Although Houston received several inches of snow, the white powder remained absent in the Big Easy. Puddles of rain cleansed the dirty sidewalks as pedestrians maneuvered around the standing water and walked against the brisk wind cutting through the French Quarters. Sweet spices filled the air where spirits soared through clouds of musk and smoke, but the fish bowl city appeared subdued and muted compared to normal standards, the Steamboat Natchez absent from the mighty Mississip. Though the tides were said to be rising, New Orleans avoided being swallowed up by the ocean. Gulf Coast dwellers were old pros when it came to rebuilding, but the certain spark in the air that rejuvenated the soul slowly started to dim. Paige heard the faint sound of a Zydeco band playing somewhere deep in the Quarters, the streets crowded with tourists and locals despite the blackout, but tanks and military boots outnumbered civilians as they patrolled the streets extinguishing the slightest hint of excitement.

The drive to New Orleans took about five hours. Professor Faraday pulled into a narrow cobblestone alleyway where tresses of ivy cascaded down from the balconies of colorful shotgun houses. They piled out of the van and climbed the stoop of a yellow house on the edge of the street, but Paige hesitated before following the others inside. She recognized her surroundings. Standing on the porch and looking out past the quaint residential street, she knew Bourbon was only a few blocks away. The air tasted different as she closed her eyes and recalled her dream. It happened on Bourbon Street, where Gabriel collapsed and onlookers snapped pictures before the ambulance arrived, the fall happened Halloween night on Bourbon Street. She could taste the sorrow still lingering in the air.

“Paige, you coming?”

She opened her eyes and turned to see Gabriel standing before her silhouetted by a pale pink light. He smiled and held out his hand, the light turning a dull yellowish-brown the second her fingers made contact.

“You okay?” Abbey asked.

She nodded and followed him inside. Greeted by the cold darkness of the empty house, she stood in the doorway until Professor Faraday finished lighting candles. The room came into view as the maroon walls caught the shadowed light. A cross carved out of driftwood hung on the far back wall with two large paintings positioned next to it. Perched on a table next to the sofa, an owl sculpted from limestone cornered her with yellow marble eyes. Abbey took his seat on the couch and Ashley finished bandaging Michael’s wrists before sitting down at the kitchen bar. Tapping his fingers, he glared at the wooden cross. Paige stood by the front door, overwhelmed by the smell of sandalwood that christened the air and invited her to step over the threshold. Spellbound, she stood in place and shivered as a small dark figure slowly drifted over Ashley’s head before disappearing into the wall. She jumped at the sound of Michael’s voice.

“Here, take this,” he said, handing her a necklace made out of fishing twine, shell, bone, and teeth. Paige didn’t know whether to politely thank him or rebuke the hideous thing. The bulky homemade jewelry fell between her fingers as she looked it over and questioned its purpose.

“Talisman,” Michael said. “Wear it in case you get lost.” His amber-green eyes watched as she wrapped the primitive jewelry around her neck.

“Well,” she asked, “how does it look?”

Grinning, Michael told her she looked like someone who just fell victim to a tourist trap. “Wasn’t made in China though,” he said. “It’s authentic. My mother made it before she died so don’t lose it.”

“Why would I get lost?” she asked.

Michael shrugged and bent down to tighten up his bootlaces.

“What’s a talisman anyway?” she asked. “Should I rub it three times, click my heels and proclaim there’s no place like home?”

Straightening his hat, Michael replied, “Just don’t get lost, alright?”

“Fine, I’ll get a map.”

He smirked and patted her on the back, “Come on, Dorothy, let’s have a drink.”

Paige followed him to the kitchen where miniature liquor bottles lined the bar. Ashley rubbed his eyes and turned away from the cross as he picked his poison. Professor Faraday appeared from one of the back rooms with Kendal by his side and joined them at the bar. Abbey kept his seat on the couch.

