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Remy stood up. “Adams is lucky that Blake only used her gift of compulsion and not strength. Adams took a cheap shot to her temple after the whistle was blown, one of her friends tripped her in the ring, and she was fighting dirty.”
“Blake had every right to defend herself, since the official was blatantly looking the other way,” Jace added quietly.
Will nodded slowly. “I told Paul I felt like we were doing them a disservice by not utilizing our resources correctly. We have all of you here, sitting on gifts to soften their sensibilities but it’s not helping them. If they think they can go against gifted individuals without practicing with gifted individuals, then they’re in for a rude awakening. The only exposure they have with us are the low level gifted.”
“So, no more kid gloves,” Jaxson asked with excitement. He had the gift of illusion and liked to play with it. He loved making people laugh. At our old school, he was known to have a goat walk into the middle of a lecture wearing a straw hat and a polka dot dress, or have a clown pop out of a closet. He was creative when it came to goofing off.
“Don’t get too excited,” Will said with a small smirk. “At 0500 hours on Monday morning you’ll be dropped off in an undisclosed location. Then you need to find your way back here. Expect to spend at least a few days out in the elements.”
“It feels like winter out there,” Jemmy groaned. “So, they’re going to drop us in the middle of nowhere, and we just have to find our way back? Can Micah come?” she asked expectantly.
Will chuckled at that. “No, he has school. It’s not going to be that simple. Blake, Remy, Troy, Jace, Noah, Drake, and Jaxson will be dropped off, and an hour later the rest of you and twenty operatives will be dropped off. Blake and team, don’t get caught.”
“Are you serious?” Noah asked slowly.
“I am,” Will grinned at us. “Think of this as a punishment and a reward. Adams will be one of the operatives hunting. She doesn’t think you guys will last a day in the field. I would have had all of you on one team, but I think Blake and team need a challenge. No use embarrassing the Nons too much.” And with that, he turned and went to leave.
“Can Micah come?” Jaxson yelled at his retreating back.
He stopped with his hand on the door. “Still no, but I would like for you guys to pick me up some bedding and some slippers while you’re out tomorrow.”
I sat on one of the folding tables waiting for our load of laundry to dry. Jace, Troy, and Remy went into planning mode immediately. They were going to load our rucksacks up for an indeterminable period. Anything we couldn’t get issued to us would be purchased tomorrow in town.
That left Noah, Jaxson, and I to do all of our laundry. Since Beth was helping Drake out, we had picked up Nadia and Patrick’s clothing to wash, as well. Cora had been in bed when we got there. It broke my heart seeing her like that. I knew Will and Beth were concerned as well, but no one knew what to do. Paul had offered to call a therapist in, but we didn’t know how that would work with a Non—our new nick name for nongifted people—therapist. They may be able to help her with her grief, but they couldn’t understand the true depth of it all.
Jaxson had brought a deck of cards with him, so we could play cards while we waited. We had already learned our lesson once. If we left our clothing unattended, they may walk. Troy and Jemmy had lost an entire load of laundry, and we were only issued so much clothing. If we needed more, we had to purchase it. They had enough money to replace them, but it was the principal of it all.
I was surprised that there were so many machines open. Friday was generally a busy night for washing. All the single people were known to do their laundry on Fridays so they could go out immediately afterwards and not return until Sunday night.
If they weren’t on duty or on call, they could sign out for the weekend. They liked to go to the closest town that had a few dive bars in it, drink, hook up, and stay at the hotels there. All the guys had been invited numerous times, especially Troy, Remy, Noah, and Jace, but they had always politely declined.
“Uno,” Jaxson called gleefully as he laid down a yellow three.
I laid down a blue three hoping he didn’t have a blue card in his hand. I didn’t think Jaxson would ever grow up. He brought out the light-hearted side in me. Having him around made me feel young at heart again. Carefree.
He groaned, and I knew he didn’t have a blue card. I laughed, clapping my hands.
“Do you think Jemmy, Gavin, and Sierra will work things out?” I asked hesitantly as Noah put down a wild draw-four card.
“Green,” he smiled as Jaxson groaned once more. “I’m sure they will. Jemmy needs someone like Gavin in her life. She doesn’t need a pushover as her nucleus. He’s strong and steady. However, Gavin needs Jemmy in his life to remind him to stop being so serious. Sierra will act like a good mediator between the two and help them both see the world with different eyes.”
“I can’t believe we never put two and two together about their trident. A double connection makes sense,” Jaxson said as he gave me a sneaky smile and laid down a green draw-two.
I smiled sweetly at Noah and put down a red draw-two.
“You’re kidding me right?” he exclaimed as he picked up four cards. “Well, we know Jemmy wouldn’t have been the nucleus.”
“Why not?” I asked as I stood up to grab the first load out.
When they went to help me, I held up my hand. “You guys are cool, plus I really don’t feel like folding everything twice,” I teased them.
“There’s nothing wrong with the way I fold clothes,” Jaxson protested loudly.
“I suck at it,” Noah agreed with a nonchalant shrug. “No, Jemmy could never be a nucleus because she’s not strong enough. Think about it; Pops, Steven,” he frowned momentarily at the mention of him. We all missed him. His loss still was a raw wound. “You. You’re all strong alphas.”
I frowned as I mulled over his words and started to fold the first load, separating them by who they belonged to. All the clothing had a laundry mark, even the children’s khakis, black slacks, red polos, and white polos. The girls also had uniform jumpers and skirts. “By your theory, Jace should have been a nucleus or even Remy.” I stated.
Noah gave me a patient smile. “True they could have been, but they aren’t. The connections to the nucleus aren’t necessarily inferior or non-alphas. However, the nucleus is never weak. Jemmy is stubborn and willful but she isn’t strong enough.”
