"...what the fuck are you talking about?" Lana gaped.
Graham fixed Lana with an intense gaze. "Is there anything you'd like to say, Ms. Harley?"
"What do you mean?" The native woman asked, taking a step back. Blue Eyes narrowed his eyes, recognizing her nervousness.
"These last two years..." He trailed off, pushing his glasses up his nose. "They are not your first years here, are they?"
Blue Eyes watched the woman, her body language screaming flight or fight. But the ape was momentarily distracted when the young woman under his fingers started to shift. He looked down at her, his gaze anticipating the moment he got to see the galaxies in her eyes again. As the thought left his mind, her dark lashes fluttered a moment before lifting to reveal to the clearest blue gaze the chimp had ever seen.
"Rain..." He murmured for her attention when her eyes widened, begin to fill with confusion and fright.
Her beautiful irises flitted to him, and the girl gasped. "Blue Eyes!"
Before he could do anything, she had sat up and flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck with a cry of relief. Immediately, the light eyed prince returned to hug, crushing her as tightly as he dared to his chest through the bedrail that separated their lower torsos from touching. "I am never leaving your side again!" The woman gasped into his nape.
Once again, before Blue Eyes could react, Rain had pulled back and crushed her lips to his. And, like the last time, Blue Eyes was not hesitant to reciprocate. Sadly, the kiss didn't last long before she pulled away and hugged him again, tucking her head under his chin. Blue Eyes could feel her trembling in his arms, and he pulled back to look her over, a worried frown on his face.
"Are you okay?" He signed, holding her chin in his fingers so she'd stay still.
"As long as you don't let go of me I'm fine." She sounded a little breathless, and it elevated Blue Eyes' worry. Graham had said everyone reacted differently to the chemical, and the ape found himself hoping this wasn't a bad reaction.
"Raina?" A voice shook as it called out his mate's name.
The girl turned, and stiffened in his arms at the sight of her older look-alike. "...Mother?"
Rain sucked in a trembling gasp, and she through the blanket off her torso. Blue Eyes felt a pump of anger shoot through him at the sight of her tethered feet. Rain didn't even need to say a thing before Blue Eyes snapped the bonds in his hands, tearing it away. In her hastiness to get to the other woman, Rain almost fell down as she scrambled off the bed, and Blue Eyes caught her and steadied her in his arms. But he sent her on her way when he felt she could walk on her own. Lana crossed the rooms and was bundling her daughter up into her arms with a cry of raw emotion. They squeezed their bodies so close to one another Blue Eyes wondered if it was painful. He heard someone sniff, but he wasn't sure which of the two had been the source.
"I thought you were dead!" He heard the shudder in Rain's voice. His heart thudded with sympathy for his mate, he knew how hard this must be for her. He remembered when he had thought Caesar was dead from an anonymous gunshot wound, and even though it had only been for a brief time, the pain that had possessed his entire being like a demon had been almost physically excruciating. He could only imagine how Rain had felt for the past two years, though she had buried her pain deep down inside herself.
Lana babbled out something in Cherokee before reverting back to the common tongue. "My Rain I'm so sorry!"
The older native pulled back, but she held her daughter close. "Oh my god, look at you! You grew up." She wore a watery smile as she scanned her daughter's form.
"Have you been eating correctly?" She started firing off questions, her motherly instincts popping out as she investigated her daughter's health.
"Mom, mom, mom." Rain kept repeating, trying to get her mother's attention. "What's going on? I heard someone say my name. What's happening right now?"
Blue Eyes wasn't taken by surprise too much by her question. She'd probably started waking up right around when Graham had spoken his obviously incorrect sentence, and Blue Eyes wouldn't have put it past her to not catch it. On a side note he had to admit that he was surprised by Rain's lack of grogginess though.
"Alana."
The room went quiet when Malcolm spoke the name, and Blue Eyes deducted it to Lana's full name.
"You don't think..." The man trailed off, gazing at the shorter woman with a guarded curiously worried look. The countenance made Blue Eyes uneasy. Lana didn't answer, only held the man's gaze, her face turned away from Blue Eyes, so he couldn't see her expression. Her silence only inflated the suspicion that there was more going on here than he would probably be able to guess.
