Cloneward Bound (25 page)

Two extended his hand. Fisher looked down at it, speechless. He couldn’t believe that the explosion of anger had never come.

“At first I thought of you as just a clone,” Fisher said, his voice barely above a whisper. “But now … you’re the
best brother anyone could ever have.” He glanced to the side and saw Amanda’s eyes watering up. She quickly turned away, scowling. “And she may not exactly know who you are yet, but I think you’ll find you do have a mother who loves you. And a father. I mean, they might kill
me
, but I’m sure they’ll love you. Can you really forgive me?”

Two’s expression hardened. “When you made me, it was completely selfish and ridiculously immature.” Fisher winced; what Two said was true, and he knew he deserved it.

“You weren’t thinking about anyone or anything but yourself,” Two went on. “And yes, I forgive you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here, would I?” His face split into a wide grin. Fisher took Two’s hand, and they shook.

“I promise,” Fisher said, “you won’t be a secret anymore. I know that you came to LA because you wanted to be your own person. And you
will
be.”

Dr. Devilish was staring at the two of them like they’d just sprouted opera-singing jungle vines from their noses. GG McGee just shook her head dazedly. Kevin Keels was running his hands all over his body as if to confirm and reconfirm that all of it was still there and that he wasn’t dreaming.

Amanda walked up to Fisher and Two, arms folded.

“You two are going to need some assistance if you want
to take Dr. X down,” she said. “I think I’ve proven on this little adventure that I can hold my own in a tussle. What do you say?”

“I’m sure we’ll keep you in the loop,” Fisher said. “Won’t we, Two?”

“Absolutely,” Two said, turning a smile on Amanda.

“Well, then,” she went on, “since I’ll be working with you and helping you take down an evil mastermind, I’m going to have to get to know you a little better. Fisher, I’ve known for years. You … I’m not so sure about.” She raised one eyebrow at Two.

“What do you want to know?” Two asked, anxiety creeping into his voice.

“There’s a … a certain event coming up on the school calendar,” said Amanda. “The fall formal. I
suppose
,” she said, rolling her eyes up toward the ceiling, “that I could put up with you for the evening, if … if you wanted to go with me. So we could talk, you know, and strategize.” For a second, she let her confidence slip, and she bit her lip.

“Well …” Two began, clearing his throat and starting to smile before wrestling his own face back under control. “I guess that would be okay. You know, if you think it might be necessary.”

Fisher averted his eyes and pretended to be fixated on a piece of twisted metal by his feet, as Two and Amanda
continued gazing at each other. FP trotted around them in a circle, looking smug. Fisher had been around FP long enough to know what a pig looked like when it was feeling smug. And he had to admit, it was kind of cute.

“Hey,” Two said. “Sounds like the adoring fans are almost here. Devilish, Keels, why don’t you two go down and start greeting? I’ll be right there.”

Dr. Devilish waved his hand in front of Keels’s eyes to make sure he was still conscious, and then helped him down the long stairway.

“You think we’ll be ready for Dr. X next time?” Fisher said, looking out over the smoldering wreckage that now covered the vast studio space.

“Oh, yes,” Two said, looking back at him, and then at Amanda. “But he won’t be ready for us.”

EPILOGUE

The very next day, Fisher stood at his locker in the main hallway of Wompalog Middle School. He and Amanda had gotten back just in time for the wake-up call at the hotel, and Dr. Devilish had worked some makeup magic on Two that made him look just different enough from Fisher that they were able to pretend to be cousins. A little hair coloring, some shading and a bit of putty applied to the nose and ears worked wonders. GG McGee had even helped them forge a note from Fisher’s parents asking if “Sean” could hitch a ride on the bus back to Palo Alto.

Fisher had promised that Two would have his own life, and he intended to keep that promise. Two understood that. For now, they would continue to keep a low profile, taking turns going to school and eating family meals, and when the time was right they would reveal the truth to their parents, the school, and the world at large. At the moment, Two was too distracted by thoughts of his imminent date with Amanda to be very concerned about it.

Fisher had a more immediate concern of his own:
Veronica. How was he going to explain his bizarre and erratic behavior to her? How would he explain his whole Basley story, his strange moods, his tendency to disappear at the oddest times? He didn’t know what he’d say to her about it. Of course, that was assuming that she was even going to talk to him at some point, which might have been an unrealistic expectation.

“Fisher?”

And there she was. Hair falling down around her shoulders like autumn leaves, bright eyes making everything around her seem duller and grayer. She walked out of nowhere as if summoned by his thoughts.

Which was definitely an improvement over Kevin Keels appearing out of nowhere whenever Fisher had thought about
him
.

“Hi, Veronica,” Fisher said, searching for something additional to say. Nothing immediately occurred to him, so he just stood there, gaping like an idiot.

Then, to his surprise, she blurted out: “I wanted to apologize.” She dropped her eyes to the floor.

“You … what?” said Fisher, the second word barely squeaking out of his throat.

