Chapter 30: Under FireSORENTroy had his tablet out and was typing frantically on the keypad as he was texting someone. I looked at the screen and saw he was sending another message to Dad: They're here. The men from the car. They're looking for us. We're hiding under the table.My heart was pounding so hard I was sure everyone in the restaurant could hear it. But I kept on a neutral face, because I didn't want to scare my siblings yet.Where was Mom? Why hasn't she come back yet?That's when I heard the first gunshot.The sound was so loud, and it was so unexpected, that for a moment I couldn't understand what it was. Then the front windows of the restaurant shattered as, glass were raining down like confetti, and people started screaming, and running away."Get down!" I shouted, throwing myself over Lake as more shots could be heard repeatedly. The sound was loud enough to deafen someone, and I could hear people crying and shouting, chairs being dragged on the ground as everyone tr
Chapter 29: Triplets Intuition SORENThe car ride home from school today felt very different than usual. Mom was very quiet today, and it wasn't the comfortable kind of quiet we sometimes had when we were all thinking about our own things and didn't need to talk about anything in particular, but the kind that made the air feel heavy. I kept glancing at her in the rearview mirror, trying to figure out what was wrong because Mom wasn't happy at all with Dad today and Dad looked confused as well which meant that he has no idea what made Mom mad .Lake and Troy were obviously thinking the same thing because they were both typing furiously on their tablets, it was a way of having conversations without being overheard by our mum especially when it was about things that we didn't want her to know.I pulled mine out and opened our private group chat that we'd set up last year when we realized that sometimes we needed to talk about grown-up things without the grown-ups hearing.Troy: Mom's
Chapter 28: Guilty Conscience XENOISThere was something in her tone that made me worried and look at her a little more carefully.. since I woke up with amnesia, she had always been in touching distance with me, or hold onto me but right now she was acting strangely. She seemed eager to get away from me, to put distance between us, and I couldn't understand why."Mrs. Kingston," Principal Morrison called after her, "the forms are at the main office reception desk."She nodded without looking back, leaving me alone with the boys and a realization that something bad had happened somewhere and I had no idea what it was."Daddy," Lake said quietly, "is Mommy mad at us?""What makes you think that, son?""She's been really quiet since she got here. Usually when one of us gets hurt, she fusses over us more."Wow, such honesty out of the mouths of babies Even our five-year-old could sense that something was off with Celeste's behavior."She's probably just worried about Soren," I said, thou
Chapter 27: A Soren Emergency XENOISThe drive to the boys Academy felt longer than it should have, my mind was caught up between Thomas's confessions and whatever emergency that has happened for the school to call me. The fact that they'd insisted I come immediately rather than explaining over the phone had me on high alert as I tried to get there without causing an accident.Whitmore Academy was the kind of institution that was actually built for special kinds of children – those whose intellectual capabilities were far greater than normal compared to their peers. The huge academy, that was built on 15 plots of land with enough spaces to build any facilities needed for their school growth and a flexible individual timetable to match. It was exactly the kind of place I wanted my sons to attend, where their gifts would be nurtured rather than stifled.I pulled into the visitor parking area and immediately saw my wife's silver Mercedes already there. I felt relief as the tension th
Chapter 26: SentimentsXENOIS"I got the car to the place he told me to, left it there, and took the bus home. He said someone would contact me about payment, when the time was right but nobody ever did. Then I started seeing news reports about your condition, and I realized I'd screwed up badly.""Has anyone tried to contact you since then?""No. I've been waiting for someone to come finish the job on me, but nothing. It's like I don't exist anymore."I looked at Sloane, who had been taking notes throughout the conversation, jotting down things that were important but I could also see the question that was apparent on his face even though he didn't voice it out. The fact that Thomas hadn't been contacted at all since the accident was interesting and a little bit mysterious in its way.Either his client had written him off as a failure when they saw the news and decided to cut him loose, or they were waiting to see how it would go from here."Thomas," I said, "I need you to think care
Chapter 25: Prime Suspect XENOISThe safehouse was exactly the kind of place that didn't exist officially - it was a warehouse found near an abandoned industrial site, where the sound of traffic from the nearby highway would cover any peculiar sounds that would come from inside the warehouse. I'd used locations like this dozens of times over the years, though I couldn't remember exactly what I had used for them, for at the moment.Sloane, one of my private assistant and assassin when the time came, was waiting for me in the main room, he had a serious expression on his face as he led me toward a closed door."He's been cooperative," Sloane said without wasting time, going straight to the point as he continued speaking. "The kid is more cooperative than I expected, actually, which means that the kid is scared out of his mind."Kid. The word registered oddly in my brain as I narrowed my eyes, and I found myself frowning. "How young are we talking?""You'll see."Sloane led me thro