"Do you?" Malcolm raised his brows at her.
A moment of hesitation passed by before Lana nodded. "Yeah, I do."
The way she said it confirmed in stone that something was definitely very wrong. And what about Graham had said? Blue Eyes knew human technology was strange and advanced, and Rain had informed him a while ago that they could find out many things about a person or thing just by putting a little bit of blood inside of a machine. That didn't completely add up to him, but Rain and Alexander had assured him that it worked. Now he was wondering how much those machines malfunctioned. Graham said that from Rain's blood, the machine had said that she wasn't entirely human. That had to be wrong.
She looked human, she smelt human, she spoke like a human. So she was human. Right?
The machine had to be wrong. Blue Eyes knew it was wrong. He inwardly snorted, thinking about how their beloved technology wasn't as perfect as humans liked to believe.
"Etsi?" Rain said, her head quirking in confusion. Blue Eyes knew the word meant mother, as their son and daughter called Rain by that name from time to time.
"She's old enough now." Malcolm said softly, and Blue Eyes seen the way Lana stiffened at the chief's words.
Movement out of the corner of his eye caught the ape's attention, and he seen young Leone crouching with his back pressed against the wall, hugging his knees with his arms. The small boy glanced in his direction, feeling his gaze. Blue Eyes beckoned the child to him with a hand, and the boy got up and made his way silently over, hugging Blue Eyes' leg. The prince put a hand on the boy's nape to try to keep him calm as they watched the scene play out.
Malcolm's words had brought him back to another time, when he had watched another scene with a similar setting. It had been when Malcolm had confessed his relation to Rain and Alexander. Blue Eyes had a big feeling that something of the like was about to happen. He had a second sinking suspicion that Graham already had a good idea of what it was, what with the way he almost glared at Lana with a burning gaze. The ape's fur began to prickle in anticipation of the on-coming bomb that was about to be dropped.
"Mother?" Rain's soft tone called out, and from her tone and body language Blue Eyes was able to see how worried and even a little frightened she was. He hated that look, but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it. Lana's eyes shifted to her daughter's, and after a few moments of pensive hesitation, she gave a sigh, the kind that you put your whole lung capacity into, the kind that makes your shoulders sag hard.
"Answer the question, Lana." Graham's accented voice was hard, interrogatory. It was the kind of tone used by males to scare adolescents into admitting their misdeeds. But then it softened with his next words, into an almost begging murmur. "Please don't lie."
The woman in question's eyes flicked to the scientist's before reverting to her feet. She gave the slightest shake of her head. "I don't lie."
Then she looked back to her daughter and spoke. "This is not my first time in this building. The first time I was here I was twenty one years old and I was pregnant with you."
My blood skidded it's circulation to a halt inside of my veins at the sound of my mother's confession. My head was throbbing faintly, I assumed from either stress or the anesthesia. I was still trying to figure out why I was so awake so quickly, much of the time it took hours for a patient to shake the groggy aftermath of anesthesia. But I pushed the irrelevant thought aside, knowing it was unimportant right now. Confusion throbbed with my pulse against my skull, trying to make conclusions out of connecting cloud-blocked constellations.
"What?" I said, unable to think of anything better to say.
Mom's shoulders drooped in just the slightest manner, and if I hadn't been raised around her mannerisms I wouldn't have even noticed it. "Dax was turning three years old soon, when I was kidnapped. It only took maybe a week for Malcolm and your uncles to find me. But by that time, the people here had already...done things to me. Put chemicals and serums into my body."
The look that overcame my mother's face threatened to break my heart. She was fighting back pain and saltwater and inner once-dormant demons all at once behind her eyes. "I didn't know I had you inside me until I was in the middle of a procedure. And afterwards I thought you were dead. I thought the things they were putting in me were going to kill you. When I got out, and I felt you kicking-" the woman paused to regain herself, her hand holding her mouth as she wrangled back and swallowed her emotions as best she could. My chest ached to see her like this.
