by L. Ann Marie
I see she lives close. “The note on the seat said Princes. I see the bikes pulling in here so I brought him here. If there’s somewhere else I need to bring him, you’ll have to tell me. I’m new and don’t really know where everything is.”
Hyde goes into alert mode. I tell him in his head she’s not a threat and he relaxes. “You brought him to the right place. I’ll take him from here.” I lift the boy and put him against my chest gently so I’m not the cause of more pain for him. He calms right away. “Get my bike to my house. I’ll need a ride.” Hyde looks at the guard throwing him chin and the guard moves toward the gate. Looking at the woman I see she’s nervous again. “Do you have any other information for me?”
She shakes her head no. “I’m not sure if leaving him with a biker is right, but the note told me to bring him to Princes. You’ll get him somewhere he’ll be safe?”
I nod. “He’ll be safest right here. I need you to give your information to Hyde. If we need answers you’re our only lead.”
She relaxes. “Are you the police?”
I smile. That thought relieves her. “Something like that.” She turns and asks who Hyde is, but I don’t wait. My little guy is calm, but still in pain and dripping piss on my arm. I walk toward the guard and hand him the boy. “He’s hurt, something hurts him to breathe. Be gentle.” Pulling my cut, I get my shirt off and around him then take him back. He puts his head on my shoulder and I start walking to the gate.
“Hey Blackhawk hottie!” the woman yells. Hyde laughs and I turn around. She’s worried. “Can I come see him so I know he’s alright?”
I nod and point to the school. “You can go to the school gate and they’ll bring him out. As I said, we have people trying to get at the kids. That’s as close as anyone will let you get.” She watches me for a few seconds thinking about crazy bikers then nods. I start walking again, but stop short. My head whips around and I catch her eyes. She’s thinking about telling Dean all about this and asking what to do. Who the fuck is Dean and why is she asking? “Stop!” She freezes. “Who is Dean?”
She laughs like I told a joke. “This is why she brought me here? You’d think she would have told me.”
Dean is a reader and dragged them from Ohio to here. She’s searching? I pull everything she has about Dean and start walking. “You know this paranormal shit doesn’t happen in the rest of the world. She should have told me!” Her cranky is back with a vengeance.
I throw her a wave never looking back and get in the SUV with this poor kid. Before we’re off I slide in Hyde’s head and tell him I need her information and I’ll be going out later to pull what I can. He thinks taking orders never spoken is getting easier. I throw him a picture of a smiley face and hear him laugh as the SUV pulls away.
Mucimi is throwing me pictures and I let him in. He knows exactly what’s going on and wants the boy so he can fix him. He shows me Jacob is there and I laugh. I tell Jacob to get water in the tub for the boy and I’m a minute out. Hawk is waiting at the garage when we pull up. I pull a bone before I get out and hand it to him as I’m going by. “You did good Brother. Let’s go see Mucimi.”
He follows me into the house and Mucimi comes running. He wants to hold the boy. “No little dude. He needs to be cleaned up and get some clean clothes.” He starts shaking his head no. “He’s in pain Little Brother. He needs a bath and some clean clothes. You can help with the bath. I need him calm so I can find out where he came from.”
“Hurt away now!” He’s never yelled that I know of and I’m surprised to see this now.
Brantley picks up Mucimi. “Let’s take his hurt away in the tub. If you keep putting up a fight he’ll hurt for longer.”
Mucimi sucks in a breath and his tears fall. “No.” He throws the bathtub at me and I start walking. Holly is standing back watching, but doesn’t say anything.
“I need Nick and Prez here.” She nods and walks into the kitchen. “Brantley, Mucimi is off the chart here. Can you get someone to keep him calm?”
He looks back at me worried. “Won’t Jacob do that?”
“No Brother. He’s support for healing. We need one of the kids.”
“I am here Brother. Prez will work on his placement, but I can calm Mucimi and the adults with you later,” Dakota says from behind me.
I smile. He’s blocking me completely, but showed when I need him. “Thanks Brother.”
