My face must show my anguish because he’s quick to give me an out.

“You don’t have to tell me; I was just curious—”

“Julian. He’s my twin.”

I have to stop to breathe when I feel the tears start to sting at my eyes. It doesn’t take me but a moment to recover though, and, with a shaky breath, I continue.

“It was about four years ago. He decided to go after the Order. I begged him not to go. But he’s always been stubborn.” I smile as I think back on my time with him. “Just like me. The night he left, he said, ‘they’ve already killed our parents, I won’t let them kill you too.’” I change my voice as I imitate him and laugh lightly at how bad my imitation is.

Sensing the lightness of the moment, Jonah smiles along with me, but it’s short lived. “So what happened then?”

My golden eyes meet his green ones as I look up at his question. “He never came back.” I have to pause again, fighting back the burning of tears before continuing. “I knew he wouldn’t—still, it was rough. Waiting for him. I kept thinking that, if I waited just one more month, he might show up—bruised, beaten, exhausted, but alive.” I shrug. “After a while I had to move on. It’s dangerous, you know, to stay too long in one place when you spend your nights stalking revenant. I found a new place but I never stopped looking.”

I point to my head as I quirk a half smile at Jonah.

“It’s because we’re twins. We just know. We’ve always known when the other was in trouble. So I know he’s still alive. Still out there, waiting for me to come for him. Because I promised I would.”

My expression hardens as I’m reminded of my mission. “It’s taken me years to find a lead. So many nights spent watching the Order in the hopes they’d give some indication as to where they might keep their prisoners, some indication as to where I might look to find him. So, when I finally had the chance to get my hands on something tangible, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I had to go for it and hope for the best. I had no way of knowing if I’d ever get another chance.”

Jonah’s eyes search my face, a quiet understanding etched into his features. “The briefcase.”

I smile. “It’s a good thing you saved me, else we’d both be done for. My brother and I both owe you our lives.”

He nods and his eyes fall to his lap as he takes in my story. Noting his still shirtless state, I stand to pull one of his trademark loose T’s out of his dresser, a forest green, and he leans forward as I gently tug it over his head, noting with satisfaction that the color only serves to make his eyes stand out even more. With the shirt on, we work together to get him lying down once more and the blankets up over him.

“So what’s inside it?” He asks.

“The briefcase? I have no idea.”

He frowns. Well, tries to but his broken nose makes it difficult. “Then why’d you risk so much to go after it?”

I pause in tucking the sheets around him as I contemplate his question. In the moment, I’d only had a split second to decide, and it seemed too good a chance to pass up. It seems lame when I look at it that way, but that’s what it came down to.

“I don’t know. Just call it women’s intuition.”

The puzzled look he gives me seems to imply that wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

I spend the rest of the evening taking care of little chores while Jonah rests. I offer to go to the store to get painkillers that he can take but he says he doesn’t need them and further points out that it probably isn’t safe to go out given the revenant are likely out patrolling for us.

Which is, I suppose, a very valid point.

So instead I take time to put my clothes away in the drawer Jonah says I can use, clean up the apartment a bit, make a note to purchase a new mirror for Iris (once I retrieve her from the mall parking lot), and, as the evening winds down, I attempt the first of my briefcase lock-picking theories: the screwdriver.

Unfortunately, it proves ineffective.

I’m not discouraged. I still have many other theories to attempt before I’m willing to admit defeat.

Multitudes of theories.

So many.

But it’s late now, so I decide they can wait.

I consider sleeping on the couch but decide against it mainly because I’d rather be close at hand if Jonah needs something. Instead, I grab the blanket off the back of the couch and a chair from the kitchen, then make myself comfortable laying on my arms on the edge of the bed.

I’m so exhausted from the events of the day—shopping, fighting revenant, carrying Jonah home—that I fall into a deep sleep within minutes.