"I-I thought it was phantafetal-movement. I thought I'd lost you before I had you. I was stupid, I never went to a doctor because I was too afraid to be openly told that my baby was dead. So I carried you, and after you were delivered, you were so quiet. The doctors took you away from me." She trailed off before she could start her next sentence, looking like someone had lashed her with a thorny branch. "I asked a nurse for a time of death, thinking that maybe you'd been alive and had only not survived the delivery, but she said, 'what are you talking about? Your baby is alive'... After that I didn't get to hold you until you were two days old.
"I should have told you. I know I should have told you about all of this, and baby I'm sorry. Every time you asked about your eyes... I wanted to tell you when you were older, when I was sure you'd be mature enough to process this and handle this. But not like this. I was getting ready to, I meant to tell you when things weren't so hard for you back home. But I never got the chance." She apologized again in Cherokee, but she didn't try to approach me.
I just stood there, stunned.
What was I supposed to think about this? This was Malcolm's revelation all over again. I had no idea what to do. I felt totally blindsided, light headed, and I wondered if my breathing was labored or not, I couldn't focus enough to find out. I must have been swaying, because a moment later Blue Eyes' hands were holding me up. I took the opportunity to lean against his strength, grateful for his assistance. I lightly tucked myself into him, grabbing a hand for extra reassurance through physical contact. Blue Eyes gave a soft, inquisitive hoot, asking if I was alright. I gave a small hum-imp and squeezed his hand lightly to let him know I was okay. In all honesty I didn't know if I was right now. The only thing I had been aware of was that I'd been taken at birth and incubated due to my size.
"Mom, what are you saying?" My voice shook, so I cleared my throat and tried to keep a leveled demeanor. You can imagine how I failed. "What's happening right now?"
I wondered how much time we had left, surely I should have been carted off to surgery by now. How long would they wait before sending someone to go check on what was going on? Or come see for themselves? But my mind didn't dwell on that for very long, and my focus was reverted back to awaiting my mother's next words.
"Did-did you hear what Mr. Casey said? Were you awake?" She asked me, glancing at Blue Eyes. I inwardly sighed, her glance reminding me of something I wasn't particularly looking foreword to explaining to her. I knew that my mother would like Blue Eyes once she got to know him, and I was positive she and Cornelia were like two sides of the same coin, but Mom didn't know that yet. I mentally shook the thought train away, I could worry about that later, my mother had asked me a question.
"No." I replied. The world had come back to me slowly and in a flash all at once. The first thing I cognitively recognized had been Blue Eyes' handsome form. And I'd been so overwhelmed with gratitude for his presence that in that moment I hadn't wanted to think about being anywhere away from him. But then I'd seen my mother, alive and breathing and calling my name after all these days believing her dead and gone from the world, and I hadn't been able to get to her quicker. But I didn't recall hearing anyone speak.
Mom looked to Graham, and he and Leah exchanged a glance. Leah turned to me, her gaze an odd tint of guarded sympathy. "Do you remember what happened when you were captured? Do you know if they drew blood?"
My lashes fluttered down to shield my gaze as I absentmindedly focused on the tiles under my feet while I tried to recall. "Someone sedated me. I kept nodding in and out." I started nodding my head as memories came back. "I felt a tourniquet-"
I'd been subconsciously trailing my hand down the arm I'd felt the rubber synch around my skin, and paused when I felt something in the inside crook of my elbow. I stretched out the arm and noticed the cotton ball taped to my arm. "I guess that confirms it." I nodded to the cotton ball before I pulled the tape off. There was no mark on my arm but my skin tingled for a moment at the sensation of the tape detaching from my arm.
"Why do you ask?" I said, rolling the tape around the fibrous ball.
The scientists hesitated, and the room seemed to hold its breath. I was growing more and more uneasy and uncomfortable as the seconds ticked by, but luckily, it didn't last too long. Graham spoke. "The results of that test are here," he gestured to the computer screen he and Leah stood beside.
But Graham didn't seem to intend to say anymore, so Leah took over the next sentences. "It's saying that..." She trailed off, glancing at Graham, then Lana.
A sense of foreboding loomed over me, and I leaned into Blue Eyes, needing to feel the reassurance in his warmth.
"...you're not completely human."