“Brantley take Mucimi to his room until the boy is in the tub.” He tells me in my head to shield. I nod and throw it to Jacob. I hold the boy up while Dakota undresses him.
“Sonofabitch!” Jacob yells scaring the boy and we hear Mucimi scream.
I close my eyes. We don’t need Mucimi seeing this. “Dakota, can you take away some of this before Mucimi gets in here?” The boy has two cuts on him and bruises every-fuckin’-where.
“I am Brother. Jacob I need you to go help Brantley calm Mucimi. Block what you see here.”
Jacob pulls the door open. “They better fuckin’ pay! I’ll do it myself!” He slams the door scaring the boy again.
Dakota takes him from me and holds him against his chest. “Our new friend, we will make it all better for you. Mucimi will make sure of it Little Brother.” His words relieve me until I pull his diaper off.
“Jesus, Dakota.” I throw him what I am seeing.
“It is not sexual, but a bad infection. The blood is the reason I wanted Mucimi and Jacob away, Christian.”
“Thank fuck. He’s ready.”
He nods. “The water will be painful. I need a minute to help that.”
Mucimi is still screaming in his room. He doesn’t scream, so it unnerves me. “I need to go calm him down Brother. Let me know when you’re ready for him.”
He tells me in my head to go. I walk through the bedroom door and see Jacob move across the floor without moving his feet. Fuckin’ kids. “Stop!” Jacob stops moving, but he’s pissed. This is the distraction I need. “Never is it okay for you to move people to get what you want when they tell you to wait.” I speak slow and make sure he understands I’m not happy. “We have years of experience and know you need to give Dakota a minute with the boy. You are three. You don’t know what we do. Give us the respect we deserve. We earned that respect and what you’re doing right now shows us that doesn’t mean anything to you. Is that the message you’re trying to send?”
His whole body starts shaking. Brantley is pissed at me, but doesn’t say a word. Mucimi looks at Jacob. “Sorry.”
Jacob nods and puts his fist out. “We’re good Little Brother, but Christian is right. That was a disrespectful shit move to pull on your favorite uncle.”
Mucimi nods and looks down. “Why is he shaking, Christian?” Brantley’s words are clipped.
“He’s sorry and doesn’t know how to get it out. Mucimi, look at your dad. He is not upset with you. Because you were screaming, he’s a little nervous, that’s scary to hear from your child.”
Mucimi looks up at Brantley. “No more. I bring boy for you.”
What? His head is swirling like Jeremy’s, I throw this to Dakota and hope to fuck he can get something. Brantley is watching me. I throw to him asking him to give us a minute to calm him and get what he’s talking about.
Mucimi puts his arms out to me and I take him. “Prez is here and needs to talk to you Brant.” He looks from me to Mucimi. “I’d give my life to keep him safe from anything that could hurt him. Over the next two days I’m going to ask you to trust me and my ability to protect him from everything including the emotion that’s causing such extreme reactions.”
His whole body relaxes. “I do Brother. I didn’t realize it was a lesson. Seeing it, now I do.” He kisses Mucimi’s head. “Listen to Uncle Christian. It’s important little dude.”
Mucimi nods and watches Brantley walk out. He asks me his questions in my head. “He is not disappointed just as Uncle Jacob isn’t. You learn the lessons of your fathers and make us proud Mucimi. We will learn more about that tomorrow. Right n
ow, Dakota is calling us. He needs your help. Are you calm enough to give that to him now?”
He freezes. “Yes.” He doesn’t normally talk and I’ve never registered that he slows his head down to do it. I’m always just surprised to hear his words.
I take him to the bathroom with Jacob following. ‘Get this to Prez and we need Nick in here,’ Dakota throws then starts throwing everything at me. Mucimi starts crying so I set him down. He’s ripping his clothes off and Jacob kneels down and helps him. He climbs in with his boxers on and sits holding the boy’s hand. “No!” he cries looking at Dakota with tears falling again.
“Jacob help them.” He nods at me and touches the boy with the healing chant spilling from his lips. Dakota stopped throwing shit at me so I go find Prez.
Nick is waiting with Holly at the table. “They need you Nick. Dakota said it’s not sexual, but a bad infection. There was blood in his diaper.”
