The People with Useless Power

Chapter Twenty-seven

"Wow. My brother shows emotion?" Lavender fake-gasped and Vincent just glanced up once and looked back down.

They both walked over and sat down in the chairs beside him, at the far end of the wall.

"Gray's not dead, is he?" Emily asked quietly, and he shook his head furiously.

"B-but they said they'd take him out," he whimpered, "and I don't know what th-that means!"

"Maybe they just meant taking him out for treatment," Lavender reasoned. "He can't possibly walk with his foot bitten."

Vincent nodded slowly. "S-so, how was your test?" His voice broke at the end of his statement and Lavender furrowed her eyebrows.

"Well, I made myself go insane so I'd have all that extra psycho energy, you know?" When Vincent showed the hints of a smile, she smirked and went on. "I broke through the glass. All the water splashed onto Mara and she was so mad."

"The glass was bullet-proof," Emily added, and Vincent tried to fight back a smirk, but he couldn't help himself.

"You're a great sister," he mumbled, and Lav stood up and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a quick squeeze before backing away. "Can we go home now?"

There was a long pause before Lavender said, "What? We're stuck here, testing..."

"We left the shelter. So can we go back home?" His voice was strained, and he avoided eye contact.

"N-no, Vincent-"

"We live near here! And Grayson... h-he's gone..."

Emily blinked slowly. "Um, Lavender, where did you live?" She felt herself stand up so they were face-to-face.

She glanced wearily at her and gave her a weak smile. "In a two-story house."

"On?"

Lavender bit her lip. "On Second Street."

Emily smiled brightly. "Hey, that's where I lived," she pointed out before her jaw dropped and her blood ran cold. That's why Lav was acting weird, that's how she knew the way to her house...

"Lav, when did you say you got taken?"

"When I was ten." She cracked her knuckles nervously, and Emily winced at the sound.

"I went after her two years later," Vincent added quietly and obliviously. Lavender paled.

"Lavender," Emily asked quietly, "were you my kidnapped friend?" When she nodded, a different kind of relief mixed with something warm she couldn't recognize flooded her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because of how possessive I was when we first met. I don't know, I guess I didn't want to disappoint you-" Emily wrapped her arms around Lavender's waist, pulling her into a tight hug. She could feel Lav's smile bloom in the crook of her neck and Emily sighed, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"Don't be worried, you could never disappoint me," she whispered, and they both slowly relaxed. Emily finally felt at home, like a piece of her family had traveled with her, like fate had put them together in this exact moment, at this exact location.

They pulled away to see Mara standing in the doorway and smiling, her shoulders finally relaxed and her eyes half-closed. "Finally," she muttered, "it was hard keeping that a secret."

"That we're old friends?" Lavender asked, and under a thick layer of fake curiosity, there was a faint tone of warning. Mara's eyes widened, as did her smile, and she nodded.