I don't need to know the history of my Gift to be good at working my way through people's heads. Discovering whatever I need to know about what makes them tick to keep our Bonded Group in the clear is as easy as breathing to me, but now… I can't deny that I'm intrigued. Enough that I want to read up on what it is that Nox is talking about.
I don't feel like I've been here before.
I'm not sure what exactly that's supposed to feel like, but I've never questioned the limitations or boundaries of my Gift. Even after Oli and I had Bonded and I suddenly found myself without limits, there had never been a doubt in me that it was my connection with her that had given me that boost. Never once did I think that it might come from something more, something inside of me.
I check in with my bond again, but it doesn't feel any different. Nothing about Nox’s words had opened up anything inside of me, but I doubt he'd be the one to trigger anything anyway.
It would have to be my Bonded.
I check in with her and find her and Sage sparring in the training center together. Now that she can block me out, a frustration I am too stubborn to bitch Nox out about, I find it harder to get a gauge on where she is or how she's feeling. The walls inside of her are now permanently up, unless she decides to let me in.
I understand her need for privacy. Being exposed all the time wasn't fair to her, but it doesn't help dampen my anxiety. She feels me brush up against the wall inside of her mind and lets it down a little, just enough to communicate with me.
Are you okay? Has something happened?
I chew on the inside of my cheek so that no one around me notices the tension slipping away from me at the sound of her voice.
Everything's fine. I just needed my Bonded for a minute, sorry to distract you.
I feel her flush of happiness through the connection. Don’t apologize for needing me. I always need you too. Are you busy? Can you come help fix my form? Kieran is a tyrant.
Kieran is helping her with her form at my request because I’ve found myself too wrapped up in planning to properly focus on what my Bonded needs.
The looming deadline of our next mission hangs over our heads.
Just because the rest of the Bonded Group and I are going to do everything in our power to make sure that she never has to go hand to hand with someone doesn't mean we'll be successful in that, and I never want to have a regret about how much she was taught here.
I already have too many regrets when it comes to her.
I can't. I'm working on something with Nox. I'll see you tonight though. We'll come down for dinner at the house.
She sends me her feeling of contentment at my words, the emotion pouring into my chest the same way as if I was feeling it myself.
Will you sleep next to me tonight? Do you think you could convince Nox to let us both sleep in his room? Atlas is still jumpy about the shadow creatures being out, and I miss them too.
Nox would rather chew his own arm off than let any of us sleep in his room. The fact that he had allowed North in there when Oli freaked out says more about their relationship change than anything else that has happened since.
You can stay with him tonight and have me tomorrow if you need, Bonded. I can share when I need to.
North reads over the paper in his hand three times as the elevator takes us down to the cells below. It doesn't matter that he's read the information already a dozen times in the safety of his office; he’s still working through it the same way I did, as though trying to commit it to memory.
“How sure of this can we be?” he mutters, and even though I know he's talking to himself, I answer.
“As sure as we can be of anything. We'll still have to proceed as though this is a booby trap, but Evans has already checked out three of the camps. All of them are there, and from what he can tell, the information is accurate.”
He nods again, the same way he has every other time I've given him this information, but I don't blame his disbelief.
I'm struggling with it myself.
It would have been much easier if Atlas’ mother had turned herself in. If she were standing here in front of me, I could have easily gone through her brain until I found some whiff of a lie, but with nothing but the cold, hard information on the page, we have to find different avenues to try first.
We haven't told Atlas yet.
We’re not keeping a secret from him, or from Oli, but we're planning on having as much information as we can have before we head back to the house tonight to face them and tell them what's going on.
I’m hoping that doesn’t backfire on us all.
We want to have our own opinion of the situation before we get Atlas’， because as much as we all try to stay neutral about these things… it's his mother. The woman did attempt to protect Atlas, and in doing so, protected our Bonded. There's no doubt in my mind that he will have some biases because of that alone.
Honestly, I would too.
We walk through the hallway together, down past the cells. I take a quick look at the sorry state that Aurelia is in. With Jericho here, she has started to eat again, thanks to his coaxing through the cell doors, but she's still thinner than when we had brought her in. Her cheekbones press up through her sunken skin, and her shoulder bones stick out as though they're trying to break the skin.
She watches us walk past with lifeless, apathetic eyes.
North waits until I have gotten Jericho out of his cell, rendering him effectively unconscious with my Gift and getting him into the interrogation seat before he takes his own seat across the table from him.
I wait until his wrists are secured in the handcuffs before I let his mind out of my grasp.
Finally North says, “Speak to me about the camps.”
Jericho blinks as though he's clearing his eyes, but he hears North well enough and answers straight away. “I’ve told you everything I know about them already.”
North shakes his head. “I want specific answers. How many are there?”
Jericho’s eyes narrow—he can sense that something has changed. “Three big ones, five smaller ones. In North America, anyway.”
He’s telling the truth.
It also checks out with the information we have, but North is careful not to look at me. “Which camp do they process prisoners in?”
On and on and on the questioning goes until, finally, I secure Jericho back in his cell, but it's clear that every piece of information that Atlas’ mother has sent through has been backed up. Unless they're both in on it, which is entirely possible and is something that we've taken into account, the information is true.
North scowls the entire way back up the elevator, but I leave him to it. I've formed my own opinions about what's going on, and all that's left now is to tell Atlas.
He controls his reaction to the text message and the information his mother had sent through better than Oli does.
She doesn't say a word, but she chews on her lip like she's trying to bite it right off of her face, her eyes darting between all of us. She worries about how this is going to change things. It doesn't help that we made the decision to wait until dinnertime when everybody was present, and Nox is staring a hole through Atlas’ head as though he'll be able to find some sort of deception in him even though he's been vetted a hundred times at this point.
He's the only one in the Bonded Group whose head I’d sifted through rigorously, the only person who hasn't been given the privacy of their own thoughts, just to be sure that he isn't some Resistance sleeper cell, some jackpot the Resistance hit by having a child end up in our Bonded Group.