Doppelganger Girl Read online

  “You know,” Joseph said, breaking the silence, “I’m really glad today is your birthday.”

  “You are?” Evelyn looked back at Joseph. The little flecks of gold in his dark green eyes reflected the bonfire. Evelyn felt her chest constrict and her breath get short.

  “Yeah. Now we both have something to look forward to. I didn’t get you anything for your birthday, though.”

  “Oh, that’s okay, it was all such a rush and—”

  Before Evelyn could finish her thought, Joseph leaned in and kissed her. Just a second later, he pulled away, smiling his crooked smile. Evelyn felt like her chest might explode as a flush of heat washed over her body. She could taste the sugar from his lips on hers. She felt glued to the beach and couldn’t swallow.

  “Happy birthday, Evie,” he said in a whisper.

  Evelyn couldn’t speak. Her mind raced to catch up with what was happening. Breathe, she thought. Breathe, stupid. Breathe!

  Joseph cocked his eye at her. “Was that okay?”

  Speak. Speak, you idiot, speak! “Yeah,” she finally managed, though more enthusiastically than she had wanted. She felt another rush of blood in her face, embarrassed about her response.

  “Okay,” he said.

  “Hey, Joey!”

  Joseph and Evelyn looked around the bonfire, back toward the camp, to see a group of teenagers walking toward them. After six years on Vista, everyone knew everyone, and though she had little to do with most of the other teenagers, Evelyn knew who they all were. Misha was in the middle. Just as blond as she was, she probably could have passed as her sister. On her left was Sarah, one of the girls Joseph had lived with in the orphanage on Earth. Autumn, a girl with striking green eyes and dark hair similar to Joseph’s but with darker, coppery skin, was just behind them. The fact that her name suited her looks wasn’t lost on Evelyn, though she figured it may have been lost on everyone else.

  With Autumn was Titus, an enormous boy who stood a half a head taller and probably had thirty pounds on Joseph, though most of it had to be in his shoulders and neck; he didn’t seem to have anything other than muscles everywhere.

  “Joey, come down to the beach with us,” Misha sang again, still walking toward them and the bonfire.

  “Yeah, come on, Joe,” Titus added.

  Joseph looked at Evelyn and gave her a “what do you think?” eyebrow lift. Evelyn looked down the beach. About fifty yards out, a group of teenagers were gathering around another bonfire. Evelyn gave Joseph a “sure, whatever you want” shoulder shrug and smile.

  They started to move when Misha came around the side of the fire. She obviously hadn’t noticed Evelyn, since she was blocked by the fire—or maybe she had chosen to ignore her—but she didn’t hide her expression well. Evelyn saw a quick flicker of probable disappointment in her eyes and a momentary loss of her smile.

  “Oh, Evelyn! I didn’t see you there.”

  “Hey, Misha.”

  “You should come too,” she added quickly, recovering the spring in her voice but letting her icy stare linger longer. “You should both come.”

  “Evelyn!”

  Evelyn turned toward camp at hearing her name called and saw the backlit figure of Jane’s father silhouetted against one of the tents.

  “Hey, Evelyn, can you come up for a minute?” he called again.

  Evelyn looked at Joseph and saw the flicker of disappointment in his eyes, which seemed to resonate with the disappointing crunch in her chest. For the first time all night, she started to feel the chill of the cool evening air on her skin, the warmth of the moment fading into a memory.

  “I’ll come down later,” she said.

  “You sure?” Joseph replied.

  “Yeah,” she said, and then turning her head slightly but not taking her eyes off the boy who had given her the best and only birthday present she had ever received, she called over her shoulder, “Be right there, Mr. Philips.”

  “Night, Evelyn,” Misha said, and Evelyn glanced in her direction just in time to catch the icy glimmer in Misha’s eyes.

  As Evelyn turned to walk up the slope, she could still hear the girls giggling as they walked away. Evelyn laughed.

  “What do you need, Mr. Philips?” she asked, stepping closer.

