"They're lying," I said the next morning, wandering through the door connecting our two rooms.
Tom raised his head off the pillow and groaned at me, slumping back down and pulling the duvet over his head. In the glimpse that I got I saw that he had a white T-Shirt and very, very messy hair.
"Who's lying?" his muffled voice said eventually.
"The couple from yesterday," I replied, sitting down on the end of his bed and slowly dragging the covers from his face.
"Mr and Mrs Gorman, you mean."
"Them."
"How are they lying?" Tom yanked the blue duvet out of my hand and sat up, wrapping his arms and the sheets around his knees.
"They said my dad's name but called the tower the Stronghold," I explained. "I started to call the tower the Stronghold when I was eight years old."
"Didn't S say that Albin ordered my release, or was a word to get me released?" Tom said thoughtfully.
"Yes..."
"And you say that Albin's your dad's name?"
"Yes..."
"So we can therefore conclude that Albin was at Thunder and is some kind of leader there. Or prisoner, though I doubt he'd be wearing something as awesome as my army uniform."
"If he was at Thunder then he'd be alive," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "Why... why hasn't he contacted me? Why did he lie all these years?"
"Pepper, he probably did it for your own good," Tom said gently. "I hate to be cliché but he did do it for your own good."
"How?" I cried, standing up and pacing the room anxiously. "How is separating two twins, forcing them to live different lives, one with no freaking parents and both having to work at a young age, how is that 'for my own good'?!"
"You get more common sense, you do better in later life-"
"Thomas, stop making things up, Goddammit!" I yelled, thumping the wall with my fist. "None of that was any good! It destroyed my childhood! My adult life!"
"Hey, I had no childhood, so you can't exactly complain," Tom snapped.
"That's because you're part of my imagination!"
"Not imagination," Tom shouted, scrambling towards me and sitting on the end of his bed, "part of your conscious mind. I was a drifting spirit and there was a space in your head so I took it."
"Taking up the place where my memories of my brother and my best friend should be," I said bitterly, feeling tears form in my eyes. "And being here, helping you escape and then staying, it's too much for me. I've got to go. Got to get back to my normal life. I need to go back to them."
I turned to leave but found the doorway blocked by a sheet of one foot thick ice. The window and main door were the same but then I couldn't move. My socks were frozen to the floor and I could slowly feel the circulation being cut off to my lower legs.
"Tom!" I yelled. "Let me go, now!"
"Only if you stay," he growled, folding his arms. "You're not allowed to run off. We need to help the Gormans."
"We can't help liars! They're dangerous, Tom, and I think they might be hunting us." My legs had gone cold and I started to shiver all over as my circulation slowly stopped, my heart feeling the strain.
"And let me go before I die again," I said weakly. "I don't want another you running around the place."
Tom's eyes widened as he realised what I was on about. The ice melted but not quick enough. For the second time my heart stopped and I died.
*
Salt started to feel pins and needles in his feet. The feeling grew until it seemed like his feet were frozen, the circulation being cut off.
The car began to slow as Salt was unable to keep pressing his foot to the accelerator. Noticing that something was wrong Georgina took over the driving, speeding up and steering using her robotic arm to hack into the Porsche's systems.
"What's going on?" Josh asked, leaning forwards between the seats. "The driving style changed."
"Why isn't Salt driving?" Shaade added, pulling himself up Josh's back so his head poked over the soldier's shoulder.
"My legs," Salt muttered. "I can't feel my legs, or my feet, and oh!" He slumped forwards, head whacking against the steering wheel. Ever the practical man Josh checked for a pulse and his face drained of all colour.
"What?" Rebecca called, bouncing forwards.
"Yeah, what's going on?" Sophie meowed.
"Has Salt died?" Rebecca added.
"Salt seems to be frozen," Josh said.
"That's impossible," Emmi said. "Salt melts water, it's a chemical reaction, that sort of stuff."
"No," Josh frowned, "I mean he's literally frozen. Everything has stopped."
*
"Pepper," a voice called, a hand slapping my face lightly. "Pepper, are you alive?"
"Eurghnmh," I murmured, rolling my head sideways, trying to get away. "Lemmeawone..."
"No," the same voice said sternly. "Get up now, come on."
"Noooooooooo..."
"Your phones been going off like mad and you need to be social. Get up." I felt a hand on my back and another around my shoulders, forcing me to sit upright. My head lolled onto my chest and I whimpered, still feeling cold.
"Look, I'll connect you to Georgina so you can talk," Tom said. I shook my head and struggled upright, groaning.
"Don't," I said weakly. "She'll panic, I don't want her to panic."
"She's strong," Tom assured me. "It'll be fine." He waved his hand and an ice screen appeared in front of us, connecting to something. Georgina's face appeared on screen and she frowned.
"How are you connecting with me?" she asked. "I can see you like you're in front of me..."
*
Georgina heard voices and then jumped as two familiar faces appeared in front of her.
"How are you connecting with me?" she frowned, passing the steering over to Shaade by making a control panel spring out of the back seats.
"I can see you like you're in front of me," she continued. "It's quite distracting, really."
"Owwwwwww," Salt gasped suddenly, sitting upright. "Oh God, that really hurt."
"What happened?" Pepper asked, his voice quieter than usual.
"I felt a sudden freezing sensation in my lower legs," Salt explained. "There's water down at the bottom of the car, look."
*
Georgina glanced down to look at the floor and our vision tilted, moving with her head.
"Tom, how are you connecting with my wife?" I asked in a shriller voice than intended.
"Not sure," he shrugged. "I just thought of her and something clicked in my head."
"Can anyone else see the screen thing?" I asked Georgina. She thought for a minute, her frown deepening.
"I think only Salt can," she said after asking around a little. "He can feel what you feel, Pepper, pain and such like. He can sense emotions."
"Interesting," I muttered. "And who's Salt?"
"So you have super speed and your brother can sense emotions," Georgina continued. I froze, face paling.
"Brother?"
"Even I had worked it out by now," Tom said under his breath. I slowly turned to glare at him, my hands balled into fists.
"And nobody decided to tell me?" I growled angrily. "I should know! I have a right to know!"
"He bloody well does," S agreed. "And by the way, I'm Salt."
"Salt and Pepper," Tom snorted, holding back laughter. I turned and punched him in the ribs, staying perfectly still whilst the connection vanished.
Finally, I muttered in my head. Peace and quiet.
Um, maybe not, a sheepish voice said. Hello, brother.
Not another person in my damn head!