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“I don’t know where the Travis part comes from, but the Penn part is the division designation. Parapsychology, environmental, neurobiology, and neuroscience.”
“Fucking hell,” Crew mutters.
“Okay, I’ll level with you,” Oz starts. “Salem met a man calling himself Penn Travis when she was a kid. He helped her develop her gift.”
“Astrid also met a man named Penn Travis when she was a teenager. He saved her life, but he was not the same man that Salem met.” Jagger leans his elbows on the table, studying me.
“It’s not my area, but what I do know is that each child identified as gifted is given a handler. Often one who is also gifted, to help guide them and protect them when necessary.”
“Wait, hold on. That smells like bullshit to me,” Oz states.
“If they knew where these so-called gifted children were, why not take them then? As for protection, Salem was in a fucking cartel prison, for God’s sake!”
“Hey,” Ev snaps at him.
Oz growls but leans back a bit.
“Like I said, I don’t know everything. A lot I know is from snooping around where I shouldn’t because I needed answers.” I look at Oz and Zig. “This is not a new division. It dates back to the early fifties when Eisenhower was in power. In the beginning, I think gifted people were rounded up. Not many because it was much harder to track people back then. We didn’t have nearly the same kind of resources we do now. They collected people and kept them, trying to figure out what made them special.”
“They experimented on them? On children?” Zig’s face is like thunder.
“We’d just come out of one war and were on the cusp of another. The government wanted super soldiers to give them the edge.”
“And did they get them?”
“No. Gifted people tend to have elevated empathic abilities. The captives failed to thrive.”
“Like animals held in captivity.” Hawk nods. “So, they stopped collecting them and monitored them instead, giving them the illusion of freedom.”
I nod. “That’s what I believe.”
“For what purpose, though? If the government isn’t using these people for their own gain anymore, then why watch them?”
“Who said they weren’t using them for their own gain? Freedom is just an illusion, remember?”
“So, they manipulated the game, moving pieces around until these people were exactly where they wanted them.”
“Yes. Some inevitably fell through the cracks over the years. While others…” I take a deep breath. “Gifted people are not immune to mental illness. If anything, our gifts can have a greater toll on our psyche. There is a high suicide rate among gifted adults and teens.”
Slade looks at me before his gaze drifts to Jagger. “And these Penn guys. What happens to them?”
“What do you mean?”
“What happens if they lose their ward or if they go rogue or something?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know.”
I look around, feeling like I’m missing something. But naturally, none of them feel like filling me in.
I twist my hands together, feeling out of place again, before Ev sighs. “The Penn that saved Astrid—” Slade says E’s name to shut him up.
Ev growls at him. “You want her to lay everything out, knowing she’s putting herself in danger for doing it, and yet you still want to hold things back? We’ll never find out their end game if we don’t have the full picture.”
“He’s right. Sorry, Avery. But after Cooper, we’re all finding it hard to trust.” Slade sighs.
Truth.
I nod, pretending I understand, but I don’t because I’m not sure what Cooper did to them. I put a pin in that for now and turn to Ev.