  “Sorry to take you away from your friends, but before it gets too late, I need you to check in with Marcus. With so many people camping out down here, we need to make sure the motion sensors around the perimeter are functioning.”

  “Sure, Mr. Philips,” she said, losing the last bit of heat she had carried with her from her moment on the beach with Joseph.

  “Thanks, Evelyn.”

  “Sure, Mr. Philips,” she repeated, starting toward the power generators.

  “Hey, Evelyn,” Mr. Philips called.

  “Yes, Mr. Philips?”

  “How did your birthday turn out?”

  Evelyn thought for a moment and started to smile. She thought about the candles lighting the camp like fireflies. The kiss from the charming prince. The wicked girl also in love—in love?—with the same boy. And now, with the night still young and the party over—for her, at least—it was back to her chores.

  Evelyn laughed. “It was just like a fairy tale.”

  WANTED

  Straining, her shoulder cutting into the sharp metal housing, she reached deep into the belly of the machine, and a split second later, the sudden spark and jolt had her recoiling her arm just as quickly.

  “Dammit,” Evelyn said through clenched teeth, noticing another spot of blood on her finger. She grabbed her wrench and smacked the housing, sending a shudder up her arm and tickling her eardrum.

  Starting to pace and shake out her arm, she grunted, looking at her finger. “Again, really?”

  For over a week, she had been working on providing power to the camp, and the generator in the corner of the power plant tent had proven to be her nemesis. She had taken to calling it Ogre, because it was big, it was green, it was ugly, and it smelled. She knew she might be imagining that last part, but even still, Ogre was making her life hell.

  Earlier that day, Evelyn had decided to strip out the power core from the generator and run lines from an engine on one of the shuttles. The shuttle’s engine had far more power—too much, really—but she knew the coupling and the transformer she installed could downgrade the power, and then the generator could distribute the electricity through any of its six hundred ports. In all, Evelyn figured the power from one engine would be enough to supply electricity to the whole town for years. It was a rather ingenious setup, she had to admit, or would have been if it actually worked.

  Six years prior, after her body had been formed, she had asked Mr. Philips why he made her a kid instead of an adult. His words echoed with her as she glared at Ogre. “Evelyn, you know a lot, but you have no experience. You’re book smart, but not street smart.” She didn’t really understand what he meant or agree with him at the time. Knowledge was knowledge, right? But her cage match with Ogre over the past few weeks was proving the truth of Mr. Philips’s remark. She thought she knew what to do. She was just having trouble doing it.

  “Looks like you’ve won this time,” she said, sucking her finger. “But mark my words, you’ll do my bidding before I’m done with you … You’re gonna have to bring a lot more than stubbornness to a fight if you’re gonna rumble with me,” she added and instantly looked over her shoulder, feeling stupid for talking trash to a hulking piece of metal, and hoping nobody heard her.

  She clicked the switch on the generator to disconnect the power. “Until tomorrow, Ogre,” she said, walking through the tent flap into the muggy evening air.

  She walked along the dusty road and was momentarily shocked as it occurred to her how quickly life had changed. In less than two weeks’ time, the settlement had been completely transformed. No longer just a scattering of tents along the shore, the settlement was taking on a more formal shape. To Evelyn, it was beginning to look like the pictures she had seen of to
wns in the old west. Several wooden structures lined the road she was walking, which led directly to the waterfront with more structures to either side along the water. Every day since they had arrived, the colonists were hard at work raising building after building, one next to the other. Evelyn figured it’d be a while before the buildings became storefronts for private use, but until then, the villagers were using them to store food, medical supplies, and all of the other goods they needed to recreate a civilization on this untamed planet.

  In the waning light, Evelyn could see a larger structure downfield from where she walked, which was being used as a school. With a couple hundred children counted among the settlers, having a place for them to learn was a priority. Even so, most of the children went in shifts, spending a few hours each day in the school and most of the rest of their time helping the community. The building was dark now, as was the entire row of buildings along her right side—thanks to the stubborn Ogre and his reluctance to provide more power.

