After Dupree was taken away in a body bag, I found myself shaking slightly but wrapped in Caleb’s warm embrace as we stood in the corridor outside the interrogation room. Jonathan and River had gone to deal with whatever was required when a prisoner died in custody and had told us to wait for them to come back. I imagined Jonathan probably wanted to talk about all of the craziness that Dupree had just spouted before killing herself, but I couldn’t imagine what he would say. The whole thing was fucking insane.

“Are you okay?” Caleb asked me, and I noticed my fingernails were digging hard into his sides in a reflection of my thoughts.

“Shit, sorry, Cal. I was thinking about what just went down… It was all pretty cuckoo, huh?” I leaned back just a bit so I could see his face.

“I don’t really know what to think, Kit. I mean… we’ve all seen the way you can heal yourself. If that’s not magic, then what is it?” he asked with a frown. I was saved from replying, though, as Jonathan and River returned to where our little group was gathered in the hall.

“Right then, kiddo. Are you okay? I know it can be a bit shocking to see someone die, but you handled yourself really well.” Jonathan gruffly patted me on the arm, and I gave him a weak smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Not actually the first person I’ve seen die, but that story can wait. I’m just feeling a bit overwhelmed by what she said in there.” I rubbed my arms, still feeling chilled. Caleb had released me from his embrace when Jonathan had approached, but I really could have done with his warmth. You’re not cold, Kit. It’s just shock or something. Pull it together.

Jonathan made an odd noise and looked uncomfortable. “Let’s go talk about this somewhere more private. The last thing we need is for the government catching wind of all of this.”

I couldn’t argue with that logic, and it seemed neither could the boys, as no one spoke while we followed my guardian back to his helicopter. Once inside, I opened my mouth to speak, but he silenced me with a stern headshake.

As it turned out, “somewhere more private” didn’t happen until we were all the way back at the house in Cascade Falls that the boys had been living in. Everywhere along the way it seemed there were too many ears, so by the time we were finally allowed to speak about it, I had completely run dry on what to say. What could I say?

“Okay, since you look like you’ve temporarily lost track of your thoughts, how about I start?” Jonathan suggested once we were all seated in the living room, and I nodded. “So, she told a pretty wild story back there. My one question to you, kiddo, is do you believe her?”

I stared back at him blankly, not comprehending the question he was asking. “What do you mean? She was talking about fairytales, for fuck’s sake.”

“It’s a simple question, Kit. Do you believe her? What is your gut telling you?” His stare was getting intense, and I got the impression this was so much more than a simple question, but he was my guardian, my pseudo-dad, I had no reason not to trust his intentions. Did I?

“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, I believe her.” I heard a few murmurings from the boys, but none of them seemed to be disagreeing.

“Right then.” He clapped his hands together sharply, standing up from where he had perched on the coffee table. “Now we can move on and come up with a plan to help you find these parents of yours. It sounded to me like Dupree thought they were still alive, yes?”

“Woah! What?” I looked around at the guys, “Just like that? We are just accepting that magic is real and Kit’s potentially not human? And we are all just okay with that?” I was met with some small smiles and open expressions, not exactly what I had been expecting. In reality, I had been picturing a scene from Beauty and the Beast when I admitted I believed Dupree’s ramblings. The one where Maurice gets hauled off to the loony bin for telling the townsfolk that a beast had his daughter.

“Austin?” I challenged. “You have no issue with this?”

He just shrugged back at me, not flinching away from my eye contact. “Nope. Makes sense to me.”

“Kitty Kat…” Caleb said gently. “Given your abilities, it really does make sense.”

“Maybe not everything she said,” Wesley chimed in, tugging on his hair.

“Oh, finally, I knew you would be the voice of reason, Wes.” I smiled at him, and he blushed, ducking my gaze.

“Ah, no. No, I just meant that I doubt her version of events was necessarily the truth. I don’t doubt the core information, though. I always suspected you were a little magical.” His face flamed even hotter as he spoke.

“Wes has a point. I think the first thing we should do is find one of these surviving others and get their side of the story,” Cole commented and received nods back from the other boys.