My head quirked slightly at the sound. That was certainly not what I was expecting. I hadn't known what to expect, but it sure as hell hadn't been that. The first thought that came to me was that there had to be some sort of mistake.
"...what?" I said, giving a little shake of my head. "That-that's gotta be wrong. Look at me, I'm human."
"That's not what we're saying." Graham said. "You are human, but...not all of your genetic makeup is human."
Confusion fluttered around in my head like butterflies, flashing colors of bewilderment. "What does that mean?" I was surprised at how calm my voice was.
"You heard Lana say that she was here before," the British man gestured to my mother. "I've read her file, and she was selected as a candidate for Project Post Human. I told you a little about that. The way we create them is by altering the genes and DNA in which they're created. OSIRIS alters the parent bodies, and then inseminates them. The offspring are more or less Post-human, depending on individual results. OSIRIS has been working on this for generations, and it is nearing perfection.
"But, you see, when Lana was altered, she was in early enough stages of pregnancy that those alterations were passed hereditarily to you."
"What do you mean alterations?" I cut in, noticing he'd mentioned it more than once.
Leah, who had been previously messing around with the computer during Graham's explanation, decided to butt in there. "That's what I'm finding out right now."
Only a minute must have ticked by, but it felt like an hour, the clicks of the keyboard serving as the ticking of a clock's hands. Blue Eyes squeezed my hand and I glanced at him. He whispered in my ear, pointing out that my lip hadn't don't anything wrong. At first I didn't know what he meant, but then I realized that I'd been mercilessly gnawing on my lower lip. I stopped, but barely two seconds passed before I started nibbling on the inside of my lip. I couldn't help it, I was stressed and that was how I vented.
Leah's clicking suddenly paused, and in the silence of the foreboding suspense, I could audibly hear her astonished mutter of, "oh my god...!"
"What?" Alexander asked.
But Leah didn't answer him. Her head whipped up to look at me, jaw drooping. "You've gotta be kidding me..."
"Why're you looking at me like that?" I asked, head turning to the slide slightly. By now Graham had looked over her shoulder. Just like she had, he looked back at me with a shocked countenance, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
"Damn it, stop staring at me like that!" I whined, recoiling under their gazes into Blue Eyes.
"Graham Casey, you tell me what they did to them." Malcolm suddenly growled, striding to stand beside Lana. The woman looked up at him with parted lips, and it was then I seen that she was touched at the emotion in Malcolm's voice. She still felt something for my father. I pushed the thought away, I could be happy about it later.
Graham licked his lips. "It shows that chimpanzee and bonobo DNA was hidden behind Lana's chromosomes. Which she passed on to you."
If I'd thought the room was silent before, then this must have been what it was like to be deaf. The silence was interrupted by a mumbled voice, and the whole room turned to look at Alexander, who'd been the source of the voice. When he realized the spotlight was on him, he repeated himself, louder, "is that how we got Sage and Riv?"
My breath hitched at the mention of my beautiful little babies, and a pang of pain thumped at my chest when I realized how much I missed them. River's ever-endearing curiosity, Sage's heart-tripping smile, their voices merging in a mellifluous melody as they spoke in twin stereo.
"What?" Liam's voice shook me from my thoughts, an incredulously exasperated undertone to his breathily spoken words, as if he couldn't believe that was the first thing someone thought to say.
"Mom..." My voice faltered and I trailed off. "Why didn't you tell me? Did you know about this?" I tried to hide it, but the hurt in my voice was clear as day.
I seen her swallow, and I seen pain glint in her earthen irises. "I knew they did something. I didn't find out what it was until I was taken again. Baby, I know I should have told you about what happened here, but you were too young and I didn't want to scare you, and then people started getting sick...I had to worry about keeping your brother and you alive while buildings burned around us after we got to Es Ef. And then when that settled I had to worry about your mental state because I was terrified of finding scars on your wrists, and then Dax was hurt in that explosion. It was just one thing after another. Every time you asked me about your eyes I wanted to tell you."
Her voice was soft and brittle, and I was wondering how she'd kept it from breaking. But she wasn't finished speaking yet.
