Severi and I have been back to the city twice, and I’ve been nothing but impressed with her work. The people look happy. It still hasn’t sunk in that we are free, that I get to wake up withmy mates and there is no threat looming over us. My Nexus has settled down well to the change in lifestyle, but I think she is content from the ninety thousand or so Vian she got to kill. That’s got to keep her sated for a couple of years…right?
She laughs. “No.”
I groan and I’m about to explain to my Nexus why we don’t need to kill anyone now when I feel a double tap on my shoulder.
“Hello, Franklin,” I whisper to him, knowing it is him. He always taps me twice on the shoulder when he wants to talk to me. It’s almost like our secret language.
“I’m so excited to show you what we’ve done today,” he whispers to me. “They banned me from saying anything.”
“What have we talked about? Spoilers. You’re not allowed to say anything,” Hollis reminds his son.
“Ugh, Dad,” Franklin mumbles, and I hear his overdramatic collapse back in his seat. I grin to myself. I totally taught him how to be overdramatic and sarcastic. Much to my mate’s annoyance, Franklin and I have become an unstoppable team with sarcastic quips and over the top reactions when we want something. Not that my mates ever really say no to me or Franklin. It took about two months for Franklin to come around and trust me properly. Until that point, I’m pretty sure the kid was just outright terrified of me. But Nibbles has been the middle ground between us, and Hollis encouraged me to try taking Franklin on daily dog walks with Nibbles. It worked.
I haven’t told Hollis about how our dog walks included a trip to the ice cream shop, the toy shop, and various other sweet and chocolate shops we found on long walks. I’m sure it was the giant chocolate bar I bought the kid on one walk that made our relationship solid. Franklin had to hide it under his shirt and sneak it to his room to eat. I’ve never been a kid person, but he’s Hollis’s son, and I love Hollis, therefore he’s family. I love Franklin too, now. I may not have any idea what to do withchildren, and I’m not even sure I want children myself, but it’s nice to have him around. Franklin brings much-needed joy to our group. He’s just so innocent. It makes me think of how I was as a kid—who I could have been if I’d been brought up without fear and pain. I am determined that the world we sacrificed and fought for will be good to Franklin, and I will protect him so he will never have a childhood like mine.
“Franky tells me everything, and you’re all being mean expecting him to keep secrets from his favourite person,” I remind them all. They all laugh at me, and Franklin giggles.
Rhodes must lean closer as I hear him clearly. “Well, we are aware as to why Franklin is not told secrets, but this one couldn’t be avoided. What happened at Christmas cannot be repeated.”
I laugh to myself, well, Franklin joins me from the back. Christmas Eve was hilarious. Franklin didn’t really understand that you can’t tell people what you got them for Christmas, and he came to tell me all about the rescue kitten in the spare room that my mates had adopted for me after I fell in love with her at the shelter. I will never forget Alek’s face as he walked in to us discussing names for my new cat and Franklin asking when I can go see her.
My delightful, angelic cat’s name is Boba, and she is every bit as sassy as me. She bites my mates when they annoy her, which I completely understand because they’re males, and why not bite them to show them their place? Outside of that, she demands food four times a day in a clean bowl only, demands pets but bites if you pet her too long. She won’t go in her litter box unless someone has just changed it, and is overall a wicked delight to everyone except me. For me, she’s angelic, and she has never bitten me. She licks my hand, sleeps at my feet, and follows me around. She even guards the shower, and if one of my mates joins me, they have to remove her from the room and get bitten for it.
Boba is currently meowing her head off in the back seat of the car behind us, where Annie is and Issan is driving. Onyx snuck her in there before we drove off, knowing full well Annie would not have been okay with taking Boba along, given how she can be a little dramatic with her cat screams of horror when we take her anywhere new. My mates insisted that both Nibbles and Boba needed to come with us, and also that they would pack for me.
I wonder if she’s still half screaming, half hissing, half meowing at Annie and Issan. I turned my phone off, and so did all my mates, because we all know better, and we are only a slight bit glad Boba is not in our car. Okay, we all thanked Onyx for his genius plan.
“How much longer?” I curiously ask.
“Nearly there.” Finn takes my hand away, and I hear the window shut. I tap my foot on the floor of the car as we roll over a smooth road before we stop. I’ve been wondering non-stop what the big surprise is since they mentioned it a week ago. I’ve never seen my mates so secretive, and I’m dying to know what it is. I doubt it’s another adoptive animal when Boba has been such a delight to us all. I do want more pets, a boatload of them, but convincing my mates might not be easy unless Boba suddenly decides to behave. Doubtful. She acts like me. The door opens and Onyx—I can tell from his hands—leads me out. We walk a few steps in the cold with Onyx holding both my hands and leading me.
A car door slams shut nearby, and someone angry stomps over. “There is something wrong with your cat! Seriously wrong! She is demonic. How do you have Nibbles, the sweetest dog known in history, and then Boba, who is just evil—it’s just unfair. It’s completely unfair. She has not stopped screaming like she is dying, and the odd times she took a break from screaming was to slam herself around her padded cat cage and make it roll. I had to hold it still until she stopped doing that, and then she wouldjust begin screaming again. No music could stop her. Issan says he has gone deaf, and I’m sure I have too!”
Whoa, Annie is mad. I’m not too surprised about Boba. Honestly, it sounds like she has behaved well. “It was Onyx’s idea. Not mine!”
“Traitor!” Onyx mutters to me before turning on his sweet voice. “Sorry, sister, I thought she would be comfortable away from Nibbles and with fewer people in the car.”
“She wasn’t, and you’re lucky I love you both,” Annie huffs.
“It’s meant to be a good day, a surprise for our girl, remember?” Rhodes reminds them.
I try really hard not to laugh. I can just imagine the internal war going on in Annie’s head right now.
“You ready?” Finnegan asks, his hands going to the side of my face to pull the covering off.
“I have no idea what I’m ready for. You know I’m not a fan of surprises, right?” I half joke. Kinda. I do like some surprises, but not all of them. I know nothing they surprise me with will be bad though, and for that reason, I am excited.
“Well, we all really hope you’re a fan of this one, Sun.” Finn takes off my eye mask.
All I see is pink for a long moment until I focus. In front of me is a pink Land Rover parked right in front of Starlight Academy. It has a massive pink bow on top, a reg plate with my name on it, and two black stars on the bumper. It’s ridiculous, and the brightest pink I’ve ever seen. I love it. Severi is leaning against the boot of it, holding a set of keys with a pink fluffy pom-pom attached. He walks over and hands me the keys. “All for you, even fitted a dog barrier in the boot, and a cold boba tea is waiting too.”
I look at Onyx, knowing damn well he must have told them I love pink Land Rovers, from all that time ago when I joked about his shitty car. He really must not have forgotten a single wordI said. I cover my mouth and burst into tears. Finnegan panics, pulling me to his chest, and Onyx rubs my back. Annie gets worried, but Rhodes tells them all its happy tears. “I’m happy, just shocked you would do this for me.”
“Hey,” Finnegan tips my chin up, stroking my cheek. “We promised a dream life, didn’t we? The perfect car in your mind is part of that dream. There is nothing we wouldn’t do for you.” I hide my head in his chest for a moment, the cold air helping calm my blazing cheeks down, and I rub the tears away.
“We wanted to get you your own car. Onyx said this is exactly what you’d like, even if it really is an interesting custom colour,” Hollis murmurs, touching my hand. “If you’d prefer?—”
“It’s perfect,” I cut him off. “Thank you. I’m just overwhelmed by it…but I am happy.”