  The road was empty, and Evelyn shuffled through the dirt, not in a great hurry to get where she was going. The council building where she was headed was just like all the others … except larger. Tall wooden poles made from the evergreens in the forest were at the corners, anchored deep into the dirt. Wooden panels running up all four sides made the walls, and the roof slanted from the front to the back. It was simple construction, but effective, with an open door on all four sides to allow for cross ventilation. The town council could manage the affairs of the growing settlement from inside—at least, they could when they weren’t yelling at one another.

  Carson Philips, billionaire businessman, Jane’s father, and the reason why the colonists were able to escape Earth in the first place, had relinquished exclusive leadership over the colony as soon as they had arrived. He had no intention of trading a corrupt government for a kingship, and so, shortly after everyone had settled in, he convened a town hall on the shore.

  Everyone over eighteen got a vote, and nine members from the community were nominated to be on the council, including Mr. Philips. Evelyn appreciated the fact that Mr. Philips had petitioned to have her as one of the nine council members, but the townspeople didn’t seem to like the idea, so he hadn’t pushed it. The tension of the election had given her a knot in her stomach, though. Evelyn didn’t have to go to school with everyone else her age, so she was spending more time working alone. Being singled out for the council member spot seemed to drive an even bigger wedge between her and the others. The adults in the camp didn’t seem to take well to the idea either—perhaps because of her age, she figured—but the whole thing was awkward and served to make her feel even more isolated.

  The colonists had been referring to the new planet as Orsus, which came from the Latin word meaning “beginning.” Evelyn didn’t get a vote, which she found more than a little annoying considering she had found the planet, but she thought it was fitting anyway, especially given the work they had ahead of themselves to begin a whole new life on a world a galaxy away from Earth. Shortly after the election, the council had voted unanimously to formally name the planet Orsus, and they had also cast their first votes to name the settlement. In honor of Mr. Philips, the council had chosen the name Philips Landing, and to further the goodwill, they had named the lake Lake Philips. But after that, the pleasantries had stopped, and if it wasn’t outright shouting heard through the open doors of the council building, it was often hot-blooded council members debating something the whole town could hear.

  Evelyn wasn’t a council member, but she was a special advisor to Mr. Philips, and the proceedings were always open to the public, so Evelyn had to be there often.

  Rounding the corner to head toward the council building, Evelyn saw the cluster of people ahead. Most were standing in the road. Even though the building was larger than most, it couldn’t hold many people, and it was about ten degrees cooler outside anyway, making it a lot more comfortable for observers.

  Reluctantly stepping closer to the council building, Evelyn noticed Joseph was walking toward her.

  “Hey, Evie,” he said, giving her a little wave. He was walking fast enough that it was quickly obvious he was trying to catch her before she went in the building.

  “Hey,” she replied, excited to see him but trying not to let it show. In the ten days since they had been on the beach together, Evelyn had only seen Joseph in passing: once back on Vista in the cargo hold and again when she had been called over to the school to help connect the power. Other than those brief moments, they hadn’t been able to see much of each other, and Evelyn had started wondering if the kiss was nothing more than a dream.

  Worse was that she felt incredibly alone. On Vista she had seen Joseph every day, even if it was passing in the halls or out in the park in the center of the station; her routine didn’t allow her to run into the other kids her age very often, so she rarely saw them, but Joseph was different. She didn’t realize how much she missed seeing him until just then, but it was hitting Evelyn hard enough that she couldn’t suppress her joy that he was waiting for her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, trying to play it casual.

  “Oh,” he started, stuffing his hands into his pockets and trying not to look like he was unsure about what he was about to say, “I just wanted to see you.”

  Evelyn’s heart thumped in her chest. “Yeah? What for?” she asked, still trying to play it cool and realizing she may have been too cool.

  Joseph raised his eyebrows, glanced back toward the council building, and then looked back down at the dirt.

