Chapter Sixty Nine

...

Nina was finally awake and settled after both her coffee and toast with coffee spread, and had decided to read the Sky High paper. It wasn't long before her hands were shaking in rage. She was only on the second page and had already had to set the paper aside twice before she could bring herself to continue reading.

By the time she'd finished reading the rest of the paper, her blood was boiling with anger and outrage on behalf of all of the children, not just her own. Nina knew that if she had Barron or Warren's powers, then the room would probably be ablaze or turned to ash already. As it was, her emotions were affecting her powers, and she realised that Anita was looking shellshocked and pale across from her.

"Sorry," Nina said, forcing herself to breathe and withdraw her power.

Anita breathed shakily when her emotions became her own once more, hiding her shaking hands under the table. "Don't worry, I felt the same way when I read it."

"Like you could... hurt someone?" Nina asked, wincing.

"To protect them, I'd do far more than that," Anita said firmly.

"You're not the only one, dear. Here, have some tea," Frieda murmured, pouring a cup for her.

Nina wondered if Barron had started off thinking the same thing. Then she looked at the paper and knew that Anita and Frieda weren't the only ones who would protect their children, no matter the cost.

...

The bus trip up to Sky High reminded them all too forcibly of the school paper that had been released the day before. Students went quiet, others stared outright, and some whispered as though they thought Donny wouldn't hear their thoughts.

"I don't have the time or energy for this petty shit. Jewel, quiz me for Comms?" Grant asked, offering his notes to her.

"You know I can't read your handwriting; I'll quiz you with my own notes," Jewel said, making sure Craig was settled between them before taking out her folder. "Pros and cons of supers using social media for both their alter egos and super egos?"

"Eth, help me with History? And Mad Sci.?" Zach asked.

"Focus on your breathing first or you'll hyperventilate," Ethan said, taking his hand.

"How are you feeling about English, hippie?" Warren asked as they squeezed together on the back seat next to the trio.

"A little better. Do you think the lunch break will be enough to study for Math?" Layla asked.

"We'll work on both. English until the ramp, Math in the air, sound good?"

Layla nodded. "Thank you. What about you?"

"My exam starts an hour after yours, I've got time to study," Warren promised.

"Adam, message me questions?" Craig asked.

"Fine, but for every one you get wrong, I'm taking away an hour of your internet privilege," Adam replied.

"Ah, shit. Fine. Bring it on."

Eventually, the rest of the students on the bus either started studying as well, or returned their conversations to their own lives.

...

Larry opened the front door, his smile faltering when he saw Ben and Lisa there. "Hi. What are you doing here?"

"We organised a finals study session with you last week," Lisa said.

"Did you space?" Ben asked, grinning.

"No. I just didn't think you'd come here after what you did," Larry said.

"After what we did? Are you talking about the paper?" Lisa asked.

"Yes. Will didn't like what you did, neither did Magenta."

"How'd they know about it? Neither of them were at school," Lisa said, glaring at Larry.

"I guess someone put copies in their lockers," he said innocently.

"What the hell, Larry? You said it was a good idea!" Ben said incredulously.

"Yeah, idea, not to actually do it," Larry said.

"You traitorous bastard," Lisa hissed. "I'm going to tell Will what you did."

"He's already here with Magenta for our finals study session. Will's not happy with either of you; are you sure you want to face him? I can go get him for you," Larry offered.

Ben and Lisa both paled, shaking their heads.

"Who's at the door, Larry?" Will called out.

Larry smiled to himself and closed the door as Ben and Lisa fled. "Just some religious people asking me if I'd found Super Jesus."

...

"I can't believe we just finished three and a half days of exams," Craig said, ending with a loud groan that was even more relatable than his words. "Why do they do this to us?"

"To test our memories, mostly," Ethan said, sitting beside him.

"You're over the exams, right, Eth? If you say you're looking forward to next year's exams, I will find enough energy to push you off the edge of the school," Craig warned.

"Of course I'm looking forward to them; only 360 days to go," Ethan said.

Craig lifted his head long enough to glare at him, then rolled his eyes and flopped back down when Ethan started laughing.

