“Somebody has to stay behind to tell our story,” Ivy told her, “in case we end up being abducted.”
“You’re joking, right?” said Sophia.
A chill flashed over Ivy. “I hope so,” she said. After school, Olivia, Ivy, and Brendan caught a bus to Brendan’s father’s office complex across town. Brendan had called his dad to let him know they were coming, while Olivia had called her mom and explained that she was doing a research project with Ivy—which was totally true. As for Ivy, she wasn’t talking to her father, so she didn’t tell him anything.
Eventually, the three of them were the only passengers left on the bus, and all Olivia could see from the window was one gray office building after another, against the wintry gray sky. Arriving at the end of a cul-de-sac, the driver called, “Last stop, Pentagram Court.”
Jumping down off the bus, Olivia found herself staring up at a hulking black glass building, glistening in the afternoon sun like a dark jewel. It was surrounded by a security gate, and the bus had let them off right in front of a guardhouse.
“Can I help you?” a pale security officer inquired.
“We’re here to see Marc Daniels at V-Gen,” Brendan announced.
Olivia glanced up and spotted a security camera sitting atop the gate, aimed right at her. She shifted uncomfortably as the camera looked her up and down with a whir, from her pink corduroy jacket down to her cheerleading sneakers. “No civilians allowed,” the guard said stonily.
“He’s expecting all of us,” Brendan replied firmly.
The security guard looked unconvinced. “Names?”
“Brendan, Ivy, and Olivia,” Brendan answered.
The guard disappeared into his booth. Olivia could see him through the window talking on the phone. After he hung up, he slid the glass open and handed down three guest passes. As they put them around their necks, the gate clanked and slid open.
Inside the enormous black marble lobby, Mr. Daniels was waiting in his white lab coat. “Ivy, Olivia!” he said warmly, shaking their hands and giving Brendan a quick hug. “I’m so glad you came so soon!”
As they all waited for the elevator, Ivy nudged Olivia’s arm and silently nodded toward the building directory that was hanging on the wall. Olivia’s eyes immediately zeroed in on what her sister was looking at:
ASHH 2A
V-GEN 2C Brendan’s dad’s lab and ASHH are on the same floor! thought Olivia. Perfect!
When the elevator doors opened onto the second floor, Ivy, Olivia, and Brendan followed Mr. Daniels to the left, but Olivia used the opportunity to steal a backward glance. There, at the opposite end of the hall past a tall potted plant was a dark wall with ASHH on it in enormous, luminous letters. Beside the letters was a door, and beside the door stood the tallest security guard Olivia had ever seen, fiddling distractedly with a walkie-talkie.
Mr. Daniels continued to the end of the hall, where a glistening sign read V-GEN PHARMACEUTICALS. He turned left and stopped outside a stainless steel door.
He opened the door and led the way into a huge laboratory, filled with blinking consoles and mysterious equipment. A group of people in white lab coats were hunched around a table, arguing in low voices over some papers.
“But how could she have survived the hemoglobic transition?” Olivia heard one say.
Mr. Daniels cleared his throat loudly, and the conversation stopped abruptly. One of the group, a woman with her hair in a bun, tried to subtly turn over the sheets of paper on the table.
“Lab technicians, this is Ivy Vega,” Mr. Daniels announced as they all got to their feet. “And this is her identical twin sister, Olivia Abbott.”
For a moment, the scientists just stared at them. Then one started clapping, and they all erupted into applause.
Olivia grinned while Ivy shifted in her boots, uncomfortable with the attention as usual.
“What am I, garlic hummus?” Brendan whispered sarcastically as the applause died down.
“The occurrence of identical twins is a unique genetic phenomenon, and there is much we stand to learn from it,” Mr. Daniels said. “These young ladies have generously agreed to allow themselves to be subject to our experimentation.”
Experimentation? Olivia thought uneasily.
The lab technicians all whispered to one another excitedly.
“Ms. Voxen, will you please prepare the VMG?” Mr. Daniels asked, and the woman with the bun gave a businesslike nod before disappearing. “Everyone else to your workstations.” The technicians scurried off in all directions.
Mr. Daniels led the girls past a bank of flickering screens, where two of the technicians sat in swivel chairs, frantically turning dials. As Olivia walked past, the technicians abruptly stood up to face her. “Welcome, welcome,” they said nervously, weaving back and forth.
They’re trying to hide the screens! thought Olivia.
Mr. Daniels stopped in the corner, where a thick, blocky wooden chair stood on a small pedestal. Across from it, Ms. Voxen stood behind a console. Wires extended from the chair in all directions, and a metal circle hung above it, waiting to be lowered onto someone’s head.
“Olivia, you can sit there,” Mr. Daniels said nonchalantly, gesturing with his pen.
“You mean the electric chair?” Olivia croaked.
“The what?” Mr. Daniels said. Then he laughed. “Oh, no, that’s just the VMG.”
Olivia looked at Ivy and Brendan desperately, but they just shrugged.
She tried to put on a brave face as she sat down. Ms. Voxen came and fastened electrodes to Olivia’s temples, her neck, and each of her fingers, then secured the metal band around Olivia’s head.