Jesus, if this is all true, then maybe I have the same ability as my mom. I could heal Lucy…

“Kit.” River stood from his seat and came over to where I was sitting flabbergasted on the couch. Kneeling on the carpet in front of me, he took my hands in his and pinned me in place with his stunning golden eyes. “Kitten. We are in this with you one hundred percent. From here on out, I want you to understand that you can tell us anything, no matter how crazy it sounds in your head. Even if it’s something as small as a fish tank spontaneously exploding at school.”

I flicked a surprised glance at Austin, and he just shrugged.

“Yes, Austin told us about that, and I imagine there have been other weird things going on? So, from now on, let’s just be open with each other, okay? We all only want what’s best for you and will never do anything to put you in danger.”

I looked around at everyone in the room, including Jonathan. “All of you?” The skepticism was thick in my question, but they all nodded and murmured their assent, even Austin.

“Okay, good.” Jonathan interrupted our emotional moment with a booming voice. “So, it sounds to me like you all have some work to do finding someone who survived the plague. Mr. Morgan, I expect to be kept in the loop at all times. Kit, can I have a word on my way out?”

I scrambled to my feet with a helping hand from River, then followed my guardian out of the house to where his chauffeur was still waiting in the driveway.

“I’m sorry to be leaving at a time like this, kiddo, but something urgent just came up. You’ll be okay, though, won’t you? I’m going to give Alpha Team an extended leave of absence to help you on this, and I will be speaking with your school about you taking the remainder of your classes via correspondence. I would just feel a lot better if you were protected around the clock.” He was frowning at me as he spoke, and I smiled at his concern.

“I’ll be fine, Jonathan. I will call you if I need anything, though.” I reached up and gave him a quick hug, which was a little out of character for the two of us.

“Kit…” he added, right before getting into his car. “I know you’re probably thinking about healing Lucy when you work out how to do it. I just want to urge you to think it through before you do anything rash. Remember what that woman said, that your mother healing those boys made them supernatural? Just consider whether that is really a choice you can take away from Lucy.” I gaped at him, a little lost for words. I hadn’t considered that.

“Anyway, I know you’ll do the right thing. Love you, kiddo!” He smiled as he slid into his seat and pulled the door closed.

“Love you too,” I murmured, watching his car pull away and trying to shake the weird feeling of unease at his abrupt departure in the middle of everything. When had this urgent thing suddenly come up? He had been in the same room with us the whole time and didn’t take any calls... Ugh, my brain hurts.

Just as I was turning to head back inside, I heard the crunch of gravel under someone’s shoes.

“Mr. Gregoric?” I called, not totally sure if it was him as his face was mostly in shadow. Our helicopter trip had used all of the daylight, so I was relying on the lights from the house to see.

“Kit. Nice to see you in one piece.” He stepped closer and grinned at me with those overly sharp teeth of his.

“That’s a pretty strange thing to say,” I pointed out, taking a tiny step back from him. “What are you doing here, anyway? This is beyond inappropriate, you know.”

“Of course,” he said, pulling a folded piece of paper from the pocket of his ratty-looking sweatpants. “I just came to give you this.”

I took it from him and unfolded it. “What is this?” I asked, holding it up. It looked like an address but with no name or explanation.

“An address.” He grinned. “Now that you have heard Claudette’s version of events, you might be interested in hearing a different side. Go there. Tell them N sent you.”

“Hang on, you’re ‘N’? How do you know what Dupree told us? Who the fuck are you anyway?” The words were pouring out of me faster than the thoughts were coming, but he was walking away from me and towards the trees on the edge of the property.

“Wish I could stay and chat, but I have places to be! Good luck, Kit!” He saluted me and stepped behind one of the massive tree trunks, disappearing from sight.

“Hey! Come back!” I sped after him, but when I reached the place he had been standing, there was no sign of him. “More fucking weird shit; this just gets better and better,” I muttered, trudging back up to the house holding the folded paper.

The light from the living room where the boys waited was pouring across the lawn, lighting it up just enough to see a bushy red fox dart across. I could have sworn it was the same fox that had been hanging around CFA, but I was no expert; foxes all looked the same, didn’t they?

I had so many unanswered questions. A shout of masculine laughter echoed from within the house, and I smiled.

I also had a team of guys who had my back.

I’d accomplished a great deal with a whole lot less. Pivoting, I headed back inside.

Time to get to work.

TO BE CONTINUED…