“I’m sorry for the way I acted in LA. You know … fawning all over Kevin Keels so much,” she said. “I’m sure it must’ve gotten really annoying. I don’t really
know what got into me. Today I saw a video on YouTube.… Do you know he’s been lip-synching this whole time? He has a terrible voice.” She shook her head. “What a fake.”

Fisher felt like he was standing at the intersection of a dozen rainbows.

“That’s all right,” he said, barely able to speak past the grin that was spreading across his face. “It’s easy to fall for that kind of thing.”

“Well, anyway, I’m glad I’ve seen through it,” Veronica said. “And I thought that since Keels hauled me out of every conversation we tried to have, I could make it up to you.”

No
, Fisher thought. She couldn’t possibly. There was no way in the whole entire universe that the next words out of her mouth could be …

“Would you like to go to the fall formal with me?”

Fisher didn’t immediately answer. He couldn’t. He was too busy worrying about his heart rocketing out the top of his head like a surface-to-air missile.

“Would I like to? Would I … that is, I would, which is to say, yes, yes, I would like to go.” Fisher hoped that the savage beating he had just given the English language didn’t make her change her mind.

“Great!” she said, beaming that smile that could keep
an ice age at bay. “Well, I have to get to class, but I’ll see you around.” Then, with no warning, or at least no warning that Fisher was socially aware enough to pick up on, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek before turning and walking away.

Fisher felt time itself drag to a crawl, as great golden unicorns leapt from the walls and shot Technicolor fireworks out of their horns and a symphony orchestra blared into life, its melody echoing dreamily down the corridor. So much for the calculation of K. He had never been happier to have his math be completely wrong.

Fisher turned back to his locker. He had forgotten what he was doing there, so he decided to just stand there and smile until he remembered, and he didn’t really care how long that might take. He was going to have to figure out what to do about the fact that now both he
and
Two were going to the formal, but for now, it could wait.

For now, just for a minute, he could be happy.

That evening, after Two had snuck out for a late walk to see Amanda, Fisher unpacked his suitcase and chatted with CURTIS.

“What was I gonna do?” the computer intelligence said. “Let the poor kid starve and beg?”

“You still went behind my back,” said Fisher sternly. CURTIS had posed online and over the phone as Two’s legal guardian and had been the one in contact with Lulu O’Lunney about Basley’s contracts and the apartment she’d arranged for him.

“I was doing it for both of your sakes!” said CURTIS. “Imagine … a movie star alter ego that everyone thinks is you! You could reap the glory without even doing the work! Slip into fancy parties, big movie premieres, lots of free buffets …”

“All right, all right,” Fisher said as he rolled up his jump-socks and put them away. “Just don’t pull any tricks like that again, okay?”

“I am always lookin’ out for you, kid. Remember that. And hey—want to see somethin’ else I got for you?” CURTIS opened a browser window and played a video. It was a newly released commercial, and it opened with a scuffle between Wally, Syd’s wombat, and GG’s dog, Molly. The two circled and pawed at each other around a tall, gleaming spray bottle of the new edible Spot-Rite, trying to claim the bottle as their own, as if it were a freshly grilled steak. Apparently, the stuff was just that delicious.

“All right, you two,” a sweet female voice cut in, and the camera panned up slowly as Jenny Nichols leaned
down to retrieve the bottle, spraying it gently over the floor. “The new Spot-Rite,” she said, turning her eyes to the camera and smiling brightly. “Nothing else hits the spot.”

Fisher laughed and looked down to see FP eagerly watching his friends’ star performance, curly tail waggling.

“Fisher?” his mother called from downstairs.

“Hang on, CURTIS,” Fisher said, walking to his bedroom door and cracking it open. “Yes, Mom?” he called.

“You just got a big, thick envelope in the mail,” his mom answered. “It’s marked ‘Ace McSnout Script.’ Who on earth is GG McGee?”

More clone adventures for all to enjoy! It doesn’t seem like so long ago that I began typing out the first chapter of
Popular Clone
, and here’s the second installment of the Chronicles already, bigger, crazier, and clonier than ever.

Seeing
Popular Clone
in bookstores and online was remarkable and otherworldly. I think it took a long time to sink in simply for being such a new experience. (I started to type “novel experience” just now and then realized I’d be making a hideously bad accidental pun. I’m only mentioning it at all because I know my mother will appreciate it. And as long as I’m being parenthetical, thank you, Mom. You’re a great mom. Even if your sense of humor sometimes makes me want to dunk my head in a bucket of powdered limestone.)

Lauren, Lexa, and Beth continue their excellent work at Paper Lantern and remain brilliant and entertaining collaborators. It’s rare for me to find even one person who wants to hear about my crazy ideas for characters — like a toaster who thinks he’s an English butler — let alone three of them. Greg at Egmont is the same dashing bespectacled rake as usual. Carry on with that, sir.

I could white out most of this volume and fill it with notes, and still not have the research to properly express what I owe to Lilly, and how much she has done to keep my heart and mind afloat. That’s an awful mixed metaphor, but I warned you I didn’t know how to express it. Thank you, Lilly.