Finding Fiona by Emily Ann Ward

just spit
it out? She gritted her teeth, choosing to remain silent. She had
enough on her mind without another argument with Troy.
    Troy looked from Hannah to Fiona, his eyes
narrowing. “What’s going on?”
    “ I’ll explain later, okay?” Hannah
said.
    Troy stood up and walked to the kitchen. “All
right, fine. I can tell when I’m not wanted.” Hannah watched him
with a worried look as he rinsed out his bowl and put away the milk
and cereal. Troy didn’t usually pick up after himself; Fiona could
tell he was just stalling. He crossed his arms. “Is this about that
article?”
    How much of their conversation had he heard?
She couldn’t imagine what he’d think about human replication. “It’s
none of your business,” she said. “Could you go now?”
    “ I told you it wasn’t a good idea,”
Troy said.
    “ Come on, Troy,” Hannah said. “This
is something between me and Fiona.”
    He glared at them before stalking out of the
kitchen. “Let me get my stuff from upstairs.”
    Fiona made a face at his back, and Hannah
slapped her on the shoulder. “Grow up,” she said.
    Fiona huffed, rubbing the spot where Hannah
had hit her. It wasn’t her fault the guy was so nosy.
    Half an hour later, after Troy had left,
James’s black car pulled into their driveway. She and Hannah waited
at the front door for him. Hannah stood with her arms crossed,
watching James with pursed lips.
    He gave them a tight smile. Part of his black
hair stuck out as though he’d slept on it wrong. Fiona held back a
smile as she introduced the two of them. She was so relieved he was
here. She knew he didn’t have all the answers, but he still knew
more than her.
    “ Thanks for looking after her,”
James told Hannah.
    Narrowing her eyes, Hannah backed up so they
could come inside. “So, James,” she said, “you think Fiona is
Elizabeth Normans?”
    James nodded, meeting Fiona’s eyes.
    Hannah crossed her arms again. She did that
when she was defensive. “And you think that these men–the
Alarias–are after her? You actually think they killed her
parents?”
    “ Yes, I do,” James said. “I told
Fiona that they went to school and worked together for a
while–”
    “ She told me everything,” Hannah
cut him off.
    He raised his eyebrows at Fiona.
“Everything?”
    “ You mean how you think she’s a
clone? Yes, she told me that, too.” Hannah nodded, her lips
pursed.
    “ A replica,” Fiona said under her
breath.
    “ They were all working on the Remus
project together.” James paused. “They had some kind of falling
out, and Fiona’s parents took the bulk of the research. I remember
when they split up; it was right after we graduated. This spring,
the Alarias were trying to sue your parents. They came by the lab
dozens of times, trying to get in. One time he actually did come in
when you were home alone. Didn’t you write about it in the
journal?”
    Fiona nodded. “Yeah, I did. I’ll go grab
it.”
    She jogged upstairs and went to her room. She
looked around on the desk, her nightstand, and the bed, but
couldn’t find the journal. She shoved down her panic as she called
downstairs, “Hannah, where did you put the journal?”
    “ I left it on your
desk.”
    It wasn’t there. Fiona searched the entire
room, but she couldn’t find it anywhere. “I can’t find
it!”
    Hannah and James came into the room. “What do
you mean?” Hannah asked.
    “ I mean, I can’t find it,” Fiona
said, her voice cracking. “It’s gone.”
    “ Let me check my room.” Hannah
walked into the hallway.
    James helped Fiona look in her room. Fiona
remembered going through her dresser for her clothes that morning.
She ruffled through the drawers. No journal. When she turned
around, she saw James staring at her bookshelf. “Is it over there?”
she asked, joining him.
    “ No.” James ran his fingers along
the spines of books, then the DVDs.
    “ What?”
    “ You used to have
so many of these…” James trailed off. “The