Chapter 25 · The Girl With My Face

"Ivy, move." Leon's hand closed around my shoulder. "Right now."

I tore free and pointed at the crystal screen.

The girl on it had my face.

Not a resemblance. Not a family trait. Mine. The crooked eyebrow. The scar above her left ear. Even the stubborn tilt of her mouth when she knew she was right.

She was twelve years old.

"Leon," I said. "Look."

"I'm looking at the guards outside."

"Look at her."

He did.

The recording showed an old academy laboratory, cleaner than the one around us. Brass buttons replaced the enchanted clasps on the uniforms. Shelves stood empty behind the girl, waiting for years of stolen notes and confiscated research.

A man's voice came from behind the camera.

"Show me the reduction sequence again, Elena."

My knees nearly gave out.

"Elena," I whispered. "That's my mother's name."

Leon stopped pulling me toward the exit. "Your mother was here?"

On the screen, the girl lifted a vial. The amber liquid cleared without a catalyst.

"Three drops of lunar extract," she said. "Counterclockwise stir. Stabilizer before the precipitate forms, not after."

"Exactly," the unseen professor said. "How old are you?"

"Twelve.