"You'll learn one day," Ethan said, patting his arm. "Come on, let's get something to eat; you'll feel better then," he said, standing and offering Craig his hand.

Craig sighed, took it, and let Ethan pull him up to his feet. "I'm only moving 'cause you said there'd be food," he muttered as they walked to the cafeteria, still holding hands.

"I know," Ethan said, grinning.

The cafeteria was almost empty, with the freshmen still in their class, and the older students straggling in once they'd finished their morning exams, or arriving for their afternoon ones and stressing over their notes and textbooks. Most of the buffet had already been devoured though, the food remaining already starting to cool.

"Hey, Mr. Bowie. How's your day going?" Craig asked.

"Stressful. Exams aren't great for teachers either," Jared said with a slight grin. "I've just come to raid the buffet. No pizza this time," he added quickly.

"Don't worry, the health inspector took it off the menu. I suggest avoiding the calzones," Ethan added, adjusting his glasses.

"Oh? Oh," Jared said, wincing. "Thanks. I might stick with a salad. How'd your exams go?"

"I'm internally freaking about Mad Sci., but food's more important," Craig said.

"Good to know. What about you, Ethan?" Jared asked, piling his tray with the salad and dousing it with more dressing than was healthy.

"Slightly worried about Communications. I'm usually too direct to be considered subtle, so that could cause issues with my future Hero."

Craig snorted and shook his head. "Nah, dude, you've gotta be direct. Subtlety only results in hurt feelings and misunderstandings. Or, y'know, death via a vat of toxic waste."

"Oh good, nothing important then," Ethan deadpanned.

"I'm sure you both did fine. I'll catch up with you later about more foreign language classes over the break, okay? Don't eat the calzones!" Jared called to the students in general on his way out of the cafeteria.

"You left me in there, Ethan. I was all alone," Zach said, curling around his boyfriend's shoulders.

Ethan patted his forearm gently. "If I'd waited any longer, Mr. Boy would've thought I was trying to cheat or something. How'd you go?"

"I don't know. I freaked out for, like, five full minutes. I had to rush at the end and I couldn't even read my own writing," Zach said, sighing heavily. "Did I hear something about calzones?"

"Yeah, it's the old pizzas folded over. Don't do it, dude," Craig said, wrinkling his nose.

"Ew, gross. Any tater tots left?"

"I just took the last of them. Sorry, not sorry."

Zach surveyed the rest of the lunch trays as though he was trying to determine their toxicity by sight alone. "Salad it is."

"There's no chocolate puddings left. Damn, Adam's gonna be disappointed," Craig said with a sigh, looking over the labels for a third time, just in case he'd missed one.

"How much salad is considered healthy?" Zach asked as they headed to their table, his plate a small mountain of baby spinach, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes.

Someone had graffitied the table, scratching words like 'greedy man-whore', 'manipulative bitch', and 'baron bastard' into the table.

"Hey, they spelled 'manipulative' right this time," Ethan said.

"Man-whore, really? It doesn't even sound right," Craig said. "Hold on, lemme fix this," he said, shifting. Laser beams shot out from his eyes, destroying a layer of the table and removing the scratched words.

"Thanks, dude. We still on for the orgy next week?" Zach asked as he sat down.

"Yeah, totally. I'm taking Twister with me so we can really get into it," Craig snickered.

"I thought we were going to the new book talk: How to recruit villains and manipulate people?" Ethan said, grinning. "How to win friends and influence people? A very famous book? A less-famous parody movie is based on it?" he added when they just looked at him blankly. "Warren would've known what I meant."

"Probably, but you're stuck with us," Craig said, grinning as he ate a mouthful of tater tots.

Adam sat down next with nothing more than a bottle of water, the leftover food inedible or simply unappetising. He drank the water and pulled out his phone. Craig nudged his plate over so Adam could eat something. Adam reluctantly ate a few, then shook his head, not wanting to deprive Craig of his lunch.

Ethan drew out a pudding from his arm and slid it across to Adam, two muesli bars following.

"Oh, hey, chocolate. Thanks, dude. How many of those are you carrying?" Adam asked, frowning.

