Page 19 of Hunted

“That’s pretty advanced math for you guys.” Abigail couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice. “When I was five, we were still learning to count.”

“I like learning with my big sister!” Isolde said.

Samara shook her head. “She’s pretty smart. Real big brain on this one.”

From taking time to sit down with the three, Abigail got the impression that Isolde was mostly just repeating back everything Samara said as she worked out loud on her homework. She’d known Isolde to be a pretty sensitive kid, so it was important to her that she felt like she was “helping.”

Gavin, on the other hand, seemed to at least understand what a fraction was, which was impressive. But he was still pretty far away from adding them together, which was generally fourth- or fifth-grade math. She was committed to helping Samara understand what a common denominator was and how it was found.

The entire time, Abigail tried to probe into what Gavin and Isolde were actually learning in school. She wanted to help them, too. She just had to do it delicately because it was important to Isolde that she be as good as her sister at math.

“So, Gavin… Isolde… how do you like school?” Abigail asked.

“Honestly, it’s pretty boring,” Isolde told her rather bluntly.

“Yeah. My favorite part of the day is naptime!” Gavin giggled.

Ah, yes. The one part of life where naps were actually encouraged. Abigail was starting to feel pretty worn out, and she could do with a nap herself. She knew she was supposed to be healing, but she underestimated the toll it was taking on her body.

“I love naps,” Abigail said.

“So does my mom,” Gavin told her. “When I come home, she’s always taking a nap.”

“I relate to that,” Abigail yawned. “Other than naps, what’s your favorite subject?”

“Subject?” Gavin asked, either not familiar with the word or the concept.

“Yeah,” Abigail said. “Do you like letters, math, shapes, colors?”

“I like math!” Isolde said. “Numbers are cool!”

“I like recess and talking to my friends,” Gavin said. “Does that count?”

“Whatever makes you happy,” Abigail said with a smile, trying to seem supportive. She wanted to help Gavin and Isolde because she hated leaving them out to teach Samara. But she was happy to pretend that they were all learning the same things. It wasn’t as though kindergartners brought back homework after all. And maybe they’d pick something up that would help them.

“Hey, Miss Abby?” Samara had been engrossed in her homework while Abigail talked to the two other children. “How do you multiply fractions?”

“Is that on your assignment?” Abigail asked, looking at the sheet in front of Samara.

“No,” Samara said. “Just curious really.”

“All you do is multiply the