* * *

Sarah slid her finger along the vein pattern of the leaf. “Does this story start with once upon a time?”

Pegasus stretched his legs, crossing them at his ankles. “If you want it to.”

Sarah tossed the leaf at him. It fluttered and twirled, landing softly on his thigh.

Pegasus held it up against the light as if examining it. “Once upon a time, there was the attempted murder of a general by his son-in-law. The general never liked the man to begin with and had no problem defending himself with deadly force.”

Sarah turned in her seat to watch him.

“When the police is taking away the body, the son-in-law shows up. He’d been with the general’s daughter in full view of over twenty people the entire evening. He didn’t have any twins, didn’t even have siblings. A DNA test showed him and the would-be killer to be identical.”

Like Robyn.

“Something similar had happened a few months earlier. A man married to a well-known physicist was accused of murdering her based on DNA evidence. He was a chemistry professor and had a hundred witnesses who swore he was delivering a lecture at the time. Someone with a few too many hours in front of a TV thought of parallel worlds.”

“I’d love to have heard that first conversation.”

Pegasus smiled. “I don’t imagine it was easy. But there was enough evidence that someone higher up the food chain decided to listen to what might’ve been dismissed as insane ravings.”

“And the New Nation is involved in all this somehow?”

“They always seem to be involved in the execution, but never the planning. Like with the attack on your family, the orders come from some other organization. We have reason to believe it isn’t based on our world. They seem to be trying to get themselves into positions of power. To do what exactly is anybody’s guess. Taking over the world is such a general villainous goal, don’t you think?”

Sarah nodded reflexively, clutching the hem of her shirt nervously. Robyn’s shirt, she corrected, like everything she’d been wearing in this place.

“The other Robyn said she worked for the W.R.O., how could that be?”

“I don’t know. We’ve always assumed our worlds were similar enough. I figured their version of this place, their version of us, would also be fighting the New Nation and their masters. There’s a chance we’ve been wrong all along.”

“I’m not sure whether to be scared or comforted by the fact that even you seem a little lost in all this…”

He shrugged a shoulder. “There’s also the possibility that the W.R.O. or members within it would’ve been forced to cooperate.”

Sarah felt a chill run through her. If she could pick and choose what to believe in, she’d prefer that option.

Pegasus narrowed his gaze on her. “Remember that we asked you to think about what you would betray your family for? What you would betray for your family?”

Sarah nodded. No matter how many times she thought about it, the answers were still nowhere to be found.

If she was offered her family back, Mom, Dad, Robyn… would she betray these people who were helping her? Would she kill her childhood friends and everyone she cared about?

She didn’t want to believe she would, but she didn’t know.

Hopefully, she’d never have to find out.

“I don’t believe any version of your sister would have sold her loyalties cheap,” Pegasus said.

Sarah latched onto his belief. She’d rather not think that her sister—or any version of her, as he put it—would sell out her family at all. Any version of her family. But the truth was unchangeable.

Their fateful dinner came to mind, with Robyn laughing like nothing was wrong, while she was biding her time until someone showed up to murder them. Sarah couldn’t imagine her own sister doing that, but there was so much about Robyn she hadn’t known.

“I’m not sure I knew Robyn at all.”

“Of course you did. She was your sister.”

“She told me to go answer the phone. That would’ve been the last thing she said to me.”

“Sarah, you shouldn’t feel betrayed. She wasn’t really your sister.”

Her eyes were starting to sting again. “Somewhere there was a version of me she loved. And she laughed and sent me to die.”

The sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach came again. Accepting that all this insanity was real meant also accepting the things Robyn told her before trying to kill her.

“The price of a world would seem fair,” she whispered.

Pegasus met her gaze. It seemed to be exactly what he’d been thinking, but he shook his head. “I’m not saying that.”

Sarah gave him a doubtful look.

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“I’m not not saying that either.”

“I’m really starting to think you talk like that on purpose.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “All I’m saying is we shouldn’t be drawing too many conclusions. We can’t be sure it was the truth.”

Sarah clenched her fists tighter, trying to counter the tightness in her chest. “I’d like to believe that any version of my sister would have cared enough about me to tell me the truth about why she was going to kill me.”

“That’s why I think someone was forcing her hand. I think she believed it was her only option. Maybe it was as simple as someone threatening her family.”

Thinking there was a reason for someone wanting her dead didn’t really help. It only made her feel worse, like she’d cheated, like she was supposed to be dead and her sister alive.

The tree called to her again, summoning laughter that was now forever lost.

Pegasus touched her shoulder, drawing her attention back to him. “Someone could have tricked her. If she believed that your death would save the world—her world and her family—then I think she would be desperate enough to kill you.”

Sarah could see her sister placing an entire world above the lives of a few carbon copies of her true family.

“Do you think there’s any truth to it? About me placing an entire world in danger?”

“Her world,” he corrected.

Robyn made that distinction as well, but how big a difference was it to save one world and not the other? Wasn’t a world worth saving just the same?

“Then… What she said about my death saving her world, do you think it’s possible?”

Pegasus twirled the leaf between his fingertips, to one side, then the other. “Have you taken up nuclear physics?”

“No.”

“Infectious disease epidemiology and pathogen genetics?”

“No.”

She reached out to grab the leaf, but he was faster, pulling it away. “Introduction to the Apocalypse?”