Ethan shrugged. "Enough that it doesn't matter when someone purposely steals all of the chocolate ones."

"Okay. Thanks."

"No graffiti today?" Layla asked, sounding tired as she sat down next to Zach. "So you're the reason I don't have any salad," she said, nudging him.

Zach looked at her with a baby spinach leaf sticking out of his mouth, then nodded guiltily.

"There was graffiti, Craig cleaned it up. They spelled manipulative right today," Ethan said.

"I'm very impressed," Layla said.

Looking over to the window, she decided it was too far to walk, and took a piece of cucumber, a cherry tomato and a spinach leaf from Zach's plate. In a matter of seconds, several plants had grown from the seeds and leaf.

"Sorry, Lay," Zach said as he swallowed his mouthful.

"No problem, Zach," she said, leaning against his shoulder and closing her eyes tiredly as she ate her tomatoes slowly.

"Shove over, hippie," Warren said, nudging her ankle so he'd have room to sit down next to her.

Layla blinked and moved, yawning widely. "That Mad Sci. exam was exhausting. I remembered bleach, though. How was English?"

"Glad you remembered the bleach. English was okay. Not sure I answered the essay question completely," Warren said with a sigh.

"Excuse me, Warren?"

"Hey, Robin."

"Could you heat my lunch, please?" they asked, holding out their tray.

"You sure?" Warren asked; Robin was the first student to ask him to heat their lunch in a week.

"I'm sure," they replied with a firm nod, setting the tray in front of him and handing a dollar to Ethan.

"Okay, but let me know if anyone gives you trouble. I'll show 'em what Baron's bastard can do," Warren muttered, his hand lighting up.

"Thanks. How did your exams go?" Robin asked.

"I'll be pleased if I pass at this rate. I've got History this afternoon, and then I'm done."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. How's your assignments going?" Warren asked, wondering if it was better or worse that freshmen had to do another essay while the older students did exams.

Robin shrugged. "Could've done better on Comms; I'm not great at negotiating, but at least I know that already."

"Jewel's great with Comms; you should ask her when she gets in," Craig suggested.

"Oh. She won't mind?"

Craig shook his head. "Nah, it'll be fine."

"All done. I burnt the cheese a little, too," Warren said, handing Robin their tray back.

"Awesome, thanks! Good luck with your last exam, Warren."

"Thanks," Warren replied with a grin.

On the way back to their table, someone shoved Robin. They hit the floor, their tray upturned, and their lunch splattered on the ground.

Adam didn't look up from his phone. "Riley."

Warren was out of his seat in a minute, pulling the young freshman off his seat. "This what you do to get off, huh? Pushing people around?" he snapped.

Riley's eyes widened and he struggled to say something, but his collar was too tight around his neck and he could only manage a squeaking noise.

"After you've apologised, you get to buy Robin lunch, and clean up this mess," Warren said, setting the freshman down, but keeping a hand on his shoulder so he couldn't run away.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean to push you."

"You didn't mean to push me?" Robin asked, so utterly pissed that their perfectly melted lunch was on the floor. Robin stalked forward and beneath them, the ground shook. "You. Didn't. Mean. To. Push. Me?! Do you know what the definition of 'push' is? Because it's something you do with intent, with purpose! You don't accidentally push a person over, Riley!"

Sky High was shaking across the building now, the foundations creaking.

"All right, Robin. He's learnt his lesson," Warren said gently. "I'll buy your lunch myself; you don't want that little slug's money," he said, letting go of Riley and guiding Robin over to the buffet line.

"I don't have another dollar," Robin said.

"You already paid to have your lunch toasted. I'm just making sure the job is done properly," Warren said with a grin.

Robin sighed. "Thanks."

"Where's the rest of your friends?" Warren asked curiously as he grabbed a tray and offered it to Robin.

They glared down at the tray. "They were stupid and believed what they read. Well, except for Justina and Terry. They had the calzones."

"Oh. Need me to sort out Rita and Todd?"

Robin shook their head. "They'll either come to their senses or they won't, no point trying to make them. Like my Gram used to say: if they don't have sense, they can't make a dollar."

Warren grinned. "That's an odd saying."

