Taken (Erin Bowman)

second page?”
    He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of parchment. I take it from him and unfold it with unsteady hands. I remember where the previous page left off— Gray is, in fact —and begin reading.
    your twin. You are not a year apart but several minutes. I did not know I was carrying two, and when Gray arrived just moments later, I saw my chance to test things. I had Carter keep Gray’s birth secret. A full year later, after a faked pregnancy, Carter returned to “deliver” Gray. She deemed him “sickly” and forbade him visitors. Gray saw his first day of sunlight at age two and a half. By then, no one questioned a thing. You were nearly identical, but brothers, believed to be a year apart.
    If the Heist really is just a part of life, none of this will matter. I had wanted to see this myself, so that I could finally accept the mysteries of Claysoot, but I will not, and so the rest is on your shoulders. Should you and Gray disappear together, you can accept the Heist for me. But in case the Heist is something more, well, this is why Gray must not know. His knowing will foster questions, and I fear with questions he will not stay put. And if he is spared, he must. He will be proof that some of our boys have a chance.
    Carter and I have devised a plan if this is the case, but the closer death creeps, the more likely it seems that the Heist is just an unfair portion of life I never managed to accept. I hope you do not hate me for this, for turning your lives into an experiment. I love you both very, very much. Not a day goes by that I don’t see your father in the two of you. You are his mirror images, but only Gray has his stubborn nature, so remember that even in keeping this secret, as painful as it may be, Gray is your brother, your twin, and will forgive you in time.
    There is no signature, only a splotch of ink at the bottom of the parchment.
    This is the information that Frank wants, right here in this letter. This could be what he needs, proof that a concealed birthday made all the difference in my escaping the Heist.
    “Can I keep this?” I ask, not looking up.
    “Sure.”
    I fold the parchment in on itself, matching premade creases. Blaine passes the first page back to me, and I return the complete letter to my pocket. It’s odd finally having Ma’s letter in its entirety. For so long, I thought that reading the message would make sense of things, but even now, I’m still perplexed. And plagued by questions.
    “What was Carter’s plan? What did I mess up by leaving?”
    “After Ma died, Carter filled me in,” Blaine says. “She said if we were not Heisted together, her plan was to simply wait. After your Heist, if it came on your nineteenth birthday, she’d have proof that the Heist was somehow based on public records and not actual birth dates. She was going to talk to Maude then, start devising a way to hide other boys’ birth dates on a more grand scale, buy them more time. Test out the theory. After that, I don’t know.”
    I snort. I don’t think telling Maude would have been much help, not after what I saw the night I climbed. I start to tell Blaine this, but he speaks over me.
    “I thought she was crazy, too. I thought they’d both lost their minds and I only stayed quiet because I’d made a promise to Ma.” Blaine looks at the ground and then back to me. “She said you’d forgive me. For keeping secrets.”
    Ma was right about me being his brother, about the fact that I’ll forgive him. I’m just not ready. Not yet. You can’t read that your whole life is a lie, that you were a test, and then carry on like everything’s normal. Nothing about me is normal. Nothing about where I am now is normal. I am completely and utterly lost.
    “Gray.” It’s another I’m sorry without saying the actual words.
    “It’s done, Blaine.” There’s an awkward pause. I try to remember if one existed between us before, and come up with nothing. “So you know everything?” I continue, desperate to break the silence. “About Claysoot? And Harvey?”
    He nods. “You?”
    “Yeah, Frank told me.”
    “You met him? In person?”
    “How else would he have told me?”
    “I watched it all on a video.” He must read the confusion on my face, because he continues. “They have these things called cameras here. It’s like a set of eyes that can watch things at all times. It can even save some of what it sees and trap it permanently, so you can watch it later,