table. "No more Foundlings, no more Displacia, my whole life is a lie. I want to know who I am, where I came from."

"Please, Casey," Ivy pleads. "Please listen to me, I'm trying to explain."

I lean back heavily in my chair, my heart thumping so furiously against my ribs that I think it must be black and blue.

"Lana was just a baby when we left Displacia," Ivy continues. "But some of the other Foundling children were much older, they'll be adults now. Shortly after we hid them, we received an encrypted message through our communication systems from the Shadows, threatening the future of Earth and Displacia, unless we handed the Foundlings over, so we changed all of their identities again, instructed their guardians to relocate and to cut off all communication. Then we added an extra layer to their cover."

Ivy pauses and glances around the room. I follow her gaze, but everyone avoids my eye, even Caleb.

"We obtained decoys," Ivy says. "The Foundlings' guardians adopted human children of similar ages, with similar looks. I was Lana's guardian, I acquired a child that looked just like Lana, so much like her that she could've been her biological sibling." Ivy's navy blue eyes are brimming with tears.

"You acquired me. I'm a decoy." I say the words firmly, afraid that I might cry at any moment.

"Yes."

I sit on my hands to stop them from shaking. I have no sister, no family. I was a decoy obtained for the sole purpose of protecting Lana, a girl who I believed was my twin sister, a girl who I shared a room with growing up. The connection that I felt with her, the sisterly bond, it was manufactured. I am nothing more than a human shield.

Something starts to bubble inside of me. When I speak again, my voice is thick with angry tears. "You hid them behind children. You hid Lana behind me. You didn't give a damn about what happened to me as long as Lana was safe."