Page 158 of Seeking Shadows

Seth nods, the faintest flicker of something—hope, maybe—crossing his face, but it’s gone as quickly as it appeared. He looks away, staring at the darkened horizon, his jaw clenched.

“She’s hidden inside one of Nico’s labs. It was pathetically easy to find,” he says, his voice almost bitter. But the bitter taste is not just about Nico—it’s about everything. About the mess we’ve been forced to live through. “I can take you there if you’d consider seeing her.”

Turns out Zane and I don’t even have to try finding her—Seth already handled the hardest part.

A part of me wants to scream at him. I want to yell that I should’ve been the one to save her.

That I should’ve been there. But I can’t. It’s like my words are trapped in my throat, caught in the tangle of everything I wish I’d done differently.

“Didn’t you try to get her out of there?” I ask, the words almost coming out too harshly, but I can’t stop them. The guilt is a knife, twisting in my gut.

“She doesn’t believe you’re free, so she refused my help,” Seth says, turning to face me now, his eyes full of something—regret, pain, a rawness that only twins can share. "Maybe you could show her."

The weight of it crushes me. Show her? I’m not free. I’m not even close to being free. But if this is what it takes to get Katie out, if it’s what will finally bring her back from that hell, then maybe I’ll do whatever it takes.

I nod, the resolve settling inside me like a stone in my chest. I’m going. Not that I’m free. But I’ll march into that lab and drag her out if I have to.

I step forward and rest my head on Seth’s shoulder. The action is so familiar, so simple, but it carries everything. We aren’t the same kids we used to be. We’ve lost so much along the way, and I can feel the absence of it in every fiber of my being. We are no longer those children who were trapped together in the suffocating silence of loneliness, only having each other to lean on.

“I should go home,” Seth says after a long beat, his voice breaking the moment. I smile softly, because I know where home is for him.

By “home,” he means Audrey. I wonder why he stayed here with me all this time. Maybe it’s because I’m the only family he has left, or maybe it’s because, even now, there’s still something between us, something that calls him to stay. Maybe he still cares.

I understand why he wants to spend the rest of his birthday with her. She’s the one who can give him the peace he’s been craving.

“Happy birthday, bro,” I whisper, my voice soft as I gaze up at the stars, their distant light piercing the sky like little fragments of hope.

“Happy birthday, sis,” Seth murmurs, his voice a little rougher now, but there's warmth in it. A connection that nothing could sever, not even time or distance.

We are twins after all, half of one, half of another. Our hearts beat in sync, bound by a bond only we truly understand. Where one ends, the other begins, and in that space, there's a beauty that's ours alone.

In this moment, it feels like we’re still those children, just a little bit lost—but together again.

CHAPTER 26

ZANE

I try to bring Miato see Figaro whenever I can.

He spends most of his time with Charlie—except when she needs to investigate the clues I sent her. Then he stays with Seth.

With Nico out of the States, it’s the perfect time to move.

So I brought Mia with me. Not just to keep her close… but so Charlie can really check on her. Make sure she’s okay in ways I can’t see.

At that moment, she looks at Mia like a mother about to fight with her son, but Mia won’t even meet her gaze. I don’t know why.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Charlie asks, her voice tight.

“Sorry about the mess?” Mia mumbles, her eyes downcast.

Charlie snorts. “Are they at least giving you medication? Psychological support?”

Mia laughs. “There’s no such thing in the Cartel,” she replies, almost casually. “But Zane came back with my old meds a few weeks ago, so don’t worry.”

“You need to tell someone.”

“I’ll talk to Zane.”

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