Shadow

Stolen Lamborghinis and Failing Chemistry

          Ten minutes later, we were sitting around my kitchen island. Cameron took it upon herself to make us grilled cheeses with Cole volunteering to supervise. We all knew Cole wasn't actually supervising.

          Lauren held a cup of coffee between her hands, staring into the dark liquid as if a movie were playing along its opaque surface. Ty sat beside her, a hand lying on her back. I watched them for a moment. Something bad must have happened. It had to have been the Agency. Who else would have this effect on the bright and lively Lauren that I knew? I couldn't force it out of her, though. So I waited.

          Noticing how Ty made sure he never lost physical contact with Lauren gave me reason to believe he had been there too.

         Cole and I leaned against the counter, watching the pair curiously. I could tell Cole was getting impatient by the way his eyes started flickering to other objects of interest. None of them being the nine-year-old girl he was supposed to be keeping tabs on.

         Lauren glanced up at me, then her gaze switched to Cole. I got the message. "He knows."

         Her eyes widened. "Everything?"

         "Pretty much."

         Lauren sighed. "Okay. I guess I should explain myself. It started maybe right after the final battle." Cole and I both tensed at that, but Lauren either didn't notice or ignored it. "Carp started going kind of crazy. He was introducing all these new concepts and tests for me to do on Supers. They were weird, like drawing spontaneous blood samples and even tissue samples of some of them. At first, I didn't do them. That's wrong and not what the Supers signed up for, you know? I'm just the school nurse for a bunch of superheroes." She took a deep breath. "Then, Carp got mad at me when he found out. Really mad. This must have been two days before you . . ." She trailed off, glancing down.

         She meant my foot, but she didn't want to say it out loud. Knowing Lauren, she probably blamed herself even though she was in no way relative to it. "And . . ?" I encouraged.

         Lauren cleared her throat. "Anyway, he threatened me. He said- he said he'd make sure Ty never saved anyone again." Her warm brown eyes filled with tears. Ty watched her with a tortured look on his face. I didn't have to be a telepath to know that he felt entirely guilty for Lauren's situation. "So of course I did what he wanted. He told me I couldn't tell anyone or the same consequences would occur." She glanced at Ty, her cheeks turning a bit pink. "Ty eventually found out what was happening and took me away. We decided we should probably go to you. You're always a woman with a plan." She smiled weakly at me.

         I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and she hugged me back. "I'm so sorry, Lauren. I should have come back for you as soon as I found out the Agency went bad." I shook my head. Why hadn't I gone back for her? Why had I thought, for some stupid reason, that she would be safe even if I wasn't?

        Ty shook his head angrily when we pulled apart. "Lauren's putting it lightly."

        Cole frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked, finally joining the conversation.

        "Her version of 'finding out' is much different than mine. And Carp wasn't just threatening her with my life." Ty's jaw clenched and Lauren looked down to the ground. "I walked into her office this morning to find him hitting her."

         My jaw dropped in horror. "What?" Cole and I glanced at each other. No wonder Ty was being so protective of her. "Lauren, you should have said something!"