by Sarah Carter
“Yeah, they’re in the kitchen. They tried coffee for the first time and are hooked. Damien’s about to make pancakes.”
She rubs her stomach. “Great, I’m starving.”
“Surprise, surprise,” Jackson teases.
“Shut up.”
He grins.
They walk together to the kitchen. Claire finds everyone standing around the island. “Good morning,” she chimes happily.
“Morning,” Damien replies. “How was class?”
“It was history. How do you think it was?”
Shrugging his shoulders, he says, “It’s not so bad.”
“Maybe for you,” Claire snorts. “I’m not as academically gifted as you three.”
“I said I would help,” Damien offers, breaking eggs into a bowl.
“I’m fine,” she states with playful attitude. “I can do it on my own.”
“I have all the faith in the world in you. So, are you hungry?” He asks
Claire smiles. “I usually am.”
Aurora interjects. “He’s going to make pancakes, bacon and hash browns.”
“Oh, yum,” Claire replies. “He makes the best hash browns. They are a type of potato, just so you know.”
“Kind of like French fries? I love French fries.”
“Sort of.”
Damien asks. “What time is your next class?”
“One o’clock. Algebra.”
“I’m good in that subject,” Xander says.
“What mathematics were you taught?” Damien asks.
“Beyond calculus into our mathematics. Our studies were taken very seriously.”
With a thoughtful look, Damien says, “I wish I knew what you were taught so we had something to better to go off of. We’ll have to get you tutors and find out.”
Xander shrugs and the sugar bowl flies across the counter to him.
“That’s still cool to see,” Claire laughs.
“I was encouraged to use my powers as much as possible. I’m actually holding back right now. Usually I am using it all the time. For myself or helping others. Especially Trinity. With her being blind, she needed help a lot. Usually I wouldn’t tell her I was helping. It made her feel more independent.”
“That’s sweet.”
“I love her,” he whispers, staring at the counter. “I would do anything for Trinity.”
“We will get her,” Damien promises.
“I sure hope so. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to her.”
Damien walks over and puts his hand on Xander. “I have our best people working on it. The most brilliant people on this planet. We won’t stop until we get to this institute.”
“That makes me hopeful,” Xander replies. “I’ve never felt that before. We escaped but even then we were on the run. There was no hope, just fear.”
“Tell us more about Trinity and Mason, and the others even,” Claire says.
“Though Trinity is blind, she gets around really well. She has a stick but she uses that to make sure she doesn’t run into objects. She can sense us. We were given strict orders not to move things around so she knew where everything was. Everyone loves her. Trinity is very motherly. The kids are glued to her most of the time.”
Jackson pipes in and asks, “How young are the kids when they come by you? I can’t imagine you were kids taking care of babies.”
“When we were younger it was toddler, but now it’s babies. We take care of each other like family. The older kids are in charge.”
“Who teaches you?” Kayla asks.
Xander answers, “Computer tutorials. There are twenty desks with computers. The older kids help the younger ones at first. But we get up and do drills for a few hours, rest and then six hours of direct study. Then when that is over, we are back to drills. We ate exactly at 8:30, 1:30 and 6:30. You ate what they gave you or you didn’t eat and were punished.”
“That’s crazy,” Kayla says.
Claire adds in, “My training wasn’t even that bad. I also wanted to learn. You were forced.”
“Everyone else didn’t have it as bad as the three of us. It never did anything to Trinity, except that one time. It couldn’t do anything to Mason. The blunt of the abuse was to us, to me. It wanted to see what we could do. So we were pushed to the limit. If we grew tired and stumbled, we were punished. If I was unable to complete a task, I was punished. If it thought I wasn’t doing something on purpose, I got stabbed.”
“Oh my god Xander,” Claire gasps, covering her mouth in shock.
“It was hell, but we somehow found joy with each other. We’re a family. That was why it was so hard to leave, but the opportunity presented itself and we had to make a choice. I turned to Trinity and pleaded with her. She said no. She couldn’t leave The Collector. So I had to turn and leave her behind.”
A heavy pause fills the air. Claire finally whispers, “I’m so sorry.”
With a pained expression, Xander says, “I wonder if I had told her how I really felt if she would have come with. If I had been honest.”
“We’ll get your family for you,” Damien promises again.
“I worry about the little kids. What if one of them develops a power like ours? What will it do to them? We escaped. I’m afraid what it would do to make sure they never did. Trinity said that everything is on lockdown. No one is allowed outside at all. Which I feel bad about. It’s the one joy that we had. I took it away from them, but like I said, some of the kids have never even been outside. Never seen the sun.”
“We will make sure that they all live someplace beautiful. Someplace where they can be outside whenever they want.”
Aurora excitedly says, “I want the kids to have of those things made of wood with the things that go back and forth.” She gestures with her hand.
“A jungle gym,” Claire replies. “Those are swings. They can have a slide and monkey bars.”
“Not all of them are that far into their shifting,” Xander says.
Claire smiles. “No, in human form. We’ll show them how to do it when the time comes.”
