Chapter 14

The ride back to the Second Mass felt excruciatingly long as Grace accelerated as fast as she could down the pitch black road. She could see Maggie and Hal in the headlights ahead of her, guiding her. She could hear some of the kids on the back of the truck trying to interrogate Ben about the harnessing process, but he didn't have many answers for them. They needed to get back to camp ASAP so they could come up with a plan, but it was clear some of the Lost Boys were getting impatient.

Glancing at Zoe, she could see the girl was in no better condition. She was biting her nails, a nasty habit she'd had the whole time Grace had known her. The pale look on her face as she stared anxiously out of the window told her how badly she was feeling about this.

"It's okay," Grace tried to reassure her. "We'll find them."

"No offence, but I'm not in the mood for bullshit," Zoe snapped.

Grace was silent, surprised by Zoe's hostility.

Zoe leaned back in the seat, hugging herself. "I'm sorry, it's just...your brother said they would be harnessed. I've seen those kids. They're not human anymore."

"I know how you feel. You're scared. You feel like you let them down. Like you failed them. I feel like that a lot with my brothers. I felt like that with Jimmy. But it's not your fault, Zo."

"How can you say that? I should have been there for them. But instead I was busy reminiscing with you."

Grace was stung by her words, but she understood. "There's a chance they'll be okay."

"How can you know that?"

She paused, glancing quickly at Zoe. "Ben was harnessed."

"He was...what?"

"He was taken pretty early on in the invasion. They had him harnessed for months. But we rescued him, we got the harness off him."

"How?"

"Doctor Glass can do it safely. But hopefully it won't come to that. Just...don't lose hope, okay?"

Zoe nodded gently and continued biting her nails.

As soon as they got to camp, Grace and Zoe called everyone into Weaver's war room while Jeanne and Diego explained to the captain what had happened. The rest of the Lost Boys waited anxiously by the vehicles, crying and muttering impatiently. It wasn't long before Matt noticed the commotion. He ran over to Grace as she was hurrying back towards Weaver's tent.

"What's going on?"

"Oh. Something happened at their camp," Grace explained quickly, barely slowing down. "Some of the boys are missing."

"I can help find them!" Matt offered eagerly.

"No, Matty."

"Why not?"

Grace stopped abruptly, almost causing Zoe to walk into her. "Because I said so!" she snapped impatiently. "You're not ready. You're too young."

"No I'm not!" barked Matt in return, his small features screwing up angrily. "You're not in charge of me! You can't tell me what to do, and neither can Dad! I can help like I did with Boon and Tector! I'm not scared of those skitters."

Grace pinched the skin in between her eyes, feeling a pain radiate behind them. "Matt, it's too dangerous. You're staying here. Now I need to join the others -"

"Diego said I was brave," Matt huffed. "I bet if I was a Lost Boy, he'd let me help."

Grace chewed on her tongue. "Matty."

"Hey," Zoe spoke up, touching Grace's shoulder. "You go. I'll watch him. I need to reassure the boys anyway."

Grace nodded thankfully at her. She hurried inside Weaver's dimly-lit tent where everyone was already huddled around various maps sprawled across the centre table. All the usual suspects were there, as well as Jeanne and Diego who were standing beside Dai and Captain Weaver. Grace squeezed in between Hal and their father.

"That factory, right here," announced Diego, pointing at an area on the map. "That's where we've seen a lot of harnessed kids."

"That's the building we saw in the scouting unit yesterday," Hal explained. "The building has power."

"And Mechs guarding it," Ben added bleakly.

"Maybe they turned the factory into a harness facility," suggested Maggie.

"Would explain the security," said Tom.

Weaver's attention turned to Ben.

"Okay. Ben. What do you remember about the place where you were harnessed?"

"Um. Not much. Just fragments."

"Anything you can remember will be helpful," their father encouraged beside him.

Ben hardly looked up from the table as every pair of eyes in the room turned to him. "Um... first, they kept us in a holding room."

"For how long?" Dai questioned.

"I don't know."

"What else?"

Ben's face contorted slightly, his nose wrinkling as if trying to remember caused him physical discomfort. "They took us to the harnessing chamber."

