Chapter 45 - The Boy Who Took His PlaceEthan barely slept that night.
The palace had been evacuated, the lower chambers sealed, and Malachar had vanished into the tunnels beneath the mountains.
But the image of the teenager in his bedroom remained burned into Ethan's mind.
Someone had taken his place.
Someone had been living with his mother.
Someone who looked almost exactly like him.
And that person knew he was watching.
At dawn, Captain Rowan arrived with a visitor.
A young woman in a gray cloak entered the chamber.
She introduced herself as Elara, keeper of the royal archives.
Ethan had met her once before, but something about her seemed different now.
She carried a heavy leather book.
"The king ordered these records destroyed," she said. "I kept them hidden."
She placed the book on the table.
Inside were drawings of strange portals, vanished travelers, and seven identical boys.
Ethan turned the pages quickly.
Then he saw a photograph.
A real photograph.
Not a painting.
It showed Daniel Cole standing beside a medieval stone gate.
Behind him was a younger King Aldric.
"My dad was here," Ethan whispered.
Elara nodded.
"He came to Asterwyn fourteen years ago."
"Fourteen?"
"Time does not obey the same laws here."
She turned another page.
A map showed two worlds connected by a narrow passage.
Above the passage was a name:
THE MIRROR ROAD.
Elara explained that the fractures did not merely transport people through time.
They could also create copies.
"When a traveler crosses too many times, the worlds try to repair the damage. Sometimes they create a second version of the traveler to replace the missing one."
Ethan stared at her.
"The boy in my house."
"Yes."
"Is he dangerous?"
Elara hesitated.
"He may not know what he is."
Ethan looked down.
"Does my mom know he's not me?"
"No one can say."
A dreadful thought entered his mind.
"What happens when the real person comes home?"
Elara opened the book to its final page.
Two boys stood facing each other.
One was surrounded by light.
The other by darkness.
Beneath them was a sentence.
WHEN THE ORIGINAL RETURNS, ONLY ONE MAY REMAIN.
Ethan closed the book.
From outside, the palace bells began ringing.
Not the morning bells.
The warning bells.
Rowan ran to the window.
Far beyond the city walls, an army of black-armored knights had appeared overnight.
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Above them flew a banner bearing one symbol.
Ethan's face.
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