CHAPTER SEVEN
“Take it easy, honey,” said Cruz, kneeling beside her on the ground. Doc was checking all her vitals while Riley, Gabi, Kennedy, and Adam stood watching.
“Wh-what happened?” she stuttered.
“You fainted,” said Gabi. “Have you ever done that before?”
“Never. It was what he said, or how he said it,” pointing to Griffin. “You said lab experiments.”
“I did. I’m sorry,” he said, frowning.
“Say it again,” she said, staring at him. He looked at her as if she were crazy and then looked at Saint.
“It’s alright,” said Saint. “She needs to know.”
“Okay. Lab experiments.”
“Nothing,” she said. “But it was something. Something about how he said it and what he said made my head spin uncontrollably. I’ve been having nightmares since I was a child and haven’t been able to figure out why. I wonder if this is it. I wonder if it’s because of these lab experiments.”
“It’s possible,” said Gabi. “We’ll do complete workups on everyone. For now, no one leaves this place.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” said Hex. “Let us know if something is affecting your gifts, making them more pronounced or painful. If we can help, we damn sure will.”
“You’ve already helped more than you could possibly know,” said Kane. “We’ve found, over the years, that the gifts actually become enhanced when we’re close to one another. If that’s the case, we all might find ourselves more powerful and more intelligent.
“When they found us, they were ready to come at us with everything they had. There must have been fifty, possibly a hundred, of them armed to the teeth. That’s too many to risk our team. I wasn’t sure where we would go. Just having food, clean clothing, and shelter is welcomed.”
“Can I ask what your gift is, Kane?” asked Eric. He nodded, swallowing as Ghost smirked at the man.
“I can tell by one touch whether someone is lying, evil, manipulative, or a good person.”
“Damn, that comes in handy,” said Cam.
“It does,” he nodded with a sad grin. “Together with Aislinn, we make quite a pair. She has visions of crimes yet to happen simply by touching a potential offender or victim. She never knows who that might be. Someone walking by her on the street or standing next to her in a coffee shop.”
“Jesus,” muttered Hex.
“I’ve prayed to him a lot,” said Aislinn.
“And he’s heard you, child,” smiled Matthew, walking toward the woman. “He’s heard all your prayers, which is what brought you here.” Kane extended his hand, and Matthew grinned at him, gripping his hand firmly.
Kane’s face seemed to lighten, a sheen of happiness and comfort coming over him. A warmth filled him as if he were being heated from the inside out. His heart seemed light and happy, while his mind suddenly stopped racing.
Aislinn stared at her husband, unsure of what was happening. When Matthew dropped his hand, Kane bent at the waist, taking in big gulps of air.
“Y-you, y-you’re so good. I’ve never touched anyone with so much goodness in them,” he gasped.
Matthew pulled the younger man in for a hug, kissing his forehead as he did with all his ‘boys.’
“You are home now. Safe and home. My wife and I welcome you all.”
“That’s right,” nodded Irene, walking toward them. “You’re our children now. All of you. We work as a team here so that no one man or woman is overloaded. We’ve got your cabins ready with everything you could need.”
“How would you know what we need?” frowned Flip.
“Brother, trust me,” grinned Luke, “my grandmother always knows what everyone needs.”
“Do you have gifts as well?” he asked the older woman.
“My sweet child,” she grinned, “everyone has gifts. You just have to find them and use them. Y’all finish your meal, and we’ll drive you over to the island and explain everything.”
“Kane, I’m curious. Do you think this is still the agency coming after all of you? We know for a fact that they were running the farm, or school, or whatever you want to call it, that our kids were found in,” asked Saint.
“Honestly? I’m not sure any longer. I know that for most of us, it was while our families were living or working at The Depot. We thought we’d taken care of the last of them, but apparently not.”
“You have to know how valuable your gifts are,” said Luke. “The abilities of your team could create an unstoppable force.”
“So could yours,” said Spook. “It’s not just our gifts we were forced to take. It’s your natural gifts.”
“I agree,” nodded Saint. “Which is why we need to try and keep everyone here safe.”
“No argument from me,” said Aislinn. “If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to take a hot bath for a few hours, change my clothes, and sleep for a few days.”
“Let’s go, babies. We’ll drive you home,” smiled Irene. As the rest of the team waved goodbye, the VG crew stayed behind to talk.
“What do you think?” asked Hex.
“I trust Ghost and his opinion that they’re not dangerous. At least not to us. But their gifts are unimaginable,” said Luke.
“Are they?” smirked Saint. They all looked at him. “Listen, we have no less than two dozen certified geniuses here. We have engineers and technology experts who have created things no one understands. Your own grandparents are beautiful, wonderfully strange, and unique, and no one knows why. Let’s not start on the ghosts on the property, Gabe and Claudette, Miss Ruby, and Trak, and the animals. There is no end to the strange and amazing at Belle Fleur. Maybe this is where everyone was supposed to be. Maybe something was driving them here.”
“Or someone,” grinned Ben. Saint nodded.
“Or someone.”