“Sir, we saved the child. She’s going to be okay,” I said, looking back at Creed. She slept in a nest of blankets and sleeping bags. “And we found Eve One.”
Silence for a long moment. I had a feeling Royce took that moment to swear. “So there’s two of you now, huh?”
“Twice the fun, sir,” I said with a grin.
I faintly heard him chuckle. I imagined how the fine lines would grow around his eyes when he smiled. Exactly how my father’s eyes looked in all those pictures.
My demeanor grew more serious and I glanced back at Avian. “Royce, did you have a brother named Rider?”
He paused again for a moment. I could imagine the way his brows would pull together and his gray eyes would question. “Yes. Why do you ask?”
My chest swelled and I started blinking rapidly when something bit at the back of my eyes.
“We’ll talk about it later. See you soon.”
“We’ll all be waiting for you.”
TWENTY-THREE
I didn’t expect to feel relief when we pulled into the parking garage at the hospital. This place had never felt like home, and being trapped there had made me start losing my mind just a few months ago. But it was the place that had housed all of the members of my family. Literally, now.
Royce, Tuck, Tristan, and Gabriel, as well as Lin were waiting for us as promised. As soon as I stepped from the solar tank, Lin was across the garage and was squeezing me so tight I thought even my ribs might crack.
“You’re alive!” she said in a delighted squeal. “And in one piece!”
“We hardly even ran into any Bane,” I said, mocking her. “It was actually a fairly boring trip for the large part.”
“Whoa,” Lin suddenly said, looking over my shoulder. “You two really are identical.”
I turned to see Vee step from the tank. She looked uncertain, but not afraid.
“Everyone,” I said as the rest of the welcoming crew came forward at a more acceptable pace. “I’d like to introduce you to my sister, Vee.”
She nodded at them, without the courtesy smile most people would have worn on their face. Tristan reached forward to shake her hand, but she didn’t know what to do with it. He withdrew it awkwardly.
“Vee, this is Royce,” I said, indicating him. I wondered if it would mean anything to her, the fact that he was her uncle. “He’s sort of our military affairs leader. This is Gabriel, he’s the more personal level leader. He’s been working on rehoming everyone after we cleared the city. And this is Tuck, Tristan, and Lin.”
“Apparently we’re not important enough for explanation,” Tristan teased, raising an eyebrow at me.
“You’re all still alive, that means you’re important,” Vee said in a very logical voice.
“I like her,” Tristan said, giving me a sly smile.
“And who might this stowaway be?” Royce asked. I turned to see Avian step from the vehicle, Creed wrapped in a blanket in his arms. Royce looked up at me with incredulous eyes.
“This is Creed,” Avian said, lightly bouncing from one foot to another. West stepped from the tank as well, carrying her oxygen unit.
“And she’s…” Royce said, unsure how to finish his sentence.
“She’s like us,” I finished for him, fixing him with a hard stare.
“You didn’t need to abscond into the night with her mother like that,” he said, his voice bordering on scolding me, and being offended that I’d sneak behind his back.
“You wouldn’t have let us take her,” I said, never breaking his gaze. “And it was my operation. I didn’t need your permission.”
He didn’t respond but held my eyes in a way that said no, he wouldn’t have given his permission.
“Get her upstairs to Dr. Sun,” Royce suddenly said, looking away to Creed. “No need to make her freeze down here.”
Avian shouldered the oxygen pack and feeding tubes and slipped inside.
Dr. Evans stepped from the tank.
“Won’t be long and there will be no traces of human left on you, huh?” Royce said, cringing slightly as he looked at Dr. Evans. I observed him too. He had, indeed, changed over the last two weeks. The small amounts of flesh still on his face were being slowly overtaken.
“Won’t be long and it won’t matter anymore,” he growled as he went for the back of the tank. He pulled the doors open and produced his precious box of supplies. “Shall we get back to work?”
Royce didn’t say anything, just nodded his head back to the opening of the underground garage. I opened my mouth for a moment, about to ask Royce for a minute to talk. But saving the world was still more important. I’d find a better time later.
“Is Graye still in charge of security detail?” I asked, turning back to Tristan, Tuck, and Lin.
“Yeah,” Tristan said as we all turned back to the doors leading inside the hospital. “Elijah’s still laid up. His leg got infected pretty badly.”
I nodded. “I’m going to ask him to have a guard watch Dr. Evans at all times.”
“Yeah,” West said, following us, Vee in tow. “What was his comment about earlier?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. But it’s true; he’s losing more of his human traces every day. How long before he loses grip on his humanity?”
TWENTY-FOUR
“My room is just next door,” I said as Vee walked around her new room. She ran a hand over the hospital bed, a look of detachment upon her face. “West and Avian are just across the hall if you need either of them.”
“These people lived here when there were still Bane in the city?” she asked, her brow furrowing.
I nodded.
“Their odds of surviving for five years that way, in a city of this size, they’re miniscule, nearly nonexistent.”
“I know,” I said, leaning in the doorway, crossing my arms over my chest. “I fought it when our colony made the exodus west. I thought everyone was going to get infected if we came into the city.”
“It is a miracle that they didn’t,” she said, raising an eyebrow. She absentmindedly pulled a drawer open. It was empty. She closed it again.
There was silence for a moment as Vee continued to wander the room for a moment before settling uncomfortably on the bed. Her back was ramrod straight, her hands placed lightly on her thighs.
“I’m sure Dr. Beeson will want to meet with you soon,” I said. I was getting back to not knowing how to fill these uncomfortable silences.
“Will he want to fix me like he fixed you?” she asked. She looked up at me with hints of uncertainty in her eyes.
“That is entirely up to you,” I said, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “I asked him to do my emotion blocker adjustments. I was evolving past them, but the chip and my emotions were still combating. Everything that I was feeling was becoming dangerous to me and those around me. Blackouts. Mood swings. It was ugly.”
Vee nodded. “Maybe someday. But not yet.”
“That’s fine,” I said.
“You ready?”
I turned to find West and Lin standing behind me. Lin held several bottles of hair products and a metal comb. West had an armload of towels and clothes.
“Yeah,” Vee said, trying to smile. This was going to be a difficult life adjustment after nearly six years in solitude.
“What’s going on?” I asked, looking quizzically at Lin.
“She wants the dreadlocks out,” Lin said, a crooked smile curling in her lips.
“Is that even possible?” I asked, looking back at Vee’s hair. It was long. Longer than I had ever worn my hair. The tendrils hung more than halfway down her back.
“We’re about to find out,” West said, raising an eyebrow at me.
“Good luck with that,” I said, smiling as I ducked out of the room. I heard the three of them head for the bathroom as I worked my way down the hall.