She rolled her eyes at him.

He offered her the leaf. “Then what could you possibly do that would destroy an entire world, especially not the one you’re living in?”

She shrugged, trying to ignore the restless feeling squeezing her insides.

His expression became serious. “Don’t go jumping off any bridges yet. Please.”

“Since you asked so nicely.”

It seemed silly to think she’d do anything that would lead to the destruction of a world. But a version of her sister had believed it enough to kill their parents.

“We’ll try to figure it out, I promise,” Pegasus said.

In the end, that was the only promise she could expect of him.

Sarah stared out at the leaves, nails digging into the palm of her hand as she fought back against the tide that ebbed and flowed. It took away her anger, leaving emptiness where that had been. Sadness seeped in, slowly, filling her until there was nothing left.

The leaf Pegasus had been playing with drifted into view, suspended on his fingertip. “Focus on one thing at a time for now. First is getting better.”

She squeezed her fists tighter, breaths speeding up. Tears were welling up again and she couldn’t stop them.

Pegasus moved to kneel in front of her, taking her hands in his without preamble. He carefully undid her clenched fists, insinuating his own hand into the fray as his fingers entwined with hers. When she clenched her fist again, all she did was squeeze his hands tight.

Unable to look him in the eye, Sarah watched the soothing motion of his thumb along the inside of her wrist instead. The repetitive pattern took her mind with it, and some of the sadness went as well.

Her breathing calmed. Holding his hand always helped—even in that weird dream where he was flirting with her.

Robyn’s laughter sounded in her head, poison lacing every word.

Sarah stiffened, and it took some effort not to pull her hand away. “What did Robyn mean when she congratulated you on getting inside my head?”

The motion of his thumb halted. “I think she was joking about my working over at the crisis center before. I mainly answered the phones and talked to people who needed someone to talk to.”

She wasn’t sure which part was weirder, that he had something that resembled a job outside this place, or that it involved answering phones.

“Sometimes it was talking, sometimes it meant convincing them not to do things they’d regret. Either way, it was usually about getting them to trust me, even if only a little bit.”

Did she trust him?

No strength remained in her grip. Only their interlocked fingers held the connection in place.

Sarah freed her hands with the excuse of wiping her eyes, but there were no tears to dry.

“Could I stay here for a little while?”

He nodded.

“Alone?” she added when he didn’t move.

“Take your time.” He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as he passed her.

She didn’t turn around. The doors opened, closed.

Only the plants remained to keep her company.

Covering her mouth to silence her sobs, Sarah cried.

* * *

Pegasus walked away from the bench even though he didn’t want to. His hands felt chilly now. Maybe he’d also been seeking comfort from her presence.

He twirled the leaf between his thumb and index finger as he opened the doors to leave.

There were still things to discuss, but there was no rush.

Scorpion was waiting outside in the hallway. “Griffon wants someone with her at all times.”

Pegasus expected that. “I’m still here.”

“I thought you might need a break.” She didn’t look any more rested than he did. Her eyes were red.

He leaned back against the wall to show her he had no intention of going anywhere.

Scorpion gave no indication that she’d leave either. Instead, she mimicked his stance on the opposite wall. “Unicorn mentioned you’d spoken with Deacon. Have they decided where we’ll be sending her?”

“Not yet. I also haven’t talked it over with Sarah yet.”

“Then why are you out here? Did she throw something at you?”

He shook his head. “I’m giving her some time to process.”

Scorpion pushed herself from the wall. “What did you tell her?”

“What I could.”

“You took the lessons in vagueness a little too seriously. You know that, right?”

“And you slept through the ones about patience.”

She lifted her hands in mock surrender. “What do you think she’ll decide to do?”

He wasn’t sure. Better to keep his suppositions to himself for now. He lifted a shoulder in a lazy shrug.

Scorpion scoffed. “You’re slipping.”

He couldn’t help giving her an irritated look, but he bit back his reply. This was no time for fighting.

“She’s not gonna want to go home, is she?”

He narrowed his gaze on her. “I didn’t realize you were so concerned about what happens to Sarah.”

Scorpion twirled a strand of her hair, a sign that she was uncomfortable. She stopped herself right away, but she saw he’d caught her doing it. “I know that things were weird between us—between the three of us—but Robyn was my friend. And if for no other reason than that, I want to see her sister safe. If that’s possible. Even if she does annoy me more than Robyn ever did.”

Pegasus smiled. He should probably not remind her that she and Robyn had been at each other throats for months before they started getting along.

“I hope Sarah always dreamed of visiting distant countries,” Scorpion continued, the humor all but gone from her voice. “It’s the best option we can give her. Maybe not now, but in a few months, when things settle down.”

“Actually, I have an idea about where to send her in the meantime.” Other than keeping her physically safe, his goal was to preserve her mental health. To that end, he’d like to get her out of the compound as soon as possible.

Scorpion’s frown dissolved as realization dawned. Pegasus didn’t bother explaining. She always could read him better than most.

“That would keep her away from us and out of harm’s way while we figure out what to do with her.” Scorpion smiled, a wicked sort of smile. “I’m guessing she’s not gonna like it.”

Pegasus glanced back towards the garden doors. “I think I can convince her.”

“If you can’t, there’s always a vacancy down in the brig.”