"I don't care what you say, Rhea," Atlanta told me after school. "We're all coming over tonight."

After Nate had rebooted Kat's iPad he had told us that he had done some techy, nerdy stuff and had tricked out the iPad to bypass any more 2319 stuff so we could have unlimited access to the Internet. But he had also explained that it would take at least five hours for the iPad to accept the new command, so we'd have to do it tonight. In exchange for his services Nate made me promise that I'd tell him everything that we found on "Project Omega."

"I'd really rather do this on my own," I said, but Robyn cut me off.

"No way, sis. The last few times you did something alone, everyone thought you were dead, some crazy girl gave you some pills, and you got thrown out of a hospital. We're coming over tonight. You're just lucky that I'm not ordering one of us to be with you at all times, even in the bathroom."

I looked to Kat for some support, but she looked guiltily at me and shrugged. "Sorry, Ray, but she's right. I don't want to sound like a Disney movie, but we're all in this together, whether you like it or not. We're all going to find out what's going on here, and we're all going to do whatever it takes."

Lyra, Atlanta, and Robyn all nodded their agreement.

"Besides," Lyra said, "Cooper's throwing another party tonight, so I'll need some place to stay."

I sighed. "Fine. Sleepover it is then."

"Sleepover?" 

I turned around to find Kaylen, her dark brown hair up in a bun, her dark brown eyes curious. Next to her was Red, her long red hair pulled in front of her face. She gave me a small, shy smile when she saw me, but I could tell it was strained. Red was easily scared, and she had obviously heard about the body in the lake. 

"Yeah," Robyn said in reply to Kaylen's question.

"Sweet. What's the occasion?"

We all looked at each other, wondering how much we should tell them. They were great friends, don't get us wrong, but this was something really big, and a bit personal. Besides, I already had more people in on it than I wanted.

"No occasion," Kat said. "Just a sleepover."

"Is this about the Project Omega thing?" Kaylen asked. She smiled slyly when our jaws dropped.

"H-h-how did you-"

"I was in the bathroom when you were talking to Nate," Kaylen explained. I heard everything."

"And I assume Red knows as well?" Kat asked.

Red nodded. I was alright with Red knowing; she never talked, so she was the best secret keeper around. But Kaylen...

Kaylen seemed to read my thoughts, because what she said next was, "Don't worry, Rhea, I won't tell a soul. I only told Red because she can keep a secret better than anyone."

Red nodded her agreement. 

"What we want to know," Kaylen said, "is who this Renee girl is."

They all turned to look at me. I sighed and said, "She claims she's our sister." I set my hand on Robyn's shoulder. 

Kaylen's jaw dropped, and Red's eyebrows rose, which for Red was the equivalent to dropping dead on the floor from shock. 

"That was... unexpected," Kaylen said.

"Yeah, wait until you see her," Lyra said. "They even look alike."

If possible, Red's eyebrows rose even higher. If we surprise her anymore, I thought, we'll have to order her new eyebrows online. 

Shaking my head out of these thoughts, I said, "We really shouldn't be discussing this out in the open."

They all looked around, as if for the first time realizing that we were standing in a small park, a shortcut that Kat and I used often to get home after school.

"Come on, let's get to the apartment, then we can talk."

~~~~~~~~~~

We were about the enter Kat and my apartment when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I stopped short, bring everyone else behind me to and abrupt halt. "Look," I whispered. I pointed to the crack under the door.

Kat gasped. "The lights are on!"

Of course, the lights were automatic; they turned off when there was no movement in the house, so that meant that someone would have had to broken in, because the only people who ever came into our apartment were right behind me. 

"You guys stay here," I ordered. "I'll go in, Kat, you follow me. Just pretend that everything's normal."

Kat nodded and together we opened the front door. 

"It's your turn to make dinner tonight," Kat said, playing normal for whoever was in our house. 

"What are you hungry for?" I asked just as casually. 

"How about some mac n' cheese; I'm not very hungry."

I could understand that. My stomach was so tangled with knots of worry I doubted I'd eat for the next week.

We turned into the living room to find...

"Cal Camper?" Kat asked. "What the heck are you doing on our couch?"

"More importantly, what are you doing in our house?" I said. 

Cal stood from his seat on our couch- Great, I thought, now we'll have to burn the couch- with a mug of hot chocolate in his hand. Might as well throw the mug into the flames too.

"Took you long enough to get here," Cal said. "I had enough time to read all the expiration dates on the food you have in the fridge."

"You can read?" I said sarcastically.

"What are you doing here, Cal?" Kat said quickly before Cal could come up with a reply (not that she would have had to say it that fast).

"I'm here for answers." Cal sat back down on the couch. "Why did I find your body in the lake, only to see you ten minutes later making your way to your own body?"

I groaned. "That wasn't me. I was at the library when they pulled Renee ou-"

"Who's Renee?" Call interrupted.

"The girl they pulled-"

"Not they," Cal interrupted again. "Me. I pulled you out."

I groaned again. "That wasn't me! That was a girl who only looks like me. I'll give you a few seconds for your two brain cells to work that out."

Cal's brows came together in a scowl. "I'm not an idiot, Rhea."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. "I thought you were, 'cause only an idiot breaks into another person's house."

He scowl deepened and his eyes were dark. "You... I... whatever, Orthys." He stood from the couch, turned on his heel, and stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him.

Author's Note: Last chance to predict what "Project Omega" is. The next chapter will be dedicated to the first one who gets it right. Who's your favorite character? Least favorite? What character would you like to see more of?

As always, please inform me of any grammatical errors you find. I can't learn if I don't see my mistakes.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. What are your holiday plans? Going anywhere? What's you favorite Christmas family tradition? What's your favorite part of the holidays? Tell me in the comments below and have a very merry Christmas!