Chapter 10

While the kids are playing with all their new stuff, the rest of us sit around the table talking.

“They’ve really never gotten presents before?” I can’t wrap my head around it. Some of us have had shitty upbringings, but at least we’ve received a present or two.

“No. You should have seen Lara when I bought her those fucking books. You would have thought I’d handed her a slice of the moon,” Oz exclaims.

“It makes sense, I guess, in a fucked-up way.” Greg sighs.

“How the fuck does that make sense?”

“Giving gifts shows a level of caring. And building relationships in a place like the Division can be dangerous. Love can make people do crazy things, like protect people that don’t deserve to be protected. Or sacrifice themselves when there is no other way out.”

“Like Bella’s mom?” Avery says quietly, remembering that the woman who helped her escape blew herself up as a distraction so her daughter could be free.

“Exactly.”

“We don’t know if there was ever any love between Lara and her father. Salem was saying that he used to be a good person.”

“I said he was good to me, that he had good in him, not that he was a good person as such,” Salem sighs..

“Be that as it may, Lara was born and raised in the Division. She’s been isolated and deprived of love for seventeen fucking years. I don’t know what kind of person he used to be, but he’s never been a father to that girl,” Greg states adamantly, his eyes moving to Crew’s and mine.

“You can’t still think she’s working with him. You can’t watch her with those kids and not know she’d fight to her last breath to protect them.”

“I know,” Crew admits. “There’s a part of me that worries that she’s just a good actress, and we’re all being played. But those kids are smart. And they love and trust her, and there is nothing fake or forced about it.”

“Should we move her back in with the kids?” Creed asks, looking around the table.

“I’m happy to have Lara with me. It’s nice to have some company, and I get the feeling she’s lonely.”

“Keeping her away from the kids feels like a punishment, though,” Oz admits.

“It’s not a punishment, Oz. But I realized something last night when I was getting Delaney some water. Lara does this all on her own and has done it for—fuck knows how long. She’s effectively a seventeen-year-old single mother of four. As much as I’d be happy to move them all back in together, I’m not sure it’s the right move. Lara deserves to be free to do what she wants. Though I doubt she’d complain for a single second about taking care of those kids, I do think they”re too dependent on each other. Maybe it will be good for all of them to spend a little time apart.”

I rub my hands over my face.

“She isn’t going to see it that way,” I warn.

“I’ll talk to her.” Avery offers me a smile, but I can see the worry on her face.

“No offense, but I’m not sure she’d listen to you, Avery.”

When Avery flinches, Hawk glares at me.

“I’m not saying that to be a dick. I’m saying I remember the way she looked at you last night. She felt betrayed by you. I’m not sitting here saying you did anything wrong. Hell, we said and did way worse than you, and I still believe in the reasons we did it. But she won’t see it that way.”

Hawk jumps in. “Avery wasn’t trying to be a bitch, but finding out that dickhead was Lara’s father was a shock to us all. How did she expect us to react?”

“With logic,” Greg states. “You all turned on her because of who her father is, not because of anything she did. Because you know what she did do? She ran from the only home she’s ever known, taking the kids she loves with her, not even knowing if they would end up in a worse place than they were, because she trusted Avery. Not to mention, she helped Avery get back home and gave her a flash drive with a fuck-ton of information on it.”

He leans back, looking at us. Though he doesn’t say it outright, he doesn’t bother to hide his disappointment in us.

“She’ll forgive you all in time. She’s too nice not to. Hell, Oz is always a dick, and she forgave him. But the thing is, he manned up and apologized. Nothing is going to get fixed if you don’t all at least start with ‘I’m sorry.’”

“We get it, Greg, we’re assholes,” Crew grumbles.

“Good. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Spend time with her. You’ll see that there isn’t an evil cell in her body.”

“What about what Zig suggests about keeping the kids separate from her?” Slade questions.

“Keeping them separate.” Greg snorts. “You won’t separate them, no matter what you do. But I can see what Zig means. And I agree, maybe it will be good for all of them to spend some time apart. But not because I think they’re too dependent on each other, but because I think it’s important they all learn, Lara included, to trust people outside their little group.”

We’re all quiet, considering his words, before Bella walks over to me and hands me a piece of paper.

“This for me?”

She nods, cuddling the purple stuffed bear Lara got for her. I look at the paper while the others watch on and find a drawing of three stick figures standing in front of an apple tree.

“This is really pretty. Thank you. Is that you?” I ask, pointing to the tallest figure, making Bella giggle.

“No, silly, that’s you.”

“Right, I can see it now. And what a handsome fella he is, too. What about this one?” I point to the one on the left, who is slightly shorter than the other two.

“That’s Crew. He’s grumpy.”

Laughter breaks out around the table, and Bella takes a step closer, using me to shield her from them.

“Why is he grumpy?” I’ve gotta know what she thinks is causing it.

“He’s grumpy because he loves Lara, but he doesn’t want to love Lara. And Lara is in the middle so you can both protect her.”

Silence fills the room as we all realize this isn’t a regular picture.

“Who are we protecting Lara from, Bella? Do you know?”

She nods and presses herself against my leg. I lift my arm and gently put it around her shoulders.

“The bad man. He’s mad at her.”

“Why is he mad at her?”

“She belongs to him, but she didn’t do what she was supposed to.”

I run my hand gently up and down her back. “We won’t let anything happen to Lara, Bella. I promise.”

She looks up at me, her teeth biting into her bottom lip. “Even though you don’t like her?”