"What was the distance between the holding room and the harnessing chamber?" Weaver continued interrogating him.

Ben glanced down, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I don't remember." It was clear from his face that he was struggling. Grace hated that he was being forced to relive that trauma. If she could, she'd take away all those horrible memories whether they were useful or not.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything else?" Weaver asked.

"He doesn't remember, alright?" Grace almost barked, leaning over the table. She stepped back again when the room turned to look at her.

"All right, look. We're wasting time," said Diego impatiently. "We know they're in there. Let's go."

"Not so fast," growled Weaver. "We need a plan. Improvising gets people killed."

"While you're sitting around making plans, they're harnessing our friends!" Diego argued, giving the captain a pointed look.

Weaver glared at him. "I'm not gonna put people's lives at risk so that you can go off half-cocked."

"Fine. Stay here with your maps," Diego retorted, swinging his rifle strap over his shoulder. "I'm going in."

"I said no."

"I don't take orders from anyone, especially a man who couldn't save his own family," Diego snapped, glancing at Jeanne before turning for the exit.

"HEY!" Weaver must have seen red, because he suddenly grabbed Diego and pulled him across the table, making Grace's heart leap. "You listen to me, there, Sonny boy! You do not talk to me about my family! You hear me?"

Diego struggled but the captain's grip was strong as he tugged at his clothing, pulling the boy close to his face as he screamed at him.

"Dad, stop!" Jeanne begged over the yelling as she tried to pull them apart. "I said stop it! Stop it!"

Eventually the two parted, with a final shove from Weaver. Jeanne put herself between them as Diego and Weaver composed themselves, panting and glaring at each other.

"I told you he hasn't changed," Diego murmured to Jeanne before storming out of the tent.

Jeanne glared at her father with tears in her eyes, breathing hard. Grace was astounded - and somewhat relieved - that for once the eruption of family drama didn't concern the Masons.

Weaver breathed heavily, his hard exterior crumbling as soon as he saw the look on his daughter's face.

"Jeannie. I'm sorry."

She narrowed her gleaming eyes at him. "If you were sorry, you'd try to be different. You wouldn't be the same angry control freak." She shook her head. "This is exactly why Mom kicked you out."

She turned and followed Diego out the door, Weaver distraughtly calling after her. Grace glanced awkwardly over at her father. They hadn't seen Weaver this emotionally compromised since his breakdown in Allston. It was starting to seem like Jeanne's reappearance wasn't such a good thing afterall. But she felt for the old man. Her temper had dragged her into a fair few fights with her family. She could tell by the look in the captain's face how disappointed he was in himself.

"Captain?" Dai said after a beat too long of silence.

"Grab your weapons and gear up," muttered Weaver, barely looking up at them. "We move out in five."

The group dispersed from the tent, eager to collect their weapons. Grace headed back to where she left Zoe and Matt. Diego and Jeanne had probably filled them in on that shambolic meeting already. She expected to do some damage control and calm everyone down. He may not have expressed himself in the best way, but Weaver was right. He had saved her impulsive ass from jumping into the wrong fight one too many times. He knew what he was talking about, even if she did want to contradict him sometimes.

She paused when she got to the edge of camp. She could have sworn she left them here. Looking around, there was no sign of Zoe or Matt. In fact, there was no trace of any of them. Diego, Jeanne. The boys were gone. Then, she realised with horror, so were their bikes.

"Oh, my god."

Ben came up beside her, loading the bullets in his newly collected rifle. He glanced up, noticing her expression.

"What's wrong?"

Grace felt the world start to spin. Ben's tall figure was blurring in front of her.

"Have either of you seen Matt?" she heard Hal jog up behind them. "He's not in his tent, he's not in the mess tent."

"I left him with Zoe," Grace said, dry-mouthed. "They're both gone."

"Jeanne too." Weaver was standing behind her, a thin film of moisture in his eyes as he failed to hide the concern in his expression. Behind him, her father and the others were approaching with their guns and vehicles. "All the bikes are gone," the captain told them.

Tom stared at him with disbelief. "They went without us?"

Grace glanced at everyone, a horrified look on her features.

"And they took Matt."