His blood pressure rises and it’s like watching a cartoon with red rising until it reaches his head then blows out. “Fuckin’ bastards better be dead.”
He grabs his bag and walks down the hall fast. I’m glad he’s pissed; this boy will need all the help he can get and that anger will fuel the determination in the adults that help him through this. I look back at Holly. “The boy needs a home. Dakota thinks we need to keep him close to Mucimi.” She nods. “Not even a hesitation. Thank you, Holly. You need to hear what I’m going to tell Prez and Brantley.”
She stands and I follow her out to the deck. Prez watches me. I’m closed to him, but I need to shield from Mucimi and throw it to him. He relaxes and nods. “The boy has some developmental issues. He does have ability, but Dakota says it will have to wait right now because he’s clouded by pain and the disability. Mucimi connected with him and got him to leave the house he was in. The boy crawled across a road and was picked up by someone with a seat for him heading our way. Mucimi had him dropped at our exit and picked up by the woman that brought him to us.” I stop and wait for Prez to get his anger under control. I’ve been throwing the pictures that Dakota gave me so it’s pretty vivid how the boy came to be here.
“Where is he from?”
I throw the house at him then show him inside. “It’s south east Connecticut close to the New York line.”
“What!” Brantley is pissed again. “Mucimi reached out to some baby and got him here from more than two hundred miles away? Alone!”
“Jesus. Calm down Brother, he’s three and doesn’t know the danger that would put the kid in,” Taylor says walking up the stairs. We all look at him. “Dakota said I need to be with Christian later for Ops. I was just coming to see what’s up.”
I look at Prez. “I’ll tell you about that after the boy.” He nods. “The boy has a broken rib, bad bruises on his back, arms and a cut on his side and hand. The cuts were made by a grown man that the boy is familiar with. He has a bad rash that Dakota says is infected and blood was in his diaper, but nothing sexual touched him. His skin looks like it was burned wherever the diaper touched, but it’s worse between his legs and at any creases. That’s what’s bleeding, the creases. He hasn’t eaten today and by the looks of him that’s a normal thing. His cheeks are the only thing with meat on them.” I look around and Holly is crying, Taylor and Brantley are pissed and Prez is waiting for more. “Mucimi said he brought him here for Brantley. He threw them as older laughing with Teller and Justice. I know you’re pissed at him for putting the boy in danger, but Taylor’s right, he doesn’t understand the danger. I planned on taking him to work tomorrow and showing him so he understands what we have always seen. Co said he’s not too young to jump so we’ll do that too. He’s getting too emotional over things we can’t control right now. We need to give him—and all the kids—the information we’ve been blocking from them so they can make better decisions and help keep each other safe. I don’t want Mucimi to end up fuckin’ up like I did. We can help that by showing him what we see and giving him the ancestors as an outlet to calm and guide him.”
We all wait for him to consider what I said. After a minute, he looks at Holly then Brantley. “Are you willing to take the boy?”
“Yes,” Holly says right away and Brantley smiles nodding.
“A disability isn’t temporary,” he says looking at Holly. We all get that, but it doesn’t play into our thinking like it would outsiders.
She smiles. “Neither is my love.”
He smiles. “Of all the things to settle my fuckin’ head you hit it Holly. Thank you. I’ll get his information and adoption set when you’re ready.”
“Now.” She’s determined. I smile and Prez watches her. “Mucimi won’t let him go. He sees him as older and they’re happy. I’ve learned to trust those pictures. I don’t have to understand them to have faith that they’re right and the Princes, namely you, will not let go or let us fall,” she explains.
I laugh. “Never,” Prez says.
He looks at me with questions going through his head. “I can’t go further with Holly and Brantley here.” I look at them not sure how much information is too much for them to hear.
Holly stands. “I’m going to check out my new boy. What is his name?”
“We don’t have one. His speech will be a problem. I got pictures, but no words from him.”
She nods and pulls me down kissing my cheek. “Thank you.”
I watch her walk in and see the vision of her crying alone in the hall. I push it away and look at Brantley. “She’ll need you.” He looks at Prez and gets a nod then follows Holly.