“I like her. I do. I know it might not seem that way, but, well, it’s complicated. I’m going to say sorry, though, and ask her if we can be friends. You think she’ll forgive me?”

Bella nods frantically, her curls bouncing around all over the place. “She’s really nice and pretty, and I think she likes you and Crew until you hurt her feelings and made her cry,” she brutally replies before turning to look at Salem. “Can I have a cupcake now? I’ve been waiting forever,” she asks with so much sass, it has all of us laughing and the mood instantly lightening.

“Sure, help yourself. There are strawberry and vanilla ones with vanilla and chocolate ones with chocolate frosting.” Salem smiles at her.

Bella bites her lip in contemplation. “What if I don’t like the one I pick?”

I frown at her. “You don’t remember what kind of cupcakes you like?”

“I’ve never had cupcakes.”

Slade jumps up and storms over to the counter. He grabs a plate and fills it with both flavors before walking around to Bella and handing them to her.

“Take them all. You’ll figure it out,” he tells her gruffly.

His eyes widen as she takes the plate from him. I half expect them to go toppling onto the floor, but she carries the plate to Delaney, who is sitting on the floor combing her doll’s hair with the same care she would a grenade.

“What kind of kid has never had a cupcake?” snarls Jagger, who had been quiet up until now.

“The kind of kid who spent her life at the Division where all her dietary needs were taken care of for her. Of course, those needs didn’t include treats or any kind of junk food,” Greg replies.

“Jesus Christ. She’s six years old. She’s spent all her life there?” Jagger complains, but Greg is staring at me.

“I’m sure six years seems like a long time to us, but it would have felt like a blessing to Lara.”

I open my mouth to ask him what he means when it hits me. “She was born at the Division. She’s lived there her whole life, too, hasn’t she?”

He nods as all the pieces fall together.

“No school, no friends… I…” I’m lost for words.

“How does someone come from that and still end up being so well-adjusted? I would have ended up feral.” Oz places a kiss against Salem’s neck, making her shiver.

“Hate to break it to you, Oz, but you are feral.”

“Well, fuck.”

Everyone laughs at him except for me and Crew. I can’t find it in me. I look over at the girls, eating cupcakes, surrounded by a pile of toys, and picture a younger version of Lara in their place, her sad eyes looking up at me.

“I think we should just go talk to her. Apologize so we can work on getting back in her good books,” Crew says so that only I can hear him.

“So we’re not following through with your plan of getting close to her so we can get information from her?”

“I still want to know what she knows, but I don’t want to fake anything. I think I’d like to be her friend.”

“And when she’s not seventeen anymore?”

“If I say no, I risk her finding someone else. And yeah, they might make her happy and give her the life she dreamed of, but I’m not noble enough to give her up. I thought I could. But I can’t. Does she deserve better? Fuck yes, but I’m not going to let her go without a fight.”

“Hey guys,” Ev wanders in, his eyes briefly taking in the girls eating cupcakes.

Noah and Alfie are on the sofa on the far side of the room. Alfie is reading Noah a story by the looks of things.

“What’s with all this?” he asks, looking at the pile of toys as he sits in the chairbeside us with his iPad in his hand.

“We picked up a few things for the kids. Oh, that reminds me, we bought Alfie an iPad. You mind setting it up for him?”

“Sure, no problem. I’ll grab it on my way back upstairs,” he says as he takes his tablet and taps something on it before turning it around for us to see.

“I was searching through all the information I could find on the kids. There’s a lot because there have been so many kids in and out over the years. I found Alfie, Noah, Bella, and Delaney easy enough because the files were in chronological order. Lara’s has been harder to find. I’ve narrowed it down, but I’m hoping you can give me some more info on her so I can figure out which file is hers.”

“It feels like an invasion of privacy—talking about her file without her permission,” Avery tells him.

“I’m sorry, Avery, but we still don’t know what her gift is and if it’s dangerous. I’m not saying she’d hurt anyone, but is it something she has control over?”

Avery looks away, a flush of guilt on her face.

“Come on, Avery. I know you don’t want to break her trust. I promise nobody here is going to say anything. She’ll tell us when she’s ready, and we’ll just play dumb. But it’s important that we know what she can do so we’re prepared,” Crew tells her.

Avery sighs and drops her head. “Her gift is telekinesis,” she mumbles quietly.

“Are you serious? Holy fuck!” Oz exclaims, and Avery looks up at him.

“Yeah, it’s pretty wild to see. Or at least, I think so.”

“You make it sound like others aren’t as impressed. Somehow, I find that hard to believe.”

“She has the strength to move small objects from one side of the room to another, but anything larger than a stand mixer is a no-go. The division found that pretty underwhelming and told her that—repeatedly. I overheard some of the staff say that’s why she was put in charge of the kids because she wasn’t much use anywhere else.”

I curse. “Not much use? What the fuck did they want, exactly?”

“I don’t know—her to move a tank or something. But small objects don’t really have the same impact.”

I look around at others, who seem just as incredulous as I am.

“Well, I guess we can assume that it’s not soldiers running the Division or any kind of ex-military.” Zig leans back, crossing his arms over his chest.

Avery looks confused. “How did you get that from what I said?”

“Because a soldier would recognize just how useful moving smaller objects could be. Say, like, a grenade,” he throws out, making Avery’s mouth drop open as if the idea never occurred to her.

I look her in the eye so that she understands that Lara’s gift shouldn’t be taken lightly. “Or a bullet.”