“A toast to Paige!” Kendal exclaimed, raising her bottle of whiskey into the air. “We’ve missed you, well, some of us anyway.” She slammed her drink, as did Michael and Ashley, but Professor Faraday stood with his mouth agape, his tiny bottle suspended in the air. Finally setting his drink down, he grabbed Kendal by the arm and pulled her outside. Paige winced and stumbled away from the bar. Tripping over her feet, she backed into an old record player positioned against the wall. A tall stack of vinyl records shifted and fanned out, but The Beatles’ album Abbey Road slid off the top and fell to the floor. The necklace burned against her chest. She whipped around to see a pale pink light shoot across the room and absolve into a display case where a gold statue glimmered from underneath the glass. Wiping her eyes, she turned to face Abbey and noticed that Michael and Ashley were now absent from the room.

“Abbey, what’s going on?” she asked.

Seated on the couch with his arms and legs crossed, a straight-faced Abbey answered, “What do you mean?”

“Tell me what’s going on! Have I been here before?”

“I don’t know, have you?”

“Abbey!”

“Look,” he said, “just, calm down. I don’t know what all I can tell you.” He patted the spot next to him but Paige didn’t budge. She waited for an explanation, ignoring the shadows as they merged and melted away into obscurity, ignoring the black cloth draped over an oval mirror on the wall.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Gabriel?” she asked. “Why didn’t you tell me about your connection to him?”

Abbey moved the palm of his hand across a candle’s flame. “What connection?” he asked.

Paige reached into her purse and whipped out the torn piece of notebook paper. “This connection,” she said, holding it up and pointing to the date at the bottom.

Abbey slumped his shoulders and stared at the floor. Uncrossing his legs, he stood and walked over to the window, his hands clasped behind his back and his silence intolerable.

“Born October 29, 2001, Abbey Jude Cross.” Paige waited for a reaction but Abbey remained silent with his back turned and his hands clasped. “I guess you are old enough to drink,” she scoffed. “Abbey, look at me!”

“It’s not what you think,” he finally mumbled. “He’s not my dad, he just, well, he just named me.” Turning around, he approached the oval mirror and yanked away the black cloth sending a cloud of dust into the air. The shadows jumped off the walls.

“I’m secondhand compared to Gabriel,” he said more directly. “I’m secondhand and everyone knows it. People expect me to be him just because I look like him. It’s not fair.” Approaching the window again, he pulled back the curtain, peered outside and then took to pacing across the room.

“I was made in the likeness of Gabriel,” he said. “Vincent likes to keep backups, but when Gabriel found out about me, he kidnapped me a few days after my birth. He died that same night.”

Paige felt dizzy again. She rubbed her forehead and reached out for the couch, the sculpture of the owl watching her with its yellow marble eyes. “Did Vincent have Gabriel killed?” she asked, sinking into the couch.

Abbey sighed and sat down on the arm of the sofa. “Paige, we’re all Vincent’s experiments. Michael and Ashley took Gabriel, and Gabriel took me, but Vincent always wins in the end.” Looking over his shoulder, he lowered his voice and leaned in closer, “We live and die by his will. Everything that happens is his divine plan. Vincent works in mysterious ways.”

“And what about me?” she asked. “How did I manage to escape? Who took me away?”

Peering over his shoulder again, he answered, “He gave you up willingly. You were a gift to Justin and Allison, his good friends and colleagues.”

Outside light invaded the room as Michael, Ashley and Kendal filed through the front door. The room became crowded and small as Paige watched them gather around the bar. Michael and Ashley pulled out two stools and sat down, but Kendal remained standing, her wind-blown curls accentuating her dark beauty.

Run away, Paige! Leave, now!

Abbey’s voice penetrated her mind and tremors invaded her body. She stood to leave but couldn’t, her feet nailed to the floor and her arms heavy and limp. Kendal strolled over to the couch and stood before them with crossed arms.