“I think you’re right taking the kids to Security so they see all we do. They’re reading from more people now and I didn’t get that their perspective is so narrow. I’m telling them to use what they don’t know. You should have said it at the school. I’m not giving them what they need, but expect them to react as we would.” He’s disgusted with himself thinking he’s failing them.
“I didn’t know myself until I saw Mucimi’s reaction to Aiyana’s melt down today. I talked to Co and started making the plan. I had no idea he was staging all this with the boy. I was at the MC today and didn’t see the kids.”
He nods and I’m relieved. “I don’t expect you to see everything with them, but the boys didn’t throw anything to me. Is he blocking them?”
“Fuckin’ Christ,” Taylor says sitting.
“Two things that happened today lead me to believe he is. He got the boy here by controlling other people and he was moving Jacob out of the doorway so he could get to the boy. He was angry and feeling the boy’s pain.”
Prez freezes. “Moved Jacob?” I throw him the picture. “Fuck. How is he learning this?”
The slider opens. “He is learning from Christian.” Dakota steps out looking at Prez.
Prez looks at me. “You’ve learned how to move people?”
I look at Taylor and lift his chair up about three feet. He’s shocked, but doesn’t say anything. When I put him down I look at Prez. “This is what I’m training Jeremy and Aubrey on right now. The Protectors are learning with smaller objects, but Blaze moved a chair today.”
He looks at Dakota. “Why am I learning this now?”
Dakota turns toward me. “Christian has all the information on his boards. He has gone beyond what I had listed, but is not shielding that from you.” He looks back at Prez. “I am no longer overseeing the Protectors and have been warned of my place when Christian aligned himself with the ancestors and readers. I can only guide his way my Warrior Leader. I believe Christian will be bound to his Protectors soon.”
Prez looks down and we wait. “This will take some getting used to. I see where I put you in a position, but didn’t arrange for your information to flow to me. I’ll fix that tomorrow. For tonight, what is happening that you need Taylor?”
I look at Dakota. “He has a job that will require HS. I have not had a chance to talk with him to give him that information.”
Prez turns to me with questions running through his h
ead. I answer before he asks. “The woman that brought the boy is from Ohio. She was brought here by a reader. Hyde has the information for me and I made arrangements to go by there tonight just to get a better idea of why they’re here.”
We wait. When he looks up I see what he’s thinking. “I didn’t think Mucimi could do what he’s already done. I want to say he couldn’t, but I don’t know. I plan to get that tonight.” Again, I answer what he hasn’t asked.
“You’re getting in where I’m shielding. Is this new? I’m not able to read you while you’re shielding for Mucimi.”
I look at Dakota because I have no clue. “He is getting stronger Prez.”
“I didn’t know. It feels the same to me so I assumed you let it show.”
He nods. “Nunánuk and Co made a reference to this happening. At least in the cryptic Indian speak.” He’s smiling so it’s good. “Tomorrow we’ll meet and go over all I need to know and how you’ll keep me up to date. Take Taylor with the Security you have arranged tonight. Use your Protectors when you arrange for Ops.”
I look at him wondering if he just missed it or he wants me to move people around. “He does not have that and will need it to understand the picture you see so clear,” Dakota says.
“There are no readers in HS here Prez. I have you and Dakota here, but no HS Ops readers to pull. Jacob is the closest, but he doesn’t read like you are thinking.”
“Fuck. How the fuck did I miss that?” His hands go into his hair putting a tie in it. “We’ll look at that tomorrow too. I’m missing too much lately. I’ll get it together and have a better plan when we meet. Dakota I need some time tomorrow to get this straight and jump for some guidance.”
Dakota nods. “I will be available when you need me Prez.” He stops and I see concern, but he’s not going to tell Prez so I let it go.
“Taylor, I’ll get your first class covered. If you need longer, text me, and I’ll arrange more.”
“Roger Prez. What time Christian?”
“Twelve,” I tell him.
He walks toward the stairs. “I’ll meet you in the garage.” I throw him a thanks.