My Brother's Keeper

The room is dark. The only window covered by a blackout curtain, a single table with two chairs, and a mirror encased with a sheet stands in the corner of the room. It doesn’t feel right being here, but I have questions.

I sit at the table and fold my hands in my lap. I try to look less like a mouse and more like a tiger, but I know they can tell I’m faking it.

After I sit down, the guards bring Lenny through the back door. His hands and ankles are shackled. His orange jumpsuit is crisp and clean. He wears no shoes and a pair of white gloves on his hands. He looks the same as he had the day they hauled him away.

The recognition hits as soon as he sees my face.

“Odette?” His voice cracks, and tears form in his eyes.

“Lenny,” I reply stiffly.

“When they told me someone was here to see me, I expected your father, but not you.”

The guards sit him across from me and shackle him to the table. He nods his head once they step away and lifts his face to look at me. His blue eyes are bloodshot, and his skin is as white as snow. He looks unhealthy, but what did I expect? We were in prison.

“I figured we needed to talk about what happened. Years of therapy and medications have fogged that day, and what people say now concerns me.” I try to sound confident, but what I say seems like a child asking for help to understand a situation.

“What do you want to know?” he asks.

I take a deep breath. “Start at the beginning. I’ll ask questions along the way.”

He nods and clasps his hands together tightly. He must have relived our life a million times over the years.

“Since you are here, I’m sure you know now you have a sister.” Lenny looked at the mirror and took a deep breath.

“Is that why the mirror is in here?” I’m following his gaze.

The standup mirror is about six feet high, covered by a black sheet and tons of tape around the sides and top. Whatever he was trying to conceal in the mirror could not escape.

“She can’t hear us if it’s covered. She’s like a bird and sleeps when her world is blacked out. She already knows what I’m going to say, so this is a nice way of making sure I say it without her interfering, as she did in the past.” His eyes are full of shadows. “How do you know about her?”

I took a deep breath and clasped my hands together. I wasn’t expecting us to discuss my sister so quickly. “She made herself known a few days ago.”

“You off your medications?” He raises his eyebrows.

“I may have missed a couple of doses,” I admit as I remove my hands from the table.

Lenny’s blue eyes searched my face, and he seemed to relax. His shoulders slumped, he put his elbows on the table, and his hands were no longer squeezed together.

“You weren’t the dominant twin five years ago, which is why it shocks me you’re here today.” Lenny frowns. “Your mother had you locked up in the mirror world all your life. Said it was to keep you safe. I see now she had other reasons.”

My heart pounds. Is this why Odile had asked me what I remembered about Lenny?

“Wait, what?” I lean back in my chair, trying to grasp at straws. “What do you mean?”

Lenny’s eyes gleam. “Odette, open the portal to the other realm. Get Odile out of your head and try to live a normal life. All the things you saw and did were not your fault. Your mother was twisted and jealous. She always said you reminded her of your father. Spent all her time with Odile, preparing her for a battle I couldn’t understand. Just know I let her in my head. Please don’t let her into yours.”

The warning was not meant to comfort me. It was not meant to remind me of my mother’s murder. It was meant for me to watch my back. I knew Odile was a snake, but Lenny just confirmed it.

“You realize what I must do to open the portal, right?” I ask.

I glance up at Lenny, and he’s nervously biting his bottom lip. He knows more, but I will not probe him for answers. He answered what I needed. I wasn’t dominant. I was the girl in the mirror, and the body I inhabited wasn’t mine. It was hers.

Suddenly the dark gray walls seem to constrict. The air has lightened some, but there is something else in the atmosphere, and I can’t put my finger on what it is.

“I can calm your sisters’ torment while you are in my presence, but it appears I cannot stop your mothers.” Lenny snaps his fingers.

On cue, a guard steps forward and produces a thick envelope.

“What’s this?” I ask as I turn the white envelope over in my hands. It’s large and heavy.

“It’s everything you need to know. It explains how my magic began and how your mother died. Make sure you read it with the mirrors covered.” His instructions seem easy enough.

That atmospheric change hits me, and I sob. “I don’t like this. You’re doing time for something I did.”

Lenny reaches out and tries to grab my hands, but the chains constrict him to a small window of movement. His blue eyes water.

“No, Odette, you were just a tool she used. Please read what I wrote. Listen to the man in the white suit. He will tell you everything you need to do. Open the portal and separate yourself from your sister. Five lives are easier than a hundred.” He motions, and the guards come over to unhook him from the table.

“What? I’m not done,” I plead as the hot tears roll down my cheeks. I had more questions than answers, and he was willing to walk away. Every bit of truth surrounding my mother’s murder would disappear when they put him to death.

“Read the envelope. I’ve come to terms with my death. You need to understand what she wants.” Lenny disappears behind the door, and I sit there stupidly, looking at where he once was. The visit had been over in less than ten minutes.

