Where Foundlings Hide

Chapter 25

"What?" My head whips around to Caleb. "Did you know about this?"

He mirrors my shock with an astonished expression of his own "No, I never thought for a second.... are you sure?" Caleb regards Parker with a look of disbelief.

"The test was conclusive." She repeats.

I touch my fingers to my temples in an effort to stop the room from spinning. "So...one of my parents was Displacian?"

"Yes," Roma says. "And we can't trust anyone else with this information, not even my bodyguards. A half human, half Displacian is considered a dangerous thing."

"Roma, please," Ivy steps forward, her face twisted in anguish. "She doesn't need to-"

"She has to know, Ivy." Roma says firmly. She turns to me and her expression softens. "We don't believe that a human mind can cope with having our abilities, it's too fragile, it could shatter like glass."

"But I'm fine." I start to back away from them.

"Human and Displacian DNA are not thought to be compatible," Parker says quietly. "You shouldn't even...."

"I shouldn't even exist, right?" My hands start to tremble. "Then how is this possible?"

"It just is," Parker says. "You're biologically both human and Displacian. As far as we know, you are the first of your kind. Previous attempts to combine human and Displacian DNA-"

"Parker." Roma holds up a warning hand.

I swallow reflexively, my mouth dry. "I know about Ezra's experiments."

"How do you know?" Roma says sharply.

"I found a book in the library; it said that he was experimenting on humans, something about stem cells."

"Those books are well hidden." Roma looks sharply at Caleb. He stares resolutely back, and I know that he is cloaking his thoughts.

I realise now why Caleb's clue was so cryptic, telling me directly where to find the books would've been difficult to hide from Roma.

"Well they weren't hidden well," I say. "I found them under the floorboards in some kind of underground room." I thrust the book still clutched in my hands towards Roma. She takes it from me carefully, as though it might suddenly explode.

"That was Ezra's private study," Ivy says, her eyes suddenly teary. "All books that even so much as mention his name are banned in Displacia now. We keep everything locked away down there."

"You won't go down there again," Roma says, her eyes on the book gripped tightly in her trembling hands. "Ezra was a dangerous man, but he was once just a boy, he was our brother."

Parker clears her throat. "Ezra's laboratories were shut down before you were born, Casey, and he was experimenting on adults, not children. Your birth was likely the result of a union between a human and a Displacian."

"So what's going to happen to me?"

"Your mind could eventually deteriorate." Roma says quietly.

My breathing starts to come out ragged. "You mean...I could go mad?"

"We don't know that for certain," Parker says. "There may be ways to slow it down, even prevent it from happening at all, but it won't be easy."

"Parker may be able to develop a formula that would help your body to accept its part-Displacian origins," Roma explains, her knuckles white from gripping the edge of the book. "Parker is going to Earth to find out more about your birth. It might help her develop the treatment."