"Yeah, it is, but it always made sense when she said it," Robin said, shrugging.

They took a heaped serve of green beans and a slice of the lasagne, which seemed to be all that was left. Warren paid for the food and with that done, Robin made it back to their table without their lunch being destroyed again. Warren sat across from them and made sure to cook the lasagne through properly, burning the cheese as Robin preferred.

While the health inspector had been and Principal Powers had reprimanded the chef, it didn't mean the cafeteria's ingredients had changed.

"Enjoy. I'll see you at the graduation ceremony, okay?" Warren said, standing up.

"See you then. Thanks again, Warren," Robin said with a bright smile.

He nodded in response, then returned to his table. Spinach leaves, tomatoes, and cucumbers were sitting at his place setting, and Warren thanked Layla with a kiss.

"Hey, guys. Are you okay?" Magenta asked, giving them pitying looks.

"Fine," Layla said brightly, obviously lying. "How did your exams go?"

"Awful. I feel like I forgot every date for Jetstream and her sidekick's accomplishments," she said with a heavy sigh.

"Did you remember the CyberNet one, at least?" Zach asked.

"Yeah, though I had to go through the nursery rhyme just to remember how many days December has," Magenta said, rolling her eyes at herself.

"Well, that's one correct date. Besides, if you wrote enough about their accomplishments, the people marking the essays probably won't even mind that the dates were wrong," Ethan said.

"You think so?"

Ethan nodded. "You'll be fine."

Magenta smiled. "Thanks, that's really nice of you. I'm really sorry about what Ben and Lisa did. I've never seen Will so angry before. He punched a hole in the wall," she admitted, her smile fading. "He even showed the paper to his parents; Jetstream and the Commander have organised it so Ben and Lisa won't be active supers, even after they graduate."

"They can do that?" Wendy asked incredulously.

Nodding, Magenta leaned in to whisper, "They talked to the Mayor and Ben and Lisa are on a List now. Josie and Steve even told Principal Powers that they wouldn't send Will here anymore if she didn't do something about the bullying."

"If the Commander and Jetstream tell Principal Powers to do something about the bullying, that must mean she'll do something about it," Craig said.

Magenta's expression fell at his sarcastic tone.

Layla sighed, then smiled at Magenta. "Sorry, Magenta. It's just... it's been a week and even with exams, we're still being bullied and targeted."

"I had to clear the table of graffiti; apparently, I'm a greedy man-whore," Craig said sourly.

"I'm Baron's bastard," Warren bit out.

"And I'm a manipulative bitch, so... You can imagine how we feel trying to get through our exams with this kind of abuse being hurled at us," Layla said, her smile too brittle to be real.

"It's difficult to believe that the Commander and Jetstream or Principal Powers are actually doing anything when we're still going through this," Wendy added bitterly.

"You think people would be more worried about their exams than us," Ethan admitted, shaking his head and then adjusting his glasses.

Magenta's eyebrows furrowed as she thought about their words. She could see the remnants of scratched words on the table's surface, her jaw clenching. Layla had done so much to help her, to be her friend, while Lisa and Ben had ignored her. They'd only talked to her because she was dating Will, but Layla had gone out of her way to befriend her despite that. "I'll see what I can do."

"Oh, we don't want you getting into trouble, Magenta."

She shook her head. "I won't. It's the least I can do. Besides, I'm Will's Hero Support now, he has to listen to me," Magenta added.

"Congratulations on getting the gig," Wendy said, grinning.

"Thanks. I'd better eat if I'm going to make the bus back down to Maxville," Magenta said. "See you at the senior graduation," she added before leaving.

Layla leaned against Warren, her eyes flashing green as she blocked her desire to laugh.

She was such a manipulative bitch.

...

"Good afternoon, Sky High, this is Principal Powers," she answered the phone distractedly, looking through the senior graduation's schedule and wondering whether letting Boomer be the MC was such a good decision.

"Linda, how are you?"

Principal Powers refrained from sighing and set the schedule aside. "I'm good, thank you, Josie. How are you?"

