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In fact, most of the people here were related or knew gifted people. From what we gathered, all the gifted people they knew weren’t really involved in the communities and liked to keep a low-key life. We assumed none of them had connections, and if they did, they had never found them, which would explain why most of them were considered low-level gifted.
“That’s easy for you to say,” I teased him. “You already built your little entourage.”
Jax gave me a long-suffering look. I knew he couldn’t help it, but it still rankled me. “What about Troy and Noah? They have their own entourages as well.” He grumbled.
“Leave us out of it,” Noah stated sipping on his water. He pointed his fo
rk at Jaxson. “We have one or two girls chasing us to your…ten.”
“I’m over this conversation.” I winked at Jaxson. I know he didn’t encourage their behavior. “So, shopping tomorrow?” I asked Drake.
“Let’s make a day of it,” Troy said. “I’m done sleeping with those scratchy sheets and wool blankets.”
I nearly groaned aloud at the thought of slipping into nonabrasive sheets and a warm down-filled comforter. The sheets and blankets weren’t the greatest quality, and it gave me a greater appreciation for those who volunteered their services to our country. They got shipped off to basic training and had to sleep in the most uncomfortable conditions.
“I would like to get a television for our spot, too, so we don’t have to go to the dayroom every night,” Noah agreed with a nod.
I had to agree with him there. I wanted to have the freedom to be affectionate with them without everyone watching us. They had a nice size dayroom for everyone to relax in. It had a large screen for viewing movies, but we were at the mercy of whoever got there first. Some of the movies were good, others not so much. They also had a few foosball and pool tables in there. Almost everyone that didn’t have families gathered there after dinner.
We migrated there some nights after we put Ella and Alex to bed. We allowed Micah to stay up longer, since he was older and more responsible. We allowed him to explore with Patrick, even though they spent most of their nights in the apartment reading comic books.
“Do you think they’ll have a comic book store?” I asked after I took another bite of my salad. “Micah and Patrick keep reading the same four or five comics.”
“We can look it up. Even if we don’t find it locally, we can go out further,” Remy replied. “I don’t imagine Beth taking them out any time soon.”
No one spoke about Cora. She was like the elephant in the room. She had completely withdrawn into herself since the death of Steven, her nucleus. She went through the motions of life, but she lost her purpose. She barely seemed to interact with Nadia or Patrick any longer. We knew she missed him terribly, and since Steven’s death, she had become weaker in her gift. When the nucleus died, their connections lost levels to the effectiveness of their gift. Most connections were a level eight through ten. After the nucleus died they were knocked down to below a five. To some, that seemed insignificant, but our gifts became a part of our identity.
It was hard on Beth losing both of her connections, in a way. Steven through death and Cora through grief. She was now essentially a single mother. Beth never wanted children to begin with. Not after she had seen how gifted children were treated in the institute, the place Horatio, Will, and Greg had created. Greg had died because of it, and Will had been reformed since then, but her time there had scarred her. She had carried Nadia because Cora was unable to have children. Up until this point, Cora and Steven had been her sole caregivers. They had recently adopted Patrick because she was just warming up to the idea of children. Now she was alone.
“The girls need some stuff too,” Rachel, my other best friend stated. “Ella would probably like her art supplies replenished, and Nadia likes those chapter books.”
“I would like to get some of my own clothing,” Jemmy said looking down despairingly at her clothing. Jemmy loved to stay up to date with the trends and was our fashion-conscious friend.
Our new wardrobe consisted of black, black, and more black. We had the option of cargo pants, shorts, tank tops, t-shirts and long sleeve tees. Our shoes were black combat boots or black sneakers. We had been issued them upon arrival. We were also told once our duty day was complete, we could wear our civvies (civilian clothing).
We didn’t have that many recreational vehicles at our disposable, and we didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, so we had never signed up for a vehicle. Jemmy and Rachel had hitched rides into town, but their rides had never wanted to go shopping that they wanted to do, they had just been happy to get out.
“Okay, so big shopping day for all of us,” Jaxson said excitedly.
“So much for assimilating with the masses,” Remy teased Jace.
Jace tried to look stern, but I could see he liked the idea too. When I shared his bed at night the sheets and blankets had been the only thing he complained about. There was no way he would trust us to pick out the right stuff.
“Are you coming, Gavin?” Jemmy asked hopefully.
Gavin gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but Sierra and I already had plans to meet up with the guys. We’re so close to getting a part of the simulation complete. If we get it done by this weekend, we hopefully use it in training by Friday.”
“Oh,” Jemmy gave him a crestfallen look before she pasted on a fake smile. “Maybe we can get you something. Is there anything we can get you guys?”
Gavin looked uncomfortable for a moment. “I can give you my card, but I would love some new bedding as well, some hot fries, and maybe some sweats and t-shirts. Sierra, did you want anything? I’ll pay.”
“Bedding will be great,” she said as she looked at Jemmy and Gavin hesitantly.
Jemmy gritted her teeth as she smiled once more. “It’s cool. I’ll get it. Would you like some snacks or clothes?”
I had to admire her for trying. I knew it was killing her to be so nice to the girl she thought was swooping in and taking her man. I wondered if it would make a difference if I told her now about Sierra being their connection.
“Umm, sure,” Sierra shrugged as she shifted in her seat, looking at us all. “They don’t have any chocolate covered pretzels in the shoppette. Something to lounge around in would be great too!”
