28 February 2013
Project 12/21
Prologue
Thirteen years ago, seven babies were delivered on the doorsteps of seven different families in seven different corners of the United States by a man in a black trench coat. He was shadowy and mysterious, and if you happened to be looking outside the window at your newlywed neighbor’s lawn that very day and seen him appear, leave a bundle on the porch, ring the doorbell and walk away, you probably would’ve thought you were hallucinating. He was that quick to leave. This, of course, seems like the perfect combination for an evil mastermind, and that term actually fit him well.
As for the babies, they weren’t quite human, but they were similar enough. The babies would grow up as normal boys and girls with their adopted parents. The adoptive parents the man decided to leave the seven children with were carefully selected, and the seven families were the ones who wanted a child but hadn’t yet gotten one through the legal system or naturally. They would lovingly raise the children until the man could contact the children again to call them back when his plan was ready to begin.
The seven little babies would look like people, talk like them, act like them, think like them, but are not exactly them. But they wouldn’t know that they were different until much later. It would take even longer for them to find out what exactly they actually were. I know, because I was one of the seven. And the mission to save the world—and the truth—led me to places I could never have dreamed of.
--Hope Crandall
PROJECT 12/21:PROLOGUE • Opuss № I