One (One Universe)

boy; and then, finally, Nora and Lia.
    Nora and Lia smile and wave at the crowd with the rest of them. Their forearms are stiff and barely move, like they’ve been on a parade float for three hours and any minute they’ll collapse from the exhaustion. Their eyes gaze out, empty, and their skin is so, so pale. Lia reaches down and squeezes Nora’s hand, and they both look straight at Elias, widen their eyes — which look bloodshot even from this distance — and a second later, look back at the crowd again. Elias shifts and fidgets in his chair and stares at them with his chin resting in his hand.
    Fisk runs through the achievements of the gap year. We know about the near-supersonic flier already, and we hear about the buff guys lifting 20 tons; the tall kid, who I’m calling “Stretch” in my head, doing some incredible body-bending stuff; and another guy running a marathon in one and a half minutes.
    Nora and Lia are up next. Some Hub workers roll a thick concrete wall, set on casters, onto the stage. The girls step up to it, hold hands, and practically melt through it. Then, almost without pause, they zap to the back of the room.
    “Teleportation of this type is common for Gifteds after a period of hard work, as these young ladies have been through. But you’re not here to see something common.” He nods toward Nora and Lia. “Ladies, let’s show them something phenomenal.”
    A pair of coordinates — longitude and latitude — flashes on the screen behind the announcer. The girls turn back, stare at it for a second, then look up — empty-eyed — and disappear. The camera changes to a scene of Times Square, and the girls appear there in a flash. Everyone leaps to their feet in a standing ovation. Elias stands and claps politely, but he looks the opposite of thrilled. He sucks in a deep breath when the girls appear back on the stage.
    “Oftentimes, twins show increased, more powerful or, in some cases, additional abilities when close to one another.”
    “It’s the genetics,” Elias murmurs, reciting some information it sounds like he’s memorized. “I’ve read theories that the twin genes duplicate the power or something.”
    “Your sisters?” I lean in and ask. I’m really asking, Your sisters and my brothers? Michael and Max are identical – the only way I could tell them apart for the longest time is a scar on Michael’s chin from where he crashed into a coffee table as a baby. And a couple years ago, they did figure out that when they hold hands, they’re faster speeding across the water. But we just thought it was a confidence thing because they were only eight or so.
    Elias shakes his head. “It wasn’t…I mean…no. They’re talking about identical twins. Identical. Nora and Lia are fraternal. They’re… It doesn’t make sense. That’s what I don’t get.” He sits on the edge of his seat, his legs bouncing.
    When the girls finally walk down with the rest of the Gap Year Gifteds to greet the audience members, it’s obvious. I can almost see their feet drag on their way off the stage. They head in our direction.
    Elias leans down to me and says, “Watch it. They’re both going to jump on me. Love pile. Weird family tradition.” He beams, but they still have the same plastic smiles and dragging walk.
    They don’t speed up as they get closer. That’s when I really know something’s off. Elias doesn’t seem to, yet, because he slings his arms around each of their necks and pulls them to him tight. They draw in toward him, but their movements are almost wooden. He whispers something in each of their ears, then draws back and turns to me, motioning me over.
    “Nora, Lia. This is my girlfriend, Merrin. Uh, the one I wrote you about.”
    I blush, maybe because I so seldom hear him refer to me that way. Maybe because he’s been telling his sisters about me, and I know how important they are to him. But I smile, too. A lot.
    “It’s great to meet you,” I say, extending a hand. They both nod at once. Nora shakes my hand first, and her fingers are like ice. Lia’s are the same.
    “Well,” Lia says, “we need to be back. See you soon, right, Elias?”
    “Um, yeah.” Elias swallows hard, and his eyebrows tent up. He hugs them to him tight again. “Love you girls,” I hear him whisper. They glance back at Elias and smile a little on the way out, not looking at us, but somehow beyond us.
    “Well,” I say, smiling. “That was good. You got to see them. They look