"I'm surprised to hear that, honestly, Linda," Josie said tersely. "I've just been informed that these bullies are still harassing those poor children. I've known Layla since she was a baby, and I am disgusted to hear that she's being treated this way."

Biting her tongue so she wouldn't point out that the children Josie was defending were the only ones that hadn't attended her own son's birthday. Sky High wasn't a large school and some days, news travelled even faster than Boomer's sonic blast.

"You told me that you were dealing with the bullying, Linda. Do the Commander and I need to withdraw our support?"

After dealing with Ms. Bettendorf's lawyer earlier in the week, Jetstream's threat was nothing in comparison. Not to mention both Ms. Bettendorf and her daughter had contributed more to Sky High in the last thirty years than Jetstream and the Commander's advertising and support ever had.

Swallowing these answers down, Linda closed her eyes to compose herself and answer calmly. "Thank you for your concern, Mrs. Stronghold. I am creating an anti-bullying initiative, and I will be working with the teachers here at Sky High to ensure that they do not allow nor perpetrate bullying of any students."

"What about the graffiti? Surely that can be dealt with before you implement your little initiative?" Josie said, this close to sneering.

"Graffiti?" Principal Powers echoed in surprise.

The cleaners hadn't mentioned anything.

"Yes. Apparently degrading words have been written over their table all week. Now, you and I both know how these little cliques form in high school, and how every group has their particular table. Everyone in the school would have known exactly whose table that was, and what to say to target them," Josie said, smirking now that she knew something that Principal Powers didn't.

"Just one moment, Josie," she said, putting her on hold.

Tapping and clicking through several screens on her computer, Principal Powers brought up the cafeteria camera feed, rewinding to earlier in the day. She saw Robin being pushed over and Warren swiftly dealing with the offending freshman. Less than half an hour before that, she saw Craig shift and clear the words off the table - that explained the cleaners - and continued back carefully to find the culprit. The cafeteria was dark, but their faces were easy to place when the door was opened. Realising that Josie had said this had been happening all week, Principal Powers looked to the previous days as well to ensure that they hadn't coerced others to do their bidding.

The hold button on her phone flashed and she sighed heavily before picking the handset up again and taking Josie off hold. "Thank you for contacting me, Mrs. Stronghold. I will ensure that the culprits are dealt with. Have a nice evening."

Not waiting for a response, Principal Powers ended the call and went to her filing cabinet where the student records were filed so she could find the necessary phone numbers.

...

"Are you sure this will work, Eth?" Warren asked with a frown. "We're a long way from any of the microphones."

"I'm sure. Adam helped me set it all up, and we already tested it. It's got enough range to pick up," Ethan replied, then nodded to Adam.

Adam flicked a switch on the speaker in front of him, spun on his chair, and clicked a few buttons. There was a small amount of crackling before several voices were heard clearly through the speaker.

" - son and daughter continued with their bullying and abuse," Principal Powers voice came through the speaker.

"What? We haven't done anything!" Lisa cried.

"We've been in exams all week!" Ben said.

"I would not be accusing either of you without evidence," Principal Powers said, her voice stern.

"I find it hard to believe that Lisa would repeat her mistakes; I'd like to see this evidence."

"So would I. Ben should know better by now."

"Of course," Principal Powers replied, and there was a squeaking sound as her computer screen was turned to face Lisa and Ben and their parents. "You can see the tables are all clean in the morning, and then after you see them enter the cafeteria, these words are on the particular table for the students they bullied previously."

"Oh, Lisa," her mother's disappointment was clear even through the water droplet microphone and the Hive's new speakers.

"It's not me. I swear I didn't do this, Mum!"

"I only left the exam to pee. You know how worried I've been about my exams," Ben said.

"I followed the cameras; it shows both of you leaving your exam within a few minutes of each other and going to the cafeteria, then going to the bathroom on the way back."

"It's not me. It's not!" Lisa protested. "It... It has to be someone else. Craig must have done this; he set us up!"

"Craig can turn into other people, I admit that, but he can only turn into one person, not two. So even if he turned into one of you, the other still went along with the scheme. Besides, he isn't seen leaving the exam rooms until he finishes his exams."