"But I couldn't do it. You still had a child's wonder of the world, I wasn't going to shatter it for you. And then as you got older, the bullying got worse and so many times I came home to a bleeding little girl-" Now her voice cracked, and I could see the tears shining in her eyes prominently. I felt like kicking myself good and hard for asking now. I hated seeing what answering my questions was doing to her. I hated watching her relive those bad memories.
"I guess I should have known. I'd heard of similar things done to others before Malcolm rescued me the first time." Mom scoffed at herself, a self loathing grin threatening to upturn her lips. "The way you loved to climb the trees around the old house, the way you moved in the branches without being taught. And the way it continued in the city... I should have known it really was in your blood. I could give you a million reasons. A million excuses, and I couldn't expect you to forgive me."
I stared at her, a wet streak fell down her cheek. I licked my lips, giving my lip a nibble out of habit. All of this new information was running through my head all at once, threatening to burry me under a tidal wave of emotions and words and my mother's tears. But then, something about my mother's explanation stuck out to me, and when I was able to locate my voice, I brought it to attention.
"Why do keep apologizing?"
She seemed thrown off by the question, but it took her mere seconds to shrug it off and press her lips. She shook her head at herself, and I found myself hating it. My mother was a strong woman, she wasn't emotionless, but she knew how to move on from things quickly. She wasn't one to wallow over unsatisfactory events, if I can use that word. At least not for long. Seeing her like this jarred me.
"I could have fought harder to get away, I could changed the whole course of everything. All of this is my fault."
With twenty two words in two sentences, my mother became a mirror. Reflected in that mirror, was my sixteen year old self, no self esteem to speak of, frightened of everyone and everything that moved, and positive that nothing I ever did was right. It struck my chest hard to see my beautiful, strong mother like that.
I shook my head at her words. "None of this is your fault. I felt the bite of those stun guns, three times at once..." I muttered with an irritated grumble. "-and no one can stay conscious while riding out that voltage. Plus, this place has no lack of brutish staff." I sent a sharp glare toward Dr. Milo, who stood by the far wall, watching everything as it went down.
He perked up when he seen my glare. "What're you looking at me for? I didn't want to do that to you, but you forced my hand. Literally."
"The hell made you think I was willingly gonna let you anesthetize me?" I snapped back.
"Enough!" Malcolm barked. "We can't stay here. We need to go. We can pick this back up later."
Seeing the sense in this, we all jumped into action. Or at least we moved to, before a voice rang out, "wait!"
My oddball eyes flashed at the sight of Dr. Milo, his gaze confused and slightly...hopeful?
"You're busting them out of here, aren't you?" He said, looking at Graham.
"Yes." The man nodded, and in his chiseled expression, you could see the Brit challenging him to try to stop us.
Dr. Milo licked his lips. "Let me help."
"Pardon?"
Well that was unexpected, I thought. Not a moment later, I was struck by another thought, and I blurted it before I could filter myself. "What's gonna happen to the other subjects here?"
A gasp sucked into my throat as lavender eyes flashed in my mind. "What about Seven? We can't leave her!"
"Who?" A few chimed.
"The girl they locked me with! I can't leave her!" I felt a strange sense of responsibility for the meek demeanored albino, my heart went out to her for having to endure this place. She'd shown me nothing but timidness and I could easily see she had a sweet side just aching to come out, if only she could just be cultivated in a safe environment.
"Let me deal with that. Can you tell me what this girl looks like?" Dr. Milo suddenly butted in, his voice hushed audible. "I'll take care of her. And the others. But I need time to plan and work this out."
"Why do you want to help?" Malcolm glared suspiciously. "How do we know you won't sound the alarm the moment we leave you alone?"
The bearded man met my father's eyes steadily. "Because no matter what they say, they can't justify any of this. The only joy I have in this job is the patients I prep and take care of. And everyday I see the suffering they endure. None of this was consensual. It's not okay and now I see an opportunity to fix things. Like hell if I'll let it slip away."
Silence concluded his words, and Malcolm stared at him long and hard, appraising him and his speech with piercing irises, his arms crossed over his chest in contemplation. But once he seemed to have come up with a conclusion, the broad shouldered man dropped his arms and turned to the geneticist standing by.
"Graham, is it possible to do this?"