  “Do you remember when we first met?”

  Yes, I remember everything. I remember when I first saw you in the orphanage. I remember how your hair was sticking out on one side from having slept on the floor. I remember how you limped your way to the shuttle and how your chin quaked as you tried not to cry when you said goodbye to Father Tate. I remember how you put on a brave face as he left, and how you crinkled your eyebrows then, just as you are crinkling them now, scared at what might happen. And after, when we were all safe, together, I remember how you walked all the way across the park to ask me if I wanted to play with you, and I remember how much that meant to me. If I live a hundred years, Joseph, I hope I never forget that day. “Sure, I remember.”

  “I was thinking about that day and how we played together on the playground. Do you remember that?” he asked, glancing up at her.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s probably stupid, but I kind of miss those days, Evie.”

  “Me too,” Evelyn replied, her heart still thumping.

  Joseph smiled.

  A moment passed.

  “You probably have to get in there, huh?” he said, nodding toward the council building.

  “Yeah. Mr. Philips is expecting me.”

  Joseph nodded, looking again at the ground, and then picked up his head, regaining his crooked smile and apparently some of his confidence.

  “So, a bunch of us are going to the lake tomorrow after classes get out. Do you … want to go?”

  Evelyn cocked her eyebrow at him, thinking about her last adventure in swimming.

  “You know,” he added, picking up on her skepticism, “you should probably wear a swimsuit this time.”

  Evelyn laughed and felt the blood rush to her face. “Right, good thinking.”

  “Or not … you choose,” he added, shrugging his shoulders, giving her a grin.

  “Ha!” she said, feeling her cheeks get warmer. “No … I’ll definitely bring a swimsuit.”

  “So, you’ll go?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be there.”

  Joseph gave a little laugh and smiled. “Okay … see you tomorrow.”

  “Good night,” Evelyn said, her heart still pounding, watching him walk as casually as he could manage up the dirt road.

  “Night,” he added, turning and walking backward for a moment, disappearing seconds later up the road to the shuttles.

  Evelyn stared at the dark space wh
ere he had been, her pulse lightening as she breathed the cooling evening air. She realized the muscles in her face were beginning to ache, either from having a perma-smile with Joseph or from trying not to smile too much—she didn’t know which. It didn’t matter to her, and even though she still had to deal with the council, she was sure nothing could ruin her moment. The kiss hadn’t been a dream. Joseph wanted to be with her, and she felt it.

  UNWANTED

  The fresh-sawed cedar planks on the walls were enough to mask the pungent spice of body odor, until someone walked by or the cross ventilation stirred the air and blew the stink across her nose. In those moments, she took to breathing through her mouth, as did everyone else, but nobody said anything about it. They all reeked, especially at the end of a long day working around the settlement.

  The stench was one of the reasons Evelyn had taken to standing in the corner—that and the fact that she didn’t really want to be there anyway. Walking through the side door of the council building, she headed toward her corner. If she had started to lose her smile in leaving Joseph outside, she quickly regained it in seeing her sister waiting for her in the corner. Sliding alongside her and breathing a deep breath of cedar, Evelyn felt her shoulders relax, the nervous energy she felt entering the building easing a bit.

  Jane glanced at Evelyn and gave her a little nod and a smile.

  “What did I miss?” Evelyn asked under her breath. The room was strangely quiet, the lull in the council’s conversation sucking the air out of the room.

  “Not much, yet—”

  “And with the vote on the allocation of farmland scheduled for tomorrow, we can again turn to Councilman Philips’s petition from our last session.”

  Evelyn lifted her eyes in hearing the speaker on the floor. She had made it just in time.

  The speaker was Colette Vandergaast, a pear-shaped woman with delicate features and a not-so-delicate personality. Paul Vandergaast, her husband, was one of the lead botanists responsible for cultivating the lands around the community. Their daughter was Misha, the girl from the beach who obviously had a thing for Joseph.