From his position curled between Grant and Jewel, Craig made a noise of amusement. "Yeah, well, guess who can turn into three people now," he said, smirking.

"Yeah, but you couldn't even shift a fingernail right now," Jewel said, sounding worried.

Grant shifted slightly so he could press a kiss to Craig's lips. "Rest, babe."

Craig smiled and snuggled down between them again.

"We didn't! We wouldn't!"

"Lisa, stop. Just stop," her father said with a heavy sigh.

"B-but it's not me, Dad."

"Oh, Super Jesus, this is just embarrassing. I don't want to hear her blubbering," Donny said, wrinkling his nose.

"Agreed," Warren said. "It's probably going to go on for another ten minutes, and I want to know if the other microphones work."

"Can we record the rest? I want to know what their punishment is," Layla said.

Adam nodded. "Sure, I can do that. Just a sec," he said, turning his attention to the computer screen. "Okay, done. Where next?"

"Stronghold's Secret Sanctum," Warren said.

Adam changed to the Secret Sanctum, but it must have been empty, as there was no noise from the speakers.

"Adam had to stop Craig from beating Mrs. Stronghold's highest score at pinball," Ethan said with a grin.

"Would've beaten it, if not for you meddling kids," Craig mumbled, starting to fall asleep.

"What did you guys end up stealing?" Wendy asked, looking between Adam and Ethan.

"One of the Xbox remote chargers, all of the spare batteries we could find, six spare universal remotes - "

"I want those," Warren said, realising that he still hadn't replaced the one he'd melted.

Ethan nodded, then continuing listing the inventory. "Two pairs of Jetstream's earrings, one of the Commander's cufflinks, Will's dust jacket for Lustful's autobiography, and all of their USBs."

"I left replacements behind. As soon as they use them, we have access to their computers," Adam said.

"We also stole one of all of the socks from their laundry hamper," Ethan said, Wendy cackling in response. "I melted them down and flushed them down the toilet. I refuse to carry sweaty socks around."

"Honey told us to steal some things, too," Adam added.

"Four pairs of spare reading glasses, three teaspoons, a teacup and saucer, and half of the blue and black pens. Craig took the multi-coloured pens too, just in case."

"We're going to have to work out a proper storage system. I refuse to keep trophies, but if anything's useful, it needs to have a proper place," Layla said.

Ethan looked like his week had been made. "If we can add cups to the rooms, I can distribute the pens."

"I want to see the earrings," Wendy said.

Ethan nodded and started to draw out water droplets.

"You got actual diamond earrings?" she said incredulously. "And pearls?"

"They were in boxes that were covered in dust. I don't think she'll notice that they're gone," Ethan said, shrugging.

"Dibs on the diamonds," Jewel said.

"I wanted the pearls anyway," Wendy said, grinning as she handed the diamonds over.

...

"How was your last ASL class?" Anita asked as she picked Ethan and Zach up, Heidi in the front seat beside her.

"Good. We had a test to see how much we'd learnt and then there was a party," Ethan said.

"Brought you cake, Heids," Zach said, handing her a bundle of napkins.

"You look much calmer than I expected considering we're moving everything to the new house today, Ma," Ethan admitted.

Anita smiled in the rear-view mirror. "Honey recommended a super company that does removals for us. After looking at the budget, and deciding on the cost of the truck, the hours we'd have to put in, and the chiropractor sessions after your father would inevitably hurt himself carrying the sixty boxes of books, we realised it would actually be cheaper to hire them instead. They had everything moved in an hour," Anita said as she drove Ethan, Zach, and Heidi to their new home.

"It's done?" Zach asked.

Heidi looked over the front seat and signed excitedly to Zach and Ethan, who grinned and signed back.

"Awesome, Heids! I can't wait to see your room.

"Everything's done, we just need to unpack. If we finish unpacking by next week, they'll pick up the cardboard boxes for recycling at no extra charge."

"It took us two weeks to pack. I reckon we can unpack in a week," Zach said, grinning.

"Did Zach's kitchen utensils survive?" Ethan asked.