I learned one thing: I need to cover the mirrors to keep Odile out of my head.

I storm out of the room and stop in front of my father. My palms are shaking, and my heart is racing. I grab him by the hand and yank him into the room. He seems shocked by my strength but understands my urgency upon seeing the mirror with its sheet.

“How long have you known?” he asks, glancing toward the mirror.

“A few days,” I respond. “When were you going to tell me about her?”

“The medications kept her sedated.” He puts on his concerned dad face, and it only aggravates me.

“Did you think by sedating her you were saving me?”

“I knew by keeping her in the dark, you were free to have a normal life. Listen, I got a crash course on all this other realm magic. Odile was gifted, and her magic was not oppressed.” He’s uncomfortable. His eyes do not meet mine, and his hands are shaking, but he tries to hide them by stuffing them into his pants pockets.

“I want to go to the hospital. I want to speak with my doctor. I need to know why my only memories are five years old. Was my mother great, or was she some swamp hag trying to raise a serial killer?” I’m furious.

My whole body is shaking, and my heart is racing. I could only think about Odile and the mess she had created. Of all the things to keep from me, he had been no better than any other adult in my life. No wonder I can’t connect with anyone. I haven’t even been around long enough to make a connection.

“I don’t think that’s wise,” Dad protests after a moment.

I furrow my brows. “Why?”

Is it a custom to keep me in the dark?

He looks down at the floor. “Odile was not the best patient, and when you appeared to become more dominate, they sent you to live with me.”

“How long did you know?”

He fidgets, shifts his weight from one foot to the other, looks at the mirror, and then makes eye contact.

“About two months after the murder, when the bloodwork came back. I came in several times a month to reconcile something with your sister, and then one day, she was gone, and there you were.” He smiles at me as if that’s supposed to make me feel better.

“No wonder she’s pissed!” I groan. “Guess what, Daddy? She’s back, and she has plans. Five royals will die if we don’t get this under control.”

He loosens the collar of his shirt. “I’m sure the town can bounce back from five murders.”

“How could you think that way?” I demand.

Dad splays his hands. “She can’t stay here. Five is better than one hundred. Sometimes you have to barter to keep the faith. Odile does not belong in this world. She belongs in your mother’s world.”

“And what about me? What is my soul worth? My mother haunts me, so I must carry out five more murders. I want to go home. I will get to my doctor.” I walk toward the door.

“Odette, you can’t,” he calls after me, and I stop in my tracks.

“Why not?” I snap, turning to face him.

Dad steps over to me, taking my hand. He says, “Odile killed him the day before you appeared. She could get into his head just as he administered the medication that kept her sedated. The medication you forgot to take opened up the communication between the two of you.”

Why did everyone have it in their heads I purposely forgot to take my medications? I wouldn’t have missed the doses if I had known they kept some twin links at bay.

“How many murders?” I seethe.

He frowns, averting his gaze. “I don’t know.”

“Then I want to go home. Something tells me Pax is in more danger than I thought.” I move to the door and grab the knob.

“Pax is fine. Odile won’t kill him.”

I pause again. “How do you know?”

“He’s blood. Not to mention he already has a growing list of enemies.” My dad’s voice shakes.

“What are you telling me?” I raise my eyebrows and press my lips together.

“If you don’t kill them, they will kill him.” He takes a deep breath and averts his eyes from me.

My father drops the bomb right in the middle of the room. I can almost smell the gunpowder and C4. It all makes sense. If Odile is sedated, maybe I could do the dirty work and make everyone’s lives easier. Restore the town’s magic, allow people to return home to their perfect realm, and restore the hierarchy. They already think I’m the hero. However, something tells me I’m not the hero but the villain of my story.

“The texts, the night I caught him in your office. Is this some joke to you?” I raise an eyebrow.

Dad shakes his head. “No, we didn’t know what was happening until the fight at the school. We know royals dislike one another, but your brother is not a normal royal.”

“What makes him special?”

“He is a direct descendant of Prince Siegfried, the royal of all royals. The one in the story, Odette.” My father’s eyes are fogging over.

“What story?” I hiss.

“The one your mother told you about when you were a child.” He’s sure of himself. He thinks I know the entire story from start to finish.

“My mother never told me anything. I didn’t exist until five years ago.” I growl.

I do not know who I am. I grip the envelope and leave the room. Finally, I understand why I need to see Soren. Everything will be fine if I keep my mirrors covered for the next week.

Who am I kidding? The following five days are going to be hell on Earth. I know not everyone can keep Odile at bay.

Pax is in danger.

I have officially become my brother’s keeper. If something happens to Pax, I won’t be able to live with myself. Everyone wants me to part with Odile. Why are five lives less important than a hundred? How many people had Odile killed before she was put to sleep?