“If we can get Trinity and the kids into real homes, I don’t care what would happen to me. My life would be complete. My family safe and happy.”
“And Mason, what do you think he would do?” Damien asks.
“I don’t know. I don’t know which side of the fight he would be on.”
“Tell us about him,” Claire says, making a cup of coffee.
He nods towards Ariel. “I think it’s best if Ariel does that.”
“Thanks,” Ariel sarcastically snaps.
“You know him the best.”
“He’s very arrogant. He knows how good looking he is and with his powers he thinks he’s invincible.”
“Like someone else we know,” Damien murmurs, looking at Claire.
She puts her hands up. “Hey, I always say some day we are going to come across something that will finally knock me down. I know it’s going to happen.”
“It may be Mason,” Ariel states.
“I don’t know about that,” Claire scoffs. “You don’t know how much training I’ve gone through.”
“You don’t know what he is capable of. He may be not be as good as of a fighter but he jumps. He’ll hit you and jump before you can even make contact. We’ve seen it, a lot. He’s very skilled.”
Claire looks at Damien. “More the reason you need to train me more on my energy.”
“We’ll start tonight. We can train every day. There are teachers even better than me.”
“Get them here,” Claire demands.
He starts laughing. “I love that you just give me orders. You’d think you were in charge.”
“I will be. I’ll be the wife. Which means I’m in charge.”
“Oh,” Damien laughs more. “Is that how it goes?”
“Yup. Secretly your mother rules. Your Dad just doesn’t know because we women are very smart and can outwit men.”
“I will have to ask her about that one.”<
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Aurora interjects, “We were taught the females of the species are smarter than the males.”
“Ha,” Kayla exclaims, looking at Jackson. “I knew it was true.”
“Whatever Kayla,” he groans.
She smugly smiles. “Proves my point that I’m smarter than you.”
“It’s what they were taught. Who knows if it’s actually true.”
Claire jumps in. “No, it’s actually true. There have been studies done.”
His shoulders fall. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“Ha ha,” Kayla tAunts. “Hopefully our children take after me.” She gives him the biggest grin ever.
“Honey, I’m not stupid.”
Kayla bumps Jackson with her hip. “No, just not as smart as me. So, hopefully we have girls, so they can be as smart as their mother.”
He smiles. “I like that you’re talking about our future children.”
She turns red. “Whatever Jackson.”
“No, it’s cute,” he says, putting his arm around her. “Anyway, I want little girls.”
“Really?” Kayla replies, looking really excited.
“Mmhmm, a whole brood of them.”
“Like five,” she exclaims.
“Holy cow,” Claire exhales.
Jackson smiles. “That sounds good to me.”
Damien turns to look at Claire. Her eyes widen. “Don’t get any ideas.”
“I didn’t say a thing,” he replies, smirking.
“I’m not having five kids. Don’t even give me that look Damien Blakely.”
He shrugs his shoulders and smirks more. “What look?”
“This body is what has the babies. It’s not having five. Uh uh, no way, no how.”
Tilting her head, Kayla says, “Don’t you just have to think about it during sex?”
“Kayla!” Claire yells. “What’s wrong with you? Now I will definitely think about it during sex.”
“Sorry.”
“Great,” Claire says, throwing her hands up. “Now, we can’t have sex until I forget about this stupid conversation.”
Damien looks shocked. “Wait…whoa…what?”
“Damien, we can’t accidently think about it at the same time and get pregnant.”
With a gasp, Damien replies, “So no sex is the answer?”
“For now…”
“What? That’s ridiculous.”
“I don’t want to have a baby at this age. Yeah, I could care less about college with being in the guard now, but still. I have missions to go on, not babies to be had.”
Aurora smiles. “When do you want kids?”
“I don’t know,” Claire replies. She slaps her hand. “Missions. Missions to be had. I’ve thought about kids, but now…”
“But now what?” Damien snaps.
“I’m part of the guard,” Claire explains. “I would have to give that up. Months of being pregnant, having the baby, taking care of the baby. That’s years out of my service.”
“So, what, you don’t want kids now?”
She grimaces and says, “Well…” Damien’s face turns steely. Claire sighs. “Damien, give me time. Geesh. We’re nineteen. I don’t want this to end up in an argument. Way too early for kids.”
“Actually,” Ariel interjects. “We are supposed to be reproducing at this age.”
“Thanks, that’s not helping,” Claire growls.
“It’s fine,” Damien says. “I’d like us to finish college and establish what we want to do.”
“Yeah, kick ass and teach other people to kiss ass,” Claire cheers, bouncing from side to side. “Dream job.”
Ariel asks, “Why are you in college? You don’t seem to enjoy it.”
“Because the parental units think it’s a good idea. I’m like, I make a boat load of money just doing what I do. Let me teach guard members. That’s always been my goal. I just didn’t know if I’d be able to achieve it.”
“Well, you did.”
“So, I say college is pointless, but Drake and my grandfather think it’s necessary.”
Xander says, “Well, you did get into Stanford.”
