Consequences

Part 2 of 9

Eight days later, they were found.

Gwen lay in the infirmary, her left arm wrapped tight around her stuffed toy Terry, the Tetramand. She was pretending to be sleeping, but she wasn't. Her eyes found her brother a few beds down, but she looked away quickly, not wanting to get caught.

She couldn't sleep, but she didn't want to talk to anyone, either. Since they'd been freed, there was a constant flow of people around her, and her mother and grandparents had barely left their bedsides. They'd talked to her and asked her how she was doing and if she was ok, but for a usually outgoing child she was surprisingly quiet. In fact, she hadn't talked to anyone but Ken since her homecoming.

Her father was… out. She didn't want to think about that.

Even while she wasn't watching him, she could still she Ken in her head. The side of his faced was laced with ugly, multicolored bruises and was highlighted by sutured gash that matted his hair.

She didn't want to think about that either, or how it had happened…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a new presence enter the room. It hadn't even been a week since a new aspect of her Anodite powers had started to manifest, so she wasn't quite sure, but it seemed familiar. She stayed very still, closed her eyes, and concentrated.

Fear. Sadness. Guilt.

Devlin.

She had never "felt" Devlin before and had no real reason to know who he was by that alone, but she did.

Gwen hugged Terry a little tighter and tried to block it out, wishing he would just go away. But he just stood there, and she couldn't block.

Half an hour later, he left and she relaxed, finally falling into a restless sleep.

"Where's dad?" Ken asked again.

"Honey, we told you, he's out taking care of some things," Kai tried to soother son for what seemed like the hundredth time. Ken crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the adults around the room. One glance at his sister said she wasn't buying the story either. But looking at her led to all other sorts of thoughts so he quickly looked away, refocusing on the problem at hand.

"What kind of 'things'? And where's Devlin? Is he ok?"

Grandma Sandra tried this time. "Nothing you need to worry about, your dad will be back soon, and Devlin is fine; I think he's in his room. Right now, our priority is you two getting better."

Ken rolled his eyes. "We're fine. We don't need you to-"

"Good morning!" He was interrupted as a new woman entered the room. She appeared to be in her 30's, with long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a skirt and shirt, and was pretty in a normal sort of way. She carried a briefcase and Ken immediately identified her as the enemy.

"You must be Doctor Morgan," greeted Grandpa Wes, rising from where he sat on Gwen's bed. "We're so glad you could make it so quickly. Kids, this is-"

"The psychologist, we know," replied Ken darkly.

"Yes, I'm Doctor Morgan, 'the psychologist'," she replied more brightly, "but you can call me Ana." She smiled at the two. Ken glared and Gwen just stared blankly back, clutching Terry.

"Now Kenny, we're counting on you to set a good example for your sister and talk to Ana," said Grandpa Carl. "She's here to help."

"I don't need help, I'm fine, we're both fine. Right Gwen?" Her lips turned up slightly at his glance. "See? We don't need to talk to anybody."

Grandpa Carl sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Nevertheless, we'd appreciate it if you did." He gave his grandson a hug, wrapping his arms around the boy whose arms were still crossed tightly around his own body. "We'll leave you three to get acquainted."

Kai moved to her son and hugged him also as Carl moved to Gwen. "We love you very much," she said into his hair. Max, Sandra, and Wes did the same and left followed them out the room.

"So you must be Kenneth and Guinevere. You prefer Gwen and do you like Ken or Kenny better?" The only response was a glare. "Ok, Ken it is." Ana eyed the kids and quickly came to a conclusion. "Look, I know you're not thrilled with me being here, so let me level with you: your parents are concerned that you, Ken, aren't talking about what happened, and really concerned that you, Gwen, aren't talking at all. This isn't something you want to do, but it is my job and I'm pretty good at it, so why don't we give it a try." Ken just shrugged. Ana moved over to Gwen.

"So you don't feel like talking, huh? Well how about you draw me a picture?" She removed a pad of paper, a box of crayons, and some pencils from her briefcase, placing them on the bed. Gwen stared blankly back at her. "How about we start with this: your mom told me that your hair was longer before. Can you draw me a picture of how it got cut?"

Gwen's eyes widened and Ken's thoughts jumped back to a few days prior.

Author's Notes:

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to my beta afigureofspeech! Go read her stuff!

Yes, I skipped over quite a bit. The story works better this way, promise. Bear with me; some of your questions will still be answered.

I took some liberties with Anodite powers, but I didn't think what we see little Gwen doing is a big stretch from what the older Gwendolyn has done.

The story is nine parts long. If nothing changes, parts one and eight will be the longest; nine the shortest.

Quick note: Older Gwendolyn is referred to either as Gwendolyn or Aunt Gwen. Little Gwen is everything else.