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“Honestly mate,” Lee says, patting him on the shoulder. “She scares me more than you do.”
Five of the teenagers stand on my gravelled driveway wearing mis-matched joggers, leggings, and jumpers, huddled together like penguins. The second twin clambers out, still holding the girl he’d carried from the house but he’s struggling. They’re both now dressed so Harvey steps forward.
“I’ve got her,” he says, slipping his arms under the boys and taking the girl from him. “I promise she’s safe with me.”
The boy nods but watches Harvey closely as he follows him to the house. Lee, Murray, and I heard the others between us. As planned, we take them into the lounge where Dr Melvin waits, looking a lot more professional this time in blouse and trousers and her white Dr’s coat, stethoscope poised around her neck. Much like the night we first brought Mabel and Keeley home, there are none of my other men in sight. My girls sit on the sofa ready to greet the newcomers, hoping it’s the same friends they left behind.
When we enter, the boys splitting themselves so one leads the group behind Harvey and the other brings up the rear, Mabel and Keeley both stand and it’s as though time freezes. They stare at the newcomers wide eyed and teary, taking in each face as the other’s stare at them in disbelief. Then, someone hits play and Mabel flings herself at the first boy, wrapping her arms around his neck and wailing. He envelopes her in a bear hug, crying into her curls and then dropping to his knees, the weight of theemotion tonight has brought, too much for him to hold at a stand.
“It was you,” he sobs. “You guys saved us.”
“No,” Mabel says, shaking her head and pulling away to bat the tears from under her eyes. “It was her.” She jerks her head toward me and the whole group looks at me. I’m suddenly aware that mine are the only dry eyes in the room. This is why people think I’m an ice-cold bitch, but I trained myself from a young age not to cry. “Annika saved us and when we told her there were more of you, she decided she was going to come find you even though I couldn’t remember where we’d come from or anything.” Mabel bows her head, crying with shaking shoulders and gasping breaths. “I’m so sorry Reece. If I’d just thought about where we were running when we left, they could have found you weeks ago.” She looks up at him, so broken that it almost does get to me. “I was just so sacred, I didn’t think.”
“Shh,” he soothes, pulling her back in and cradling the back of her head. “You were free, that’s all you had to think about.”
Slowly the other girls, except the one Harvey has placed on the sofa, start to crowd Mabel on the floor, all of them hugging together, cries and sobs being released sporadically. The other twin, not Reece, is still dazed and pale, but he crouches down and scoops Keeley up in a hug that she doesn’t shy from, but grips onto him like she may never let go.
“Where are Bella and Niamh?” Mabel says looking around the group.
“They took them,” the girl on the sofa says. “About three weeks ago, they were taken upstairs and never came back down.” Her own tears fall freely from her eyes and Mabel looks up at me, so helpless.
A decision is made in some area of my brain that isn’t in charge of rationality. “We’ll look for them,” I say with a confidence I don’t feel. Those girls are probably dead. “Now wehave all of you, we’ll get as much information as we can about all the kids you knew at that place, and we’ll do what we can to track them down. Or at least find out what happened to them,” I add at the end hoping they understand the implications.
I look at Harvey expecting horror on his face from giving this group of vulnerable children false hope, but all I see is steely determination and he gives me an approving nod that for some reason warms my belly and my stupid heart.
“Dr Melvin,” I address the woman who looks on at the kids with glassy eyes before snapping them to me. “Each of them needs checking over but start with that one.” I point to the girl on the sofa. “She has a broken ankle.”
The Dr stares blankly for a second. I’m sure she’s wondering what she’s supposed to do about a broken ankle without all the hospital equipment she’s used to. But we have a fully functioning medical suite up the hall that should have everything she needs.
“Lee will show you where to take them,” I tell her.
Without having to be told, Lee helps the young girl up and carries her out the room. Reece jumps up from the huddle. “Where are you taking her?” he demands.
“Relax,” Harvey cajoles, two hands held up in a defensive stance. “She’s going to be looked at by a doctor, a female doctor in a private room, so we can make sure she is okay and receives the care she needs.”
Reece looks nervously at the door that they’ve just disappeared out of, but Mabel takes his hand in hers. “It’s okay, Reece. I promise, you can trust everyone here. They won’t hurt her, they won’t hurt any of you, I promise.” When her eyes flick to me, I can’t help the smile I give her, hearing her repeat the same promises I gave her when she and her sister first arrived.
“Who are you?” the other twin asks me somewhat suspiciously.
“She’s the queen, Charlie,” Keeley says sweetly, still with her arms wrapped around his arm.
There’s a small titter from the other adults in the room, but Charlie just frowns at me like I’m some delusional eccentric. “My name is Annika; this is my house and Mabel and Keeley live here with me. I want to help you.”
“Annika Wolfe?” he asks, looking far more nervous of me than I’d like.
His brother’s head snaps round. “Is that true? You’re Annika Wolfe?”
“I am,” I say with no inflection.
The twins, exchange a look, they obviously have some connection to The Talons, and I can almost hear the silent conversation. They’re unsure about me, about being here.
“Charlie, Reece,” Mabel begs without any further words and they both look at her.
“I don’t think you know who she is, Maybe,” Charlie says to her.
“I know exactly who she is,” Mabel argues, looking between them. “She’s the person who stopped her car in the middle of the night because she thought someone might need her help. She’s the person who gave me a knife to point at her just so I would feel safe. She’s the person who gave us food and clothes and a place to stay without expecting anything from us. She’s made us a home and everything we’ve needed or wanted has been ours. She slept on the floor outside our bedroom door for a week because it made us feel safe. And she still hasn’t needed anything from us for it. She came to find you, to get you out of that shithole because she knew it was the right thing to do and because she knew it was important to us.That’swho she is. Please trust me and trust her.”
“She made me a princess,” Keeley says with the same seriousness as her sister. As though this fact was as important as all the other things, and I try to hide my smirk.