The brunette pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Do you know the frequency your strongest radio uses?"
"Yes."
"Milo, are you wearing socks?"
Said man lifted a brow at the odd question. "Yes?"
"Take one off." He commanded before turning to the room. "Does anyone have a Sharpie?"
This room was unable to produce a sharpie, but a fountain pen was found, probably left by some doctor. I shivered at the thought of some creep in a lab coat examining me in my sleep. Dr. Max gave a sock, and Graham instructed my father to write the radio frequency numbers on the sock.
"Memorize that as quickly as you can and then dispose of that very carefully. Do not let it be discovered. Burn it and bury the ashes if you can." Graham said once the man's shoe was re-tied.
"I can get ahold of you like this?" He asked.
"We'll be listening for you. Ask for Malcolm." Dad nodded.
"Guys, can we move this along?" Alexander said, tapping his hand on the bed rail listlessly. I shared his thoughts, I wanted to get out of here.
"You'll get Sev out?" I clarified, giving Milo a stern stare.
"Yes. What does she look like?" He replied.
"The echolocating albino. She doesn't have a name, but she told me her number was seven." I answered.
"I think I know who you're talking about. I'll do my best for her. I promise."
"Thank you for doing this, Milo." Mom said, stepping forward to hug him.
He returned her embrace. "Get out and kick those grabby male nurses into their places."
When they parted, she returned to Dad and tucked herself under his arm. Milo turned to me. "I'd like to formally apologize for pushing the air out of your body. That was insanely inappropriate and I feel nothing but remorse for that. I hope you can forgive me."
I was a little taken aback at such a courteous apology, but I thought it over anyway. He'd been polite and kind to me when he'd introduced himself, and he was nothing but patient when I started freaking out. And my mother seemed to respect him and seemed happy for his friendship. So, if she liked him then I knew he couldn't be all that bad. So I met his gaze again and nodded. "I can forgive you."
He gave a one sided smile. "Thank you."
"We can't stay here much longer. Astrid's getting antsy and so am I. We don't have much time." Liam said from his post by the door.
"He's right. We really shouldn't push our luck." Leah agreed.
"Wait, what about him? How is he gonna explain our departure?" Mom pointed out, gesturing to Milo.
"Well, we could just knock him out and he can say I took him by surprise." Liam suggested.
Only a moment ticked by before most of us agreed, time was of the essence and we couldn't afford to sit here and think of a less aggressive plan. So, Malcolm approached the man, who sagged his shoulders and raised his head.
"Do me a favor and make it quick." He sighed.
"No hard feelings. See you soon." Malcolm replied, right before decking the man right in the jaw. Milo dropped, and as a courteousy, Dad caught him as best as he could, and lowered him to the cold floor, careful of his head.
"Okay, let's go." Liam urged, bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly.
I reached for Blue Eyes' hand, not wanting to be anywhere away from him. With that, the Elite checked the hallway, and when it was dubbed clear, we booked it, all of us trying to mute our footfalls without losing pace. It would only be a matter of time before someone managed to get the cameras back on, if they hadn't already.
Lacing our fingers together, Blue Eyes tugged me along beside him as we made a few turns. The group seemed to know where they were going, or at least the ones who'd been here before seemed to, so I stuck close to the pack. Graham veered to the left and opened up a closet door of some sort. We quickly filed inside, and like a well oiled machine, a corridor entrance was revealed as the closet door was pulled shut. So we left one cramped closet for a narrow hallway.
Liam and Graham were in the lead as we silently hurried down the hallway. I walked almost sideways, so I didn't have to twist my arm too much to keep a good grip on my husband's hand. Every now and then I'd glance back at him, and each time his head was held high and he met my oddball irises with his alluring cerulean gaze. Each time that happened, we'd both look for reassurance in the squeeze of our neatly tangled digits.
The corridor was lit up but it was dusty and cobweb covered, evidence that this particular part hadn't been used for a good long while. It took maybe twenty, silent minutes to get back to the hallway we'd first entered via questionably stable staircase. We came to the concrete wall concealing the corridors, and Leah took ahold of a switch disguised as a light bulb in an opaque glass light fixture on the wall and turned it. The grating sound rang out like the first time, and the wall slid away, bestowing our exit from the bowels of the beast. Graham stopped the team just before the wooden doors, holding up a hand as if to silence our already unmoving lips. I held my breath, listening for any signs of life on the outside. I heard bird call, and that was enough to reassure me that it was safe to emerge. If the birds were calm, there was likely no predators, human or none.
