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My words drop like a bomb, and the room descends into chaos.
Greg whistles with his fingers, the noise catching everyone’s attention. “Shut the hell up and let the man finish, for fuck’s sake.”
Everyone takes their seats, but the room is now far more charged with anger and hostility.
“Did she tell the people she works with about Salem and Astrid?” Oz asks through clenched teeth.
I shake my head. “Anything she knows about them, she got from their side, not ours.”
“But she does know about them. Fuck. I mean, of course they know. But to send Avery here, that’s a low blow.” Zig shakes his head.
“No, Zig, you’ve got it wrong. Avery didn’t come here for them. She came here for us. If they knew she was here…” I let my voice drift off and let them imagine what would happen if they found out they had a whistleblower in their midst.
“How can we be sure?” Slade snaps.
I glare at him. “I can’t, but my gut’s telling me she’s telling the truth.”
“Give us the rest,” Greg urges.
“The children they find are not being returned to their homes. They’re being placed in foster facilities or group homes for their ‘safety.’ They’re spinning it as a matter of national security. Avery doesn’t have the clearance, but she doesn’t believe it, and she does not like what she sees.”
“Yet she still works there,” Jagger states quietly.
“You think they’d let her just walk away?”
Nobody says anything because they know it’s true. She would need to be silenced. Knowing who these guys are, I don’t doubt it would be in a permanent way.
“Fuck!” Oz curses, running his fingers through his hair. “Much as I don’t like it, we need to bring her in. She’ll be safer here than she will be out there on her own. We’ve been training for this. If it’s a trap, then we’ll deal with it. But if something happens to her, despite what Hawk and Creed say now, I know it will kill them.”
“I’ll talk to her, but I doubt she’ll agree.”
“Be persuasive, E.” Crew snorts.
I flip him off.
“What are they doing with the kids?” Slade’s question makes everyone else quiet down once more.
“On the surface, they are helping them nurture and grow their gifts. For many of the kids, they have increased due to trauma or taken on a dual nature to the gift they were born with.”
Zig and Oz look at each other before Zig coughs. “It worries me that Avery has contact with these kids at all.” He hastens to add, “Not because of what they might do to her, but because of what it means for her when they don’t need her anymore.”
“She was probably chosen for this job because of her circumstances. She had no family, no friends, and no connections at all until she met Creed and Hawk.”
“Nobody will report her missing if she disappears. Nobody will mourn her once she’s gone,” Jagger growls.
“Exactly. Look, I’m sure there’s more, but a nurse interrupted us. What she did tell me is that she came here to warn us.” I hold my hand up before they erupt once more. “We need to watch Salem, now more than ever. They may be sending someone after her again.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Oz jumps up. “Did Avery tell you someone was coming, or is she the threat?”
“Calm down. If she were the threat, she wouldn’t have warned me about it. She doesn’t even know if Salem is the target. That’s just what we deduced from a vision she was told about.”
“They have a psychic. She does what Astrid does?” Oz’s face pales.
“No, it’s not the same. Avery says she sees more than just death. They call her a pre-cog.”
“And this pre-cog told Avery something would happen to Salem’s baby?”
“It’s complicated.”
