Page 93 of The Human’s Heart

Granddad said, “Where are they, Beatrix?”

She began to shake, but to my surprise, she answered him without hesitation. “They’re staying in those trees behind the houses across the street. Mainly behind the one with the for-sale sign in front.”

“Have they been there this whole time?”

She shook her head. “No. They just chose that spot this morning. They were in another house with a for-sale sign on it before then, but I don’t think they’d been there long. Before that, I’m not sure because I was hiding from them. I think… I think he might’ve made friends with a realtor or something, but I don’t know who.”

“Thank you, Beatrix.”

To my surprise, Granddad walked over, reached through the wards, and grabbed her hand. She looked like she might bolt, but she let him hold onto her for a long time. His green magic swirled around them both.

I had no idea what he was doing until Grandpa whispered to Hugo and me, “He’s using his magic to get a sense of her soul. He’s good at picking up on people who’re good at the heart of it, and he thinks she might be worth saving.”

“She could’ve come to us at any time,” I said angrily.

“Maybe. But you heard her. What would you be willing to do to save your family?”

I sighed, and Hugo whispered, “Anything. I’d do anything to save any of you.”

I glanced at him and saw Grandpa reach over to hug him from the side and kiss his temple as he spoke so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. “And any one of us would do anything and everything to save you too, sweetie.”

Hugo leaned into the hug for a moment before we all straightened and watched my other grandfather’s green magic swirling around.

After a few more seconds, his magic dissipated, almost floating away on the wind. He stared at her, asked her something I missed, and when she nodded, my eyes widened. My grandfather pulled Beatrix through the wards into my front yard.

What. The. Hell.

She started crying, and he actually gave her a hug before passing her off to his viramore and turning to me.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked him.

Other grandfathers may’ve been angry if I spoke to them that way, but Granddad didn’t even seem to notice. “She has a good soul, Zay. None of this is her fault.”

“What the hell am I hearing? You never forgive people.”

He scowled. “I do too.”

“You really don’t!”

He shook his head and waved me off. “Listen. I’m going to let Uncle Jor drive her back to the BCA and reunite her with Anithea and hopefully find her mother and brother too. They’ll all get new identities, and we’ll make sure no one from their old clan ever finds them. She’s not going through our portal, but I also don’t want one of Theroli’s people to hurt her before we get her to a safe place, so she’s staying right here until your uncle gets here to take her.”

I nodded, surprised by his understanding and kindness. Sure, he was one of the most generous people in the world. But he wasn’t usually the forgiving type. I had a feeling my grandpa had more to do with this decision than Granddad actually did.

Maybe that wasn’t fair to him, though. He could be forgiving… sometimes. Especially when it came to kids, and in his eyes, Beatrix was definitely a kid.

We walked behind the house where people couldn’t see us. Hopefully, Beatrix’s clan thought she was still doing their bidding and weren’t suspicious that we were actually planning on capturing them and throwing them in prison.

It wasn’t long before Uncle Jor and Uncle Laiken came through the portal. They both said hello to us, with hugs, before focusing on Beatrix. They couldn’t take her to a car yet because we didn’t want her clan catching on—we had two official BCA SUVs in our driveway since that was the only thing my family would let us ride in while there was a threat.

Part of me wanted to go over and say my goodbyes while I could because I’d never see her again after this, but I was just… done. Done with her. Done with this entire thing.

I was tired and done with it.

Before I knew it, both my dads, Uncle Thay, Uncle Toby, Uncle Bas, Uncle Hiro, and Kian were all here and ready to go across the street. However, Granddad told Kian he had to stay behind.

Hugo and I were also ordered to stay behind, but I was going whether they all liked it or not. I wanted to see the man behind this. I wanted to see this done.

Kian felt the same, and without a word to each other, with only a look, I knew we’d follow our BCA agent family members over as soon as they were far enough away that they couldn’t stop us.