Page 11 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

“You’re leaving?” the middle child asked, a boy.

“Sorry, kid, but I gotta get going. There’s other people stuck and I’ve gotta make sure I find them.”

His gaze moved from me to Ingram, and nothing in that expression said he liked Ingram any more than he liked me. Still, the boy swallowed and spoke again. “What if the monsters come back?”

“They won’t. Just stay nice and quiet and someone else will get here quick.” I went to stand when a little hand wrapped around mine, impressively tight given it belonged to the youngest, who couldn’t be more than five years old. Girl or boy, I had no idea. They had hair down to their chin that fell in thick ringlets, the sort of look that meant people probably assumed they were a girl, but I just couldn’t tell. I tried to extricate my hand, but they seemed to have no plans to let it go.

I sighed, knowing when I was beat. “Fine, come on, let’s move outside at least. We’ll stay for a bit.”

I’d always been soft when it came to kids.

Chapter Seven

Kenyon

“I won the science fair,” the oldest, Rebecca, said with a huge smile on her face as she ate a piece of candy Ingram had given her. She still had her two siblings beside her, never letting them go far, but she’d relaxed since we’d stretched out in a clearing just a ways from the house.

I’d found that the places that had more from our world seemed to draw monsters faster, meaning often the sparse forest was a better resting spot when trying to avoid them.

“What was the project on?” Yun asked.

Rebecca smiled wider, showing that while she might not care for us, Yun was a big exception. Same, kid. “I looked at whether the process of creating orange juice changed the Vitamin C amount within the juice. We looked at cold pressed, homemade, concentrate, all sorts.” Her voice sped up as she spoke, showing her passion.

“That’s amazing. What did you find?”

“That the difference was too small to matter. I can show you my ribbon…” Rebecca’s gaze moved in the direction of the house, or at least the ruins that had once been her house. I could see in real time the thoughts as they tumbled around in her head, as she realized that she would likely never get her ribbon back—or her life.

“You can show me later,” Yun said, her soft voice coaxing the girl not to focus on that. “Do you like science?”

Rebecca swallowed hard. Kids were better than they should ever have to be at pushing down bad feelings like that, at moving forward even when it would have been so easy to break. I’d seen full-grown adults go hysterical, but these three kids still held it together.

Which reminded me of the future I couldn’t have—a family.

“I want to be a scientist,” she said, voice softer than it had been, shadows in those young eyes of hers. “I went to a summer camp last year and we did all these experiments, and I thought, this is what I want to do.”

“You know, I could get you a tour at the Guild,” I said. “They’ve got a huge research department there.”

Her blue eyes brightened. “What do they study?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’m not really a science guy. But I know it’s big, and some of the world’s best scientists work there. You do well in school and you can probably even do an internship there in a few years.”

And just like that, she didn’t seem to fear me anymore. All it took was the right bait and most people gave up their preconceived notions.

Ingram frowned, a subtle shifting of his expression that I easily recognized.

Trouble.

I didn’t have the senses that the others had, couldn’t hear danger as it approached. It meant I’d gotten used to trusting them.

Carter rose almost perfectly in sync with Ingram, like the two had practiced it. At the same time, Shear stepped closer from his spot, which had been farther away so his eerie eyes didn’t freak the kids out.

I scooted closer to the kids, Yun doing the same thing on the other side, wanting to flank the most vulnerable.

“Keep your heads down,” Carter said, voice low.

“How many?” I asked.

“A lot.”