But I held my silence, seeing as Graham and Malcolm were lifting up the wooden boards that concealed the entrance from the outside, leaf litter scraping the wood. Their heads poked out like big ground hogs, scoping out the land for hazards. They dubbed it clear, murmuring quietly about how we had to hurry, the risk of patrols was too great to doddle. Latching myself to Blue Eyes' side again, we hurried through the wood copse, crunching through the terrain until we reached the stream and the willow trees came into sight.
I glanced to my left to see Mom with little Leone in her arms, his dark haired head ducked down and buried in her hair. Feeling a burst of happiness that I had my mother back, followed by a reinvigorated spurt under my step, I let a smile stretch my lips, despite the danger we were all still in. We paused just inside the tree line, spotting for danger. In hushed voices, Malcolm, Graham, Liam, Leah and Lana discussed whether we should dash to the Willow vines in small pairs of two or all of us at once. Soon they decided on the former, pointing out how even though we were in sight of the dirt road, smaller groups was harder to spot, versus a big group of nine.
It was decided that Malcolm would run Lana and Leone over, and watch the road for patrols and gesture over other planned pairs when it was safe. The little boy was getting very nervous due to his new environments, and it made me wonder if the poor child had ever been outside. I bit my lip at the thought. That wasn't right. Sunlight was a needed aspect for health, and he was little a bit pale. Fresh air was another important thing for development, but I didn't doubt OSIRIS had solved that with air conditioning, though it wasn't the same. And my little brother was Cherokee, the forest was in his blood, (in more than one way) and it was a sad thing to know that trees grew above his head and he'd probably never felt the protection of walking beneath behemoth trunks, the scent of sap and life wreathed around him.
Malcolm and Mom spoke for a moment before everyone's gaze went to the road, listening for any sign of approaching OSIRIS personnel. When the coast was clear, Malcolm ushered my mother and young brother across the stretch of clear land, and with a concave whip of the Willow leaves, they were concealed inside. Three seconds later, Dad's head and shoulders poked out and he took a long glance down the road, dubbing it clear, he waved over the next pair, Blue Eyes and I. Making quick work of the unprotected land, we soon found ourselves on the protected side of the tree.
Immersed in the shadowy air pocket under the vast umbrella of vegetation was my mom, still holding Leone close to her chest, his body so unchanged from when I last glanced at him that I wondered if he'd somehow fallen asleep.
"How is he?" Blue Eyes asked the question before I could, and a glance at him was all I needed to tell that he was a bit worried about my little brother as well.
"He's nervous. He's okay." Mom murmured, giving a nod in thanks for our concern.
Alexander and Leah joined us under the branches, and they stood silently waiting. Thirty seconds later the team was back together with Graham, Liam and Astrid the last to make the mad dash for safety. Once we were together again, a head count was taken before moving on. We crossed the stream, using rocks that protruded from the waters surface as makeshift stepping stones, and I winced at the sharp angles jutting into my bare foot. With the stream behind us, we quickly got behind the SUV, which lay untouched in the small cave where we'd left it.
Getting behind it, Malcolm unlocked the trunk and all of us pretty much threw our things in, eager to get away from the facility. Liam told Astrid to ride in the trunk this time, and the dog obeyed, jumping up onto the flat boxes pressed against the seating. The trunk door slammed shut, and we filed into the vehicle, taking the same spots as before. Mom crawled into the extra window seat beside me, giving me a glance from where I sat in Blue Eyes' lap.
I sighed and laid my head on my prince's shoulder, wishing this whole escapade was over already. But we still had to get back on the road. I didn't want to pay attention to what happened next, the car was moving and no one was cursing or yelling yet, so I took that time to try to relax into Blue Eyes' body.
Now, I thought, time to figure out how to tell my mom I married an ape and got knocked up at eighteen. And as a bonus, I had twins.