Page 197 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

“What?” I said as I stared at my friend dumbly.

“I’m not John.”

Everyone turned to him.

A muscle in his jaw ticked. “I’m Luka, his twin.”

Time paused.

Jaws dropped.

Everything clicked into place with disturbing clarity.

John’s two dramatically distinct personalities. How he’d switch from being talkative and friendly to silent and brooding. He’d spend days saying nothing. Lothaire had told us we already knew our substitute. Last night, John had whispered to me he was sorry after he’d heard there would be a substitution.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were two separate men.

Mr. Hyde is Luka.

John had an angry twin.

And he was standing in front of me, seething because I’d hurt his brother.

“What?” Vegar asked from the rocks. “There’s been two of you for years and none of us noticed?”

John—no, Luka—gave a curt nod.

“Holy fuck,” Zenith said.

If that didn’t sum it all up.

I leaned forward and vomited water all over Luka’s bare feet.

He glared down at me with disgust.

“Nice to meet you,” I croaked.

Luka said nothing.

I remembered the hours I’d clung to Mr. Hyde in the black sea.

The hours he’d fought beside me in battles.

How he’d hauled my pathetic ass across these rocks.

He’d spent long days sitting next to me silently in class.

We’d shared a bed.

Trained until we couldn’t stand without leaning against each other.

Held each other up as we bled.

Shared meals.

All that time together and I didn’t even know who he really was.

Luka cleared his throat. “You’re Aran. And you hurt John,” he stated matter-of-factly.

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