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An additional hall was on this side. I opened up each door and saw that the other four rooms were on this side, with a bathroom. It looked like all of our stuff had been transferred with ease. I was glad that we
now had more storage with room to entertain on a smaller scale.
“Shouldn’t you be laying down?” Troy said as he came up behind me with my coffee mug.
I smiled. “Is that your way of telling me I look like crap? I can’t believe no one told me my makeup was smeared all over my face, and that I looked like I was related to a racoon, with all the dark bags under my eyes.”
He gave me a gentle smile as he cupped my face. “You will never look like crap, but you did have a harrowing day yesterday.”
“Where are my siblings?” I frowned. “I’m sure Kade isn’t feeling the greatest right now either.”
“Megan and Beth took them into town to a trampoline park. They wanted to give you some time to recover before the heathens descended,” Troy joked.
I took an appreciative drink of my coffee. “I should thank them, but I also want to see how they’re doing.”
“Children are amazingly resilient. They’re going to struggle with it, especially when they meet Miranda, but they’ll bounce back. They have you and us to show them the love and understanding that they need now,” Jace said quietly from behind me.
I turned around in surprise. “So, they haven’t seen her yet?”
“No, even Hazel’s been asking to see them, but Pops refuses to allow them to until you all are ready,” Remy stated as he entered the living room.
“The good Dr. Hazel Cornwall is now speaking again?” I asked sarcastically.
“She is.” Jace nodded. “She’s an interesting woman.”
I laughed dryly. “What does that supposed to mean?”
“It means that she was genuinely a great woman before all this,” Jace said in a patient tone. “She never started those experiments with the intent to play God. She started them to ease the pain and suffering of those that she knew could never, or would never, have children. It’s one thing to be a Non and know your body ‘failed’ you, it’s another to know it’s not your body, it’s your gift or your partner’s gift that has failed you.
“She never realized her research would have such terrible repercussions. She didn’t think they it could have gone so horribly wrong. She learned the hard way when people she loved and cared about lost their innocent children. Losing her own child, then her husband, and eventually her other daughter, had been devastating to her. She has carried the burden of her decisions for many years in silence.
“She said when she saw you, she felt the fire she once had. She found another reason to live again. As much as she loves Miranda, Miranda never had the spirit you do. She knew even back then, before the state took her children away from her that her daughter had a huge heart but she was constantly seeking approval and attention from others.”
“If she was such a great mother herself, how could she let the state take her children away?” I asked bitterly.
Remy sighed. “Grief can do funny things to people. Look at Cora and Beth. If Nadia and Patrick didn’t have Beth, then the state could have taken them away if she wasn’t part of a community. Hazel’s community turned their backs on her when they found out her experiments had failed. Everyone in her community blamed Mr. Moore’s parents, Hazel, and her husband.
“In their own grief they couldn’t feel any sympathy or understanding towards them. All they saw was that they had a promise of a ‘normal’ life and they had it taken away.
“Even the strongest people could succumb to the demons in their heads. She succumbed to her own and was living in the prison she had created. All these years she truly was a shell of herself. She had gotten in so deep, she had no clue how to get out of it.
“She has a mental gift. She has the ability to touch or be near an object and tell you it’s history. For instance, she could go to a pawn shop and find a pocket watch made in the 1800’s and tell you when it was created and all its previous owners.
“She thinks her gift also kept her from being a part of the world. She claims she was aware of her surroundings from time to time, but she could never break free from the shackles of it until last night.”
I looked at him in confusion.
“Mental gifts are tricky and one that the gifted community has tried to understand for centuries,” Drake added from the kitchen as he started to put sausage links onto a platter. “Troy, Remy, and I have physical gifts. Sure, it takes some mental power to use them but it’s our bodies that are doing most of the work. Jaxson, Jace, and yourself have a mental gift. Even in the Non-world the mind and brain are still a mystery.
“Every day new things are discovered. With the gifted community, the mysteries are even more complicated. I truly think that Hazel didn’t willingly check out on her children. I think her gift forced her to check out to protect her. Just as your gift has risen to try to protect you.”
I nodded and grudgingly had to admit that may have been the case and maybe she wasn’t as terrible as I thought she may be. Jace was the one that generally had the best track record for being a good judge of character. With his gift and his analytical ways, I believed that he was giving Hazel the benefit of the doubt.
“Has anyone questioned Greg about the eighth gift that Blake has?” Jaxson asked as he stepped into the living room, followed closely by Noah.
Jace shook his head with a frown. “One thing at a time. I imagine he and Dad have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Where would this eighth gift even be coming from, and why hasn’t it manifested itself?” Noah asked as he sat down at the table.
