Today was Victor's day. The day Victor would finally accomplish something greater than his wicked twin sister. The day that Josephine would learn her brother could potentially live up to the family's expectations. The ones he never met. The ones she kept raising.

"Presentation in five minutes," Hazel said, arms wrapped around his waist. "You think you can take me on a little date afterwards?"

"You know what I'm going to say." His fingertips grazed the base of the machine, the cold metal branding them. The machine's spherical gold was plated in a reflective steel, the top narrowing into a spear with gold like beams branching off. The zenith mimicked a god in its expanse. A god filled with thousands of screws, bolts, wires, and his sister's technology buried and locked deep inside a steel base. Not one person helped him with this project except for Hazel. And even then, Hazel had no idea that Josephine's ideas still lurked as the foundation of his greatest creation.

"Yeah, yeah, 'my job comes first,' or whatever. But tonight, you'll finally achieve your biggest dream."

"Presenting is only the first step. I have more to do afterwards."

"Let's kick off that second step with wine and sourdough."

"My fingerprints got on the metal. Could you wipe it off and quickly dust the whole thing?" He pulled her arms off, trying to calm his anxious heart. His entire family would be here today as well as any sponsors. He couldn't mess this up.

She paused for a moment, trying to catch his gaze. "You're very cruel sometimes."

"I've always made our relationship clear to you," he replied, not even bothering to look at her.

She let out a heavy sigh overflowing with discontent before pointing her open palm at the machine, a heavy gush of wind suddenly encasing the machine as the hollow sound of racing exhales filled the room. She pulled down the sleeve of her white button up around her hand, rubbing Victor's fingerprints off. A large hand found its way onto the top of her head.

"What year do you want? For the wine."

Hazel looked over her shoulder, a grin lighting up her face. "The oldest you have."

"10 p.m.?"

"10 p.m."

"Can I get a raise, too?" she asked, looking at him with puppy eyes while letting out an airy laugh.

She yelped as he ruffled her hair, turning toward her reflection in the machine to fix her hair part. A gasp slipped from her lips when she turned back towards Victor. "Is that a smile I see? You never give one of those! I knew my charm was irresistible."

Before he could retort, a quiet knock sounded from the front door. So quiet, it must have been from a young child who had lost their way. Wandered down the wrong corridor, lost their mother in the crowd, or maybe just wanted Victor's autograph. Yes, that must be it.

So, when Victor declared "I got it," and headed toward the door, he couldn't explain the dread that overwhelmed him. Perhaps it was because no children were even allowed in the building. That the corridors were blocked by keycards. That he wasn't the person people would flock to.

Victor wished he could say he was prepared to see her face. The one that was a carbon copy of his brown hair and brown eyes, the only difference being the side bangs pulled back into a tight bun behind her head and the dead, dead eyes. The one that seemed to haunt him no matter where he met or who he talked with. The one that now wore an artificial smile at the opened door. But he couldn't ever be ready to see her again, and so he scrunched his nose in disgust and took a step back.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Congratulations, Victor. I'm proud of you." Josephine's voice was as soft and smooth as honey, yet it tore into Victor and suffocated him. He felt a gentle hand on his lower back as Hazel peeked out from behind him.

"Mom and Dad give you another script to memorize? I know you can't feel that way." Her silence was complicit. "They should do a better job," he added bitterly.

"I won't keep you from your presentation right now. I just wanted to say hi to my older brother before you went up."

"Don't call me that," he retorted, glaring at her.

"Are you not my older brother?" Her voice remained unwavering, no emotion present.

"We're not family. All of you lost that years ago." He pursed his lips, heart pounding in his ears.

With glassy eyes, he waited for a response from the woman standing awkwardly before him. None came, none other than her empty stare and her chest moving up and down with each breath. He shot her a bitter smile. "You can watch from whatever seat you're at. I'll finally make something of myself, and none of you will ever get in my way again."

He slammed the door shut, sliding down as he covered his face with his trembling hands, his head angled up at the ceiling.

"You're okay, Victor, you're okay. But you need to present now, okay? Don't let her get to you. Today's your day, remember?" Hazel gently placed her hand on the side of his face, trying to get him back up. "I believe in you, okay? You can do this."

"I can't believe she would come right before my presentation," he responded, voice muffled by his hands. He peeked out from between his fingers to see her concerned eyes, brimming with emotion, and thought to himself, What if? What if he did start off his new life with Hazel? He took her hand and pulled himself up. "Let's do this."

As Victor stepped out pridefully into the crowd, the glorious machine slowly moving forward alongside him, he wondered if this was how Josephine felt ever since she was a kid. It only took him a decade to catch up.

The stage was beautiful. He was under the sky, his creation seeming to glow under its beauty. It was evening, it had to be, and the crowd was lit up by small lights placed among them. Pillars surrounded the audience, with an awning above them. It was simply Victor and his godly creation facing the sky, while humanity remained sheltered and waiting beneath that awning.

"Thank you all for coming, my name is Victor, and I am here to present to you today what will be the most impactful creation humanity has seen." He waved his arms out in front of him, snapping his two right fingers to signal Hazel to power it on.

A familiar glow exuded from the machine and washed over him as the crowd clapped.

He did not look for his family in the crowd.

"An energy source. We have been looking for one for hundreds, thousands of years. A way to stop relying on our ordinary citizens, and instead to build up the wonderful country that the Lieths have created.

"This machine here can tap into an infinite energy source efficiently. The power to control the tides, the power to light up the night. The moon.

"Its supernatural powers have never been harnessed before. Yet before you, you will witness the moon power up every single fixture above you, this car, and soon you will see it built into cities and homes." He looked over his shoulder, watching Hazel give him a thumbs up as she turned on every light fixture at the simple flick of a button.

A familiar rumble rippled beneath his feet.

He did not look for his family.

Every light blasted on, the brightness unparalleled by any other existing technology. The crowd roared and clapped and Victor faced them, chin high. Today really was going to be his day.

"This power has never been tapped into. The possibilities with this celestial body are endless. Leith will never struggle again. This could solve the Great Famine." He did not turn around this time, but he wondered what Hazel's face looked like. Was she smiling? Was she proud? He gave the signal to power up the car.

A vile, ghastly scream erupted from the machine. Victor quickly looked back, noticing that one gorgeous glow was one too bright. Eerie, threatening, growing. That womanly scream ripped its way out of the machine until it tore off the metal plates and combusted. Victor finally caught Hazel's desperate eyes before her skin seemed to evaporate and the explosion tossed Victor's body across the stage, his ears swallowed by the shrieks of the crowd before his mind returned to black.