The Gender End (The Gender Game #7)

“Give this to Dr. Tierney,” I said. “It’s supposed to be used for twenty-four hours, but I’ve had it on for less than half that, and it repairs injured bones – maybe she can use it for his back. He’s got to… I mean… He’s too young. It’s just got to work.”

Ms. Dale sighed, reaching out and taking my hand with her own. “Violet, I have no idea what this flimsy piece of plastic is supposed to do, but I do know that if you remove medical technology designed to help one thing, it might not be the best for another injury.”

“But Jay… His back…”

“We don’t know anything yet, Violet. The bullet is lodged there, but his spine was not broken. He’s young, and also enhanced. Who knows what his body is capable of healing? You can’t fix him. You can only be there for him. Okay?”

I nodded, although a dark part of me hated her for saying it. Jay deserved to walk and run and jump and be able to play—he shouldn’t be in a hospital bed wondering if he’d ever get to do those things again.

“Let’s go check on him right now,” Viggo said softly. “It’ll be good for him to see you. He was really worried about you.”

I let him guide me off the ship, Ms. Dale beside us. The men carrying Solomon had exited at some point when we were talking—I had been so upset by Ms. Dale’s report of Jay that I really hadn’t seen them leave, and now they were carrying him between them as they entered the red brick building in front of us.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“It’s a warden training center,” Viggo replied, surprising me. He looked down at me, a corner of his mouth rising up a little. “It’s where I was trained when I was a cadet.”

“Originally Elena had conscripted it as a place to keep her forces,” Ms. Dale said. “But when she had her people pull back and trap everyone inside the city, a few Patrian wardens came here and locked it down, securing it. I stumbled across it after I got into a shoot-out with some Porteque gang members earlier—I hopped the wall after they cut me off from the rest of our team. The wardens inside took me prisoner, I escaped, Henrik showed up, and we talked it all out. They’re letting us set up shop and basically take control—pretty much all because we had Maxen, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.”

I chuckled. I was surprised I could find any humor left after news of Jay, but Ms. Dale talked about securing this place for our group so dismissively, as if it hadn’t been an impressive feat for what seemed like less than twenty-four hours. But there was also a gem in that story too golden to pass up. “So you’re saying that Henrik rescued you?” I teased.

Viggo bit back a smile as Ms. Dale arched an eyebrow. “I escaped first,” she corrected me in a firm voice. “He just happened to show up while I was escaping.”

I smiled, and the smile faltered and then grew when I saw a familiar lanky shape exiting the building and making a beeline right for me. I opened my arms and was almost knocked over from the force of Tim’s arms coming around my waist. He held me tight—I knew it must be hurting him a lot, but he didn’t complain, and I held him too, keeping my touch as light as possible.

He pulled back, and I frowned when I saw the bruises all over him. “Tim, are you okay?”

He ducked his head and nodded, his mop-curls bouncing on the top of his head. “Okay,” he repeated. “You okay?”

“I was only gone for a day!” I protested.

“To Outlands! No one come back!”

“Well, your sister isn’t like anyone else,” Viggo said. “She’s unique.”

I felt my cheeks blush as a burst of love came over me. I needed to marry Viggo, just like Belinda had suggested, but this wasn’t exactly the right time to bring it up. There was so much to do tonight, and… Well, I was going to take the first chance I could get. I’d bring it up after we got through this meeting. First, though, came Jay.

“Show me where Jay is?” I asked, and Tim gave me a grave look, and then nodded, pulling open the door to the building the men carrying Solomon had entered. The door led to a wide atrium where a picture of King Maxen hung from the opposite wall along with several other pictures of men, a plaque underneath each. There was an office to the right. The door was open, and a few men were inside, playing cards and watching the door. Their guns leaned against one of the walls, and their eyes looked up to check who we were. Ms. Dale raised a hand, and one of them raised his in response before going back to their game.

“Guard duty. They walk the perimeter and then sit inside, in case we have a security breach. Left hallway.”

She moved past us, leading the way down a long hallway. “These are the cadet quarters,” Viggo supplied as we passed several doors, heading for the door at the end of the hall. “I used to sleep in that room there when I was in training.”

“I can’t imagine you then… You were a little bit younger than I am now, right?”

“Yup, and probably as much of a handful, much to my instructor’s dismay. I—”

“VIGGO! VIOLET!”

I looked away from the door Viggo had pointed out moments ago in time to see Cad and Margot emerging from a door a little farther down the hall, their children Henry and Sarah between them. Henry’s face lit up when he saw me, and the chubby little boy broke away from his mom to race over to me. I dropped to my knees and hugged my littlest cousin to my chest as he threw himself at me.

“Mommy was crying,” he babbled. “She said you may never come back!”

I looked up at Margot, surprised to see tears in her eyes as she came closer. She didn’t even let me get up, just dropped down next to me and wrapped her arms around me and Henry. Sarah and Cad weren’t far behind, and within seconds I was being crushed by four sets of arms.

It felt… amazing, and I was surprised to find myself tearing up from the amount of love and concern my family was showering on me. Once again, I felt blessed by the small yet wonderful things this entire adventure had given me, and for a moment, I just leaned into them, happy to feel their warmth.

“I’m sorry,” Margot sniffled. “I never should’ve said anything around him—you know how kids are. I knew you’d come back, I was just…”

“I was, too,” I admitted. “But I’m so happy to see you. All of you.”

“What was it like?” asked Cad, pulling back. “What did you see out there?”

I opened my mouth, and then hesitated. “Can I tell you about it later?” I asked. “There’s so much going on, and I want to check on Jay and… and all the others.”

“Don’t be silly, of course you can!” exclaimed Margot. “You must be exhausted, and I know they’ve been holding the meeting to wait for you. I’m just so excited to hear what you saw! We’ll talk about it over a hot meal tomorrow.”

“No, I can—”

“Tomorrow,” she repeated sternly. “Because you look dead on your feet, and I’m not going to let you do anything else.”

“Okay,” I said with a smile, and we all carefully untangled ourselves. Henry had to be pried off my neck, but that was okay—I didn’t mind the little scamp holding on. I felt the same way right now. I didn’t want to let go at all.