“That’s good advice,” she said, “but I’m afraid she not going anywhere.” Her green eyes captivated Paige as a muddy red glow emanated around her.

“Your professor is asleep in the van,” she said. “He wasn’t being a team player so I took him out.” She laughed and walked across the hardwood floor, her black knee-high boots producing a dull thud with each footfall. She approached the wooden cross on the wall and yanked it off the support nails.

“Put it back!” yelled Ashley.

Kendal smiled, shrugged her shoulders and replaced it on the wall upside down. “There you go,” she said, “all better.”

Michael coughed and spit up blood as he grasped for the edge of the bar. Losing his grip, he slid off the stool and fell to the floor. Ashley jumped into action. Kneeling down by his side, he gently tapped his cheeks and checked his pulse, panicking when his friend failed to respond. The shadow of the inverted cross danced on the opposite wall as the candles flickered and burned and dripped wax onto the hardwood floor. Paige watched helplessly from the couch while Ashley pounded Michael’s chest, but when she attempted to stand, her legs went limp and she stumbled back onto the couch. She fought the impossible breach, unable to move and unsure if she could speak, the air strangled her lungs as free will slipped away. With her ringlet curls glowing in the candles’ flames, Kendal’s unfaltering gaze paralyzed her.

“Abbey,” she said, “go lay down in the back room and think about what you’ve done. I’ll tell father you’re sorry for failing to hold your tongue.”

Paige attempted to send Abbey a message, but her words scrambled like an anagram and failed to form sentences. Communication, either through mind or voice, was silenced. She watched him disappear down the hallway.

“You don’t have to do this,” Ashley said, cradling Michael in his arms. “She’s willing to meet with Vincent, you don’t have to mess with her like this.”

Kendal threw up her hand and glared at Paige. “We have an agenda,” she said, “and everything must go according to planned. Understand?”

Paige blinked and squint her eyes.

“There’s a good girl,” she said, her voice a low monotone. “My sister Regan did a very naughty thing, and father wants Michael to pay for her sins. We don’t get the medicine until he meets with you. We’re a close-knit family, Paige, no matter how much we hate each other, I won’t let Michael die.” She pulled out a small plastic bag from her pocket and walked it over to Ashley. “Here,” she said, “give him this. It’s enough to last until we get there.”

Ashley yanked the bag from her hand and quickly cooked up the medicine. “Why don’t you tell her the rest?” he asked. “Go on! We all want the same thing!”

“I know,” Kendal said, balling her fists, “but I don’t trust that any of you will actually deliver. Billy already backed out.”

Ashley poured the white powder onto a spoon and reached for his lighter. “You don’t trust that I’ll do whatever it takes to have Gabe–”

“Stop! We’re not allowed to say that!” she cried, stamping her boot.

A dark figure skimmed over Ashley’s head and crashed to the floor behind Kendal. Jumping forward, she jerked around, placed her hands on her hips and kicked the small robotic bird across the floor. Paige laughed. Unable to talk or even think straight, she embraced her uncontrollable laughter until her cheeks ached with madness. Ashley finished injecting Michael with the medicine while Kendal glared at Paige and demanded she quit laughing. Tears drained from her eyes as she shook with silent amusement, but Michael’s private message interrupted her descent into lunacy.

You need to remember who you are, Paige.

She strained her eyes to the side of the room where Ashley helped his friend off the floor and guided him to the couch. He kissed Michael’s forehead and disappeared down the dark hallway to check on Abbey. Michael rested his head on Paige’s shoulder.

“Aw, how sweet,” Kendal said, “reunited at last, the thought criminal and his protégé.” Michael offered his middle finger. Kendal rolled her eyes. “You should be nice to me, Michael. I just saved you from turning into a pumpkin.”

You’re Gabriel’s twin, Paige. You need to remember who you are.     

“Stop it!” yelled Kendal. She leaned in close to Michael, grabbed the nape of his neck and whispered, “If you want him back, you’ll play by the rules.”