"Yes. Richard's opened the boxes to make sure. You can put them away, Zach. Ethan, if you can do up a plan so I know where everything is, I'd appreciate it. I'd prefer not to spend an hour looking for a pot," Anita added, almost accidentally turning down her old road, and quickly turning off the indicator, looking to the cars behind her.

"They'd be in the cupboard next to the oven; glasses across from the fridge; mugs near the kettle; plates and bowls under the bench for easy access when serving up food."

"It sounds simple now, but there's more storage space than we realised. I swear Heidi could fit in one of the cupboards."

"Are you sure? Heids is getting pretty tall, aren't you?" Zach said, grinning at his sister.

She nodded firmly, then grinned and signed back.

"Taller than me? Maybe one day, Heids."

"Ah, here we are. Ready, kids?" Anita asked as she turned down their new road.

"I can see Frieda's house from here," Zach said, seeing her home further up the hill. "Doesn't Victor live around here too?"

"He moved in with Edith, if I remember correctly," Ethan confirmed. "She's a street over."

"Aw, yes! We can have, like, a little mini evil neighbourhood," Zach said with a cackle.

"Any louder and the neighbours would've heard you," Ethan said, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry, Eth."

Anita shook her head at them and spent a moment navigating the driveway - the front of her car was lower than she'd like and she'd already scraped it once today. They were soon parked in front of their new house, and all three kids were out of the car before Anita could say or do anything. Heidi laughed, grabbed her brothers' hands, and tugged on them to hurry up.

Anita locked the car and followed them inside. She could hear Ethan's excited talk about rearranging his books in the study, Zach's exclamation of surprise when he realised there was a walk-in pantry, and Heidi's impatient noises to go see their rooms already.

Anita knew the moment they were upstairs to see their rooms because their noise stopped. For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Anita knew exactly why they'd stopped and smiled as she headed upstairs. They were all standing in front of Heidi's room, staring with their jaws hanging open. Anita moved to stand behind them - she was just tall enough to see over Ethan, who was still growing as well - and smiled when she saw that Richard was hanging the last of the fairy and novelty lights that Heidi had received for her birthday.

They had decided to surprise Heidi by hanging them all up around her room. The newly painted soft yellow walls were covered from ceiling to floor in lights, hanging from the architraves with just enough room from the walls themselves that the lights swung a bit with the breeze from the open window. Heidi's bed had lights curling around the headboard, down along the frame, and on the legs themselves. Heidi was smiling so brightly that Anita thought she might start glowing like her brother.

"Richard," Anita said, drawing her husband's attention from the last set of lights he was hanging - the coloured unicorns, if she remembered correctly.

Richard looked down from the ladder, then set the lights aside and made his way down the rungs to splay his arms in the middle of the room. "What do you think? They're not plugged in yet," he added with a wink.

Somehow, Heidi's smile became brighter still. Around them, the hanging lights started to glow brightly, a myriad of colours reflecting off the yellow walls.

"Beautiful, Heidi," Anita said, hugging her gently.

Heidi turned and hugged her in return, then ran into her new room to hug Richard as well. She turned around the room, turning lights on and off at a whim. Richard hung the last set of lights over the wardrobe doors and followed his wife to their new room to keep unpacking. Behind them, their children were laughing and happy, and that's all Anita and Richard had ever wanted for them.

...

Greta glared at her doctor, quickly turning her gaze away when Dr. Samson looked over to her. If he caught her glaring, he'd probably keep her in the hospital for another week. With the last of the forms signed, Greta left the building and went straight over to the taxi she'd booked to take her home and the hell away from the hospital.

At least she'd organised for the house repairs to be done while she was in hospital, so she should be returning to a brand new kitchen. The money she'd organised for Cara's bail had needed to be spent on the repairs to her house, but she could sell off a few more paintings to raise the money again.

Cara herself was useless, nothing more than a citizen, but she had to be desperate for revenge after spending almost three weeks in prison. Greta could - and planned to - use that desire for revenge to her advantage.

Layla and that boyfriend of hers would get what was coming to them, she thought, smiling at the thought, even as she struggled to breathe through the pricks of pain along her skin.

...

End of the sixty-ninth chapter.

Thanks for reading; I hope you liked it!