The air between them was quiet, but charged like the silence before a storm.
Zuri stood under the sycamore tree at the back of the schoolyard, the letter in her jacket, her fingers numb even in the warm morning sunlight.
She heard the footsteps before she saw her.
Aria.
Hair pulled into a perfect ponytail. Gold hoops. Navy blazer starched as always. But her face was different.
Guarded. Pale.
They stared at each other for a moment, unsure who would speak first.
Zuri broke the silence.
"You got my message."
Aria nodded slowly, her arms folded tight across her chest. "I wasn't going to come."
"Then why did you?"
A pause.
"I found a file. With your name on it. In my father's study."
Zuri blinked. "You went digging?"
"Had to." Aria's voice cracked, the mask breaking just a little. "I had to know if you were lying."
"And?"
Aria dug into her backpack and pulled out the identical Polaroid the one with two pink-wrapped babies who were identical. She held it up.
"You were there. With me. Day one."
Zuri took it tenderly, her eyes gobbling up the photo again, this time with a different kind of pain.
"We were never supposed to be apart."
"No," Aria concurred. "But someone arranged it that we were."
Their eyes locked again less venom now, more shock, more grief.
"We share a birthday," Zuri breathed. "Same eyes. Same crooked left toe I thought I was the only one."
"I discovered an old DNA test in the file," Aria said. "It's old. But it's real."
Zuri looked down at the picture.
"Why would they keep us apart?"
"I don't know," Aria said. "But I think my parents do. And they're keeping it a secret."
Zuri's head jerked up. "You think they knew all along?"
"I know they did."
The wind blew through the branches above, sending brittle leaves swirling around their feet. For a time, neither girl said anything.
Then Aria stepped forward. "I was so awful to you. I don't even know why. I just… hated you. And now"
Zuri lifted a hand. "Don't apologize. You didn't know."
"But I should have. I felt it."
There was a slow breath between them, then Zuri dug into her bag and brought out the letter their birth mother had written to them. She gave it to Aria.
Aria read it once. Twice. Her lip trembled.
"She wrote to both of us," she whispered. "And they still kept us apart."
Zuri's voice was soft but definite. "Then let's find out why."
Aria looked up.
And nodded.
Though neither of them noticed the figure half-hidden behind the school's garden shed.
A phone in hand.
Recording.
Watching.
Waiting.
In the distance, a bell rang, its sound faintly echoing through the trees, but neither of them moved.
It was the first time in a while that Aria wasn't rushing back into the halls she ruled like a queen. And the first time Zuri wasn't stressing about being late.
Aria folded the letter slowly, her fingers moving with uncharacteristic care. "You think your foster mom knows more?"
"She said she didn't," Zuri replied, eyes narrowed slightly. "But I've lived with her long enough to know when she's lying to protect me."
Aria looked down at her manicured nails. "That makes two of them."
"Two?"
"My parents. They looked at that photo and didn't flinch. Like they've been rehearsing this silence for years."
Zuri's fists tightened. "And all these years I thought I was just… unwanted."
Aria blinked hard, looking away. Her voice was hardly a whisper. "You weren't."
Zuri felt it again that strange pull. The string between them growing taut.
She stepped backward. "We need proof."
I have one of my dad's codes," Aria stated, suddenly businesslike. "He's got a secure drive. He keeps it in the home law office. I'm not even meant to know it exists, but I did happen to catch a glimpse of it once when I was twelve."
Zuri's eyebrow rose. "And you still remember the code?"
Aria's smile was faint. "I remember everything."
For a moment, Zuri almost laughed. Almost.
Then her gaze drifted past Aria to the garden shed. Her body stiffened.
"What?" Aria turned around instinctively.
But there was no figure now.
Zuri shook her head slowly. "Nothing. I thought I saw…"
She trailed off.
Someone had been there. She could have sworn it.
Someone was watching.
That afternoon, after school emptied out, Zuri walked home instead of taking the bus. Her headphones were on, but she wasn't listening to music. Her mind was too crowded.
Aria had promised to text when her parents left for a gala that evening a window to break into her father's home office.
It was dangerous. Stupid, maybe.
But also the first good lead on the truth.
As she neared her block, her phone buzzed.
Unknown Number:
You're digging in the wrong place.
Let sleeping secrets lie.
Zuri froze mid-step. The street around her was quiet. No one in sight.
Her throat went dry.
She stared at the screen, heart racing.
And suddenly… she wasn't sure if this was just about their story anymore.
Maybe it was bigger.
Maybe someone had always planned for them never to find each other.
And now that they had
Someone was scared.
That night, Aria's house was quiet.
From the outside, it was perfection marble steps, gleaming porch light, trimmed hedges. The kind of house that said power lives here.
But inside, Aria's heart pounded as she snuck down the back stairs in her socks, phone light low. Her parents were at the charity gala, just as scheduled. Her driver had dropped them off an hour earlier.
She had called Zuri fifteen minutes earlier.
"Meet me at the service gate. Don't be seen."
Now, she unlocked the side door and peeked out. Zuri stood there, hoodie up, eyes alert.
"You sure this is safe?" Zuri asked.
"No," Aria said, "but I'm not waiting anymore."
They crept through the side hallway, past the pristine kitchen, and down to her father's office. The door was locked. Of course.
Aria got down on her knees beside the antique cabinet and slid her father's briefcase out of the way. Behind it, a keypad was hidden behind a brass plate.
She shut her eyes. "2-0-1-1."
The year their mother was meant to have died.
The green light blinked. The panel swung open.
Zuri's eyes went wide. "You've done this before."
"No," Aria said. "But I know how he thinks."
A black hard drive and a slim file folder were inside. Aria took both.
They sat on the office floor, backs to the wall, Aria's laptop open between them.
Password screen.
She typed again: "HALCYON."
It worked.
The screen flickered, and dozens of folders appeared legal names, sealed files, photos.
Zuri clicked on one marked:
CASE_#A73TW: Twin Custody Agreement
It opened to a single scanned contract.
Zuri's heart dropped.
Her birth name. Aria's name. Her mother's name. Their biological father.
Then the final line:
Adoption arranged. One child will remain under the Duvall guardianship.
Second child to be placed under discreet care. Contact with sibling permanently restricted.
Signed.
Stamped.
Dated two months after their birth.
Zuri swallowed hard. "They planned this. They knew they were splitting us up. Not by accident. By law."
Aria read in silence, her hand shaking. "That's not all…"
She scrolled down to a redacted paragraph but the title was visible:
Confidential Reason for Separation: Psychological Risk.
Zuri's brows drew together. "What does that mean?"
Before Aria had a chance to answer, Zuri's phone buzzed again.
Unknown Number:
Stop now.
Or you'll regret remembering what they wanted you to forget.
Zuri held it up to Aria, who looked on in horror.
Someone was tailing them.
Someone was aware that they were in the files.
And that somebody did not want them finding out what the "psychological risk" was.