Paige focused on the glass display case on the wall in front of her. The candles’ flames animated the gold statue trapped inside and she fell into a trance, tuning out the world around her and concentrating on the prestigious award. The pale pink light reappeared. Drifting across the glass and creeping down the wall, it dimmed after reaching the floor. Her eyes followed the dark mass. Gliding closer to her feet, it gained density and expanded, taking on the form of a human and hovering in open space; it blocked her view of the statue. The necklace burned against her chest as she gazed upon the black shadow, but the smell of sandalwood subdued her fear. Her fingers twitched and her thoughts unscrambled, but Paige quickly blocked herself, like closing and locking the bedroom door, she shielded herself from prying minds. Gabriel’s twin, she thought, I’m Gabriel’s twin.

Ashley entered the room. Michael lifted his head and pulled away from Paige as his friend sat down on the arm of the sofa. She refused to blink, fixated on the tall black figure and intoxicated by the sandalwood. The glass case liquefied and swelled like a mounting wave, bulging with small cracks until the swollen glass shattered. Fragments shot out across the room and Kendal dove out of the way while Michael and Ashley ducked into the couch, but Paige didn’t flinch. Unharmed and shielded by the dark mass, she sat silent, her body set free and her mind clear. Kendal towered before her as blood poured from a deep gash across her cheek; her green eyes burned with fury. Cupping her cheek, she stormed off into the kitchen.

Paige remained silent, guarding her thoughts like gold in a king’s tomb. The dark shadow slipped back into the recesses of the unknown along with the fragrant smell of sandalwood. The burning necklace cooled. The sound of crunching glass signaled Kendal’s return.

“Okay, Paige Holland,” she said, holding a wet cloth to her face, “whether I like it or not, you and I are family, so I release you from my hold, but I hope you’ve figured out who you can trust by now. Keep in mind that these two have never been loyal to their family.”

Paige stretched out her arms and cracked her knuckles above her head. “What about Professor Faraday?” she asked. “Did you release him?”

Gently touching her wounded cheek, Kendal sucked the blood off her fingertip. “Billy is at the mercy of The Sandman,” she replied, “the spell will have to run its course. Besides, he’s not my family.” Grabbing a handful of the tiny liquor bottles, she turned on her heels, threw open the door and stomped across the wooden porch. Following behind, Michael leaned on Ashley as they turned and waited for Paige.

“Nice job,” Michael said. “Were you trying to make a mess or did it just sneak up on you?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I saw something.”

“Yeah well, it’s best if you don’t let on that you know what you’re not supposed to know, and that you can’t do what you obviously can,” he replied.

Crinkled lines appeared across Ashley’s forehead as he smiled and turned away from his friend. “Come on,” he said, “let’s get this over with.”

Slowly rising from the couch, Paige approached the two friends and attempted to read their minds. Michael smiled and shook his head.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” he said.

Paige held his gaze. “If I refuse to go, you’ll force me to, so it looks like I don’t have a choice, I’m guessing I never did.” Stepping closer, she said, “I know I’ve been here before, and I know I’m being taken for a ride, but there are things I don’t remember. I’m guessing that’s where Vincent comes in.”

Michael nodded.

“Can I trust that you’ll have my back?” she asked.

Ashley placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled, his pale blue eyes sad and seemingly sincere. “Remember the beached whale?” he asked. “I won’t leave you behind.”

She followed them to the van and slid in next to Kendal. Professor Faraday, the healer with the bright green aura, lay across the backseat covered with a blanket and a pillow under his head. Paige resisted the urge to grab his shoulders and shake him awake. She needed to see his kind eyes.

“He’ll be fine,” Kendal said, lighting a clove cigarette. “He needs the rest anyway.” Musk and spice clouded the van as she exhaled smoke without cracking a window. Pulling out of the narrow residential street, the CMC’s waved them past as they sped down a deserted highway with Ashley behind the wheel and Michael by his side.