“Yeah,” Claire replies. “Because I thought I needed an education to have a job.” She cracks her knuckles. “But now I can use my actual skills for a job.”
“What about when you can’t do the guard anymore?” Aurora asks.
“Then I teach.”
Damien sighs. “Claire, you need a college education.”
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah.”
“Mature.”
Winking at him, Claire says, “You know it.”
He shakes his head. ‘Let’s all rewind a little bit. Mason.”
“He’s smart,” Ariel states. “Super smart. Really good with computers. Really good at mathematics. Excelled more than anyone. He’s smarter than his own good. So on and so forth.”
“So, we’re in trouble when it comes to him,” Claire replies.
“Sort of…”
“Great,” she groans.
Damien gives Ariel a thoughtful look. “Think about it. How can we get him on our side?”
“Be the winning team.”
“How do we tell him that or convince him of that?”
“It would be hard. He knows better than anyone what The Collector is capable of.”
“And what is that?” Claire asks.
Xander replies, “They has a serum that will knock someone unconscious instantly. Plus, another that will keep you from shifting.”
Kayla’s head jerks. “William? He’s dead. I ate him.”
Everyone stops and stares at her. “That’s not something you hear every day,” Ariel states, with wide eyes.
“That’s true, but seriously…”
“Kayla,” Damien sternly says.
“Well,” she snaps. “Doesn’t it sound exactly the same?”
“I have thought of that.”
“Maybe they knew each other.”
“Thought of that, too.”
Shaking her head, Kayla says, “William was crazy. Wanted me to have his babies so he would be accepted into the Caster bloodline.”
Xander gives her a thoughtful look. “I don’t know if The Collector has anything planned for the council. They were never nicely talked about but it was mostly the Neturu of the past. How they had left the Kenga behind.”
“This was a big thing for you. The Kenga?” Claire asks.
“Yeah, a huge thing. We spent a good chunk of our studies on the Kenga,” Xander answers.
Claire narrows her eyes. “How weird.”
Damien jumps in. “We honestly lost the information a long time ago. How would The Collector have any of it? It doesn’t make sense.”
Ariel puts her hand to her chest. “To us the information you have is grossly wrong. What if we are right? Have you thought of that?”
Damien scoffs, “That’s absurd.”
Aurora says, “What if it’s true? What if The Collector has all the information? We are your data base.”
Nodding her head, Ariel adds, “Just think about it Damien. What if you’re wrong and we’re right? What would it have to do with The Collector?”
“Like they’re Kenga?” Kayla suggests.
With a roll of his eyes, Damien says, “How would the Kenga have gotten here?”
“Stow away?”
“For hundreds of years? Really Kayla?”
“Don’t be a jerk Damien,” she snaps.
“I’m not trying to be,” he replies, thrusting his hands out. “This is all just a little crazy.”
Jackson finally speaks. “I do have to say I think we’re on the right track. The Collector obviously has interest in the Kenga.”
“But why?” Damien asks.
Xander replies, “That’s an answer we do not have, but I’ve thought about it since we started talking about the Kenga. Why would we be taught all of that if it wasn’t true? Also, if we were never leaving the inst
itute why were the Kenga so important?”
“That’s a very good point,” Claire agrees.
“Though we don’t understand anything when it comes to you. Why the institute exists. Why you were created. Why you have your abilities. Who The Collector even is,” Damien states.
Ariel shakes her head. “We were made for a reason. What the reason is is unknown.”
“How you were created is the biggest question. Just...how,” Damien says. “It makes no sense.”
“Telekinesis, jumping, morphing, astral projection…” Kayla says.
“Astral projection?” Aurora asks.
“Yeah. Astral projection. It’s kind of like an out-of-body experience. You have an “astral body” separate from your physical body. Kind of like going to Shima but more than that. She goes into a different plane than Shima. So, it’s almost like an astral projection off an astral projection.”
“Kind of like, she astral projectors herself from Shima into someone else’s mind,” Ariel replies.
“Exactly.”
Xander raises his eyebrows. “We have never had a term for it before. There is no lore for it for the Neturu.”
“Let me look into that,” Damien says. “Because there are a lot of archives that no one can access.”
“It would be a good thing to look into,” Claire states. “We should look into all of their abilities.”
“I will put someone on it. I have class today and a test tomorrow.”
“Oh, pfffff,” Claire scoffs. “Oh my god, Damien has a test in something, whatever will he do? Oh yeah, watch TV all night.”
He puts his hands out. “I’m good at taking tests. I can’t help it.”
“It’s because you’re a brainiac, but with those brains, someday you will rule our race and saves lots of lives.”
Damien smiles. “That’s the plan.”
“How about we make some pancakes,” Aurora says. “I’m starving.”
“Okay, let’s do this then.”
Chapter 10
Xander
“Look, look, it’s so cute,” Aurora exclaims. “It’s a puppy.”
“This is the fifth time we’ve seen this commercial,” Xander sighs. “I’m more interested in the show.”
“Whatever Xander,” Aurora replies.
“Xander?”
He spins around to find Trinity behind him. “Trinity.”