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I was snuggled up in Archer's arms the next morning feeling better than I had felt in a long time. His arms wrapped around me with warmth. I traced my fingers along his perfectly copper skin. This is what peace felt like. It was almost easy, in that moment, to forget about everything else. 

A little groan from Archer told me the moment was over as he woke. His grasp released me as he stretched out. 

"How did you sleep?" I asked. 

"Better than when I am alone," he smiled at me. My stomach did a weird twist as my face began to heat up. I looked away from his hazel eyes with embarrassment.  "How did you sleep?"

"Surprisingly well considering my life was being squeezed out of me all night," I joked. He laughed. "I have been thinking."

"About?" Archer continued to lay beside me as we spoke.

"How Herald said the Macallister was his son. We can't have children."

"Maybe it's in the documents." Archer shrugged. "He had hand written notes in there."

We went back to our findings from the night before with fresh new thoughts. Archer continued to read each thing he picked up while I only searched for papers that could have shown me exactly what I had been wondering. If Harold knew who his true family was, and he had received it from the system, then I would be able to know too. 

"Listen to this," Archer said as he picked up one of Harold's hand written notes. "It's somewhat of a quickly scribbled guide to his papers. Down near the bottom, it mentions birth records and it has a number forty-two next to it." 

"That must mean it is paper number forty-two of his findings," I said with excitement. 

 "But they are not numbered," Archer pointed out. I tried not to let that deter me from finding it. I picked up a sheet, checking the top and bottom of the paragraphs, nothing. Each corner did not have a label to it. I flipped it over. In the right-hand corner was a very small marking. I looked harder. It was the number seven. A huge grin spread across my face. I point at it for Archer to see. "I guess I was wrong."

"I figured you would be," I laughed at him. Neither of us liked to be wrong. We flipped over each paper in turn. I was the one to find it. The bottom was ripped off brutally. I held it up. In small block letters it said:

Birth Record and Gene Line

as of  8566: Generation 3

genetic code used: 4 times

2823

3119

3457

3798

"Macallister is one of four that are classified under him?" Archer asked.

"Yes," I said. "He was born with a number."

"So which one is he?"

"He has to be 3798. All numbers are three years apart. Macallister is too young to be any of the others." I stood up. "I have too many questions. I want to speak with Harold."


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4522 {The Number Series}Where stories live. Discover now