“He gave us a general idea. I think it was hard for him to talk about his feelings. Meg helped him a lot with that. She healed his heart with her gift before he died.” Alik sighed. “At least we could give him that.”
Farrow thought back to what Meg had done for her. Somehow, she pulled all the anger and sadness away from her heart and left peace and love in its place. Farrow was thankful Creed experienced peace, even if only for a while. “Your sister is amazing. I had no idea she could…heal emotional trauma.”
“She is amazing. It takes a lot out of her, that gift of hers, but she’s one tough little lady with a heart of gold. She would do anything for anyone. She can fight like a she-cat and love as fiercely as a mama bear. No one is left unloved or unprotected around Meg.” Alik smiled looking over at where he knew his big sister was sleeping toward the front of the plane, Maze snoring in her lap.
Farrow felt a wave of loneliness listening to Alik.
Here he was, surrounded by his family who loved him no matter what. They were hunted, but nothing separated them. They fought as a team against their enemies. Without realizing it, tears began slipping down her face.
“Hey, now don’t start that. I can’t stand when girls cry.” Alik hurriedly passed her wads of tissues he yanked from the nearest box.
Farrow sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “Sorry.”
“If you’re sad about Creed, I completely get that,” Alik offered, beyond uncomfortable with a crying girl. Meg usually yelled when she was upset. Yelling he could deal with. There was no defense against a pretty girl’s tears.
“I am, but—it’s more—than that.” Farrow sobbed between words.
Alik’s eyes darted around, desperately looking for help. “I should get mom for you. This is probably a girl thing.” He started to bolt down the aisle.
“Alik?” Hearing Farrow say his name for the first time had him frozen, stock-still. Like a siren’s call, he couldn’t stop himself from turning to the sound of her voice.
“Did you all welcome Creed into your family? I mean, once he chose to fight against Williams?” Farrow looked up at Alik with wet eyelashes, tears tracing paths between and over the light brown freckles on her flush cheeks.
“Absolutely,” Alik said without hesitation.
“Why?”
Alik shrugged. “Because he needed us.”
“You never questioned his allegiance?”
“Well, we did at first, but he proved himself to Evan and me.”
“How did he do that?”
“Remember the flight I was telling you about? First, he warned us you were on the island with orders to kill our mom then let us call her to relay the warning.”
Farrow cringed at the mention of her treacherous part in Williams’ plan.
“Then, when mom told us Maze found the dart that struck Meg down and could isolate an antigen, it was Creed who talked the pilots into turning the plane around halfway across the Pacific. He knew there was no going back after that.”
Alik watched Farrow’s face.
“What can I do to prove myself to your family?” she asked in a small voice.
“Do you want to?” Alik asked sincerely.
Farrow studied her hands for a moment before nodding. “Yes, more than anything.”
Chapter 13 The Greatest Danger is To Do Nothing
Farrow risked a sideways glace at the silence she was sure meant recrimination and judgment from the metahuman. Instead, she was met with Alik’s genuine smile. She couldn’t help but smile back.
“Well, that’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time. We need to have a family meeting,” Alik nodded at her.
“Okay.” Farrow lay back down gingerly, her smile replaced by a thin line.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m lying down.”
“I can see that, but why?”
“What else should I be doing?”
“Well, you could put on some clothes, unless you like hanging around a bunch of people wearing nothing but a hospital gown.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I told you. We need to have a family meeting.”
“So, go ahead. I’ll wait here for your decision.”
Alik looked at Farrow with a furrowed brow and shook his head slowly.
“You really have no idea, do you?”
Feeling like a freak, Farrow didn’t answer.
“I can tell I’m going to have to spell things out for you,” Alik said rummaging through a bag Farrow hadn’t noticed wedged beneath her gurney. He pulled out a pair of light pink sweatpants and a white T-shirt. He frowned at the contents remaining in the bag, then just placed the entire bag on Farrow’s feet. Under his breath he added, “I think there are some undergarments you may need in there.” Alik blushed a deep shade of red, even as he kept talking.
“When I say ‘we need to have a family meeting,’ that means you, too.” Alik put his hands in his pockets. “You want to be welcomed into the fold, this is part of it,” he explained. “We all put our collective heads together and come up with a plan. Now, do you understand?”
Farrow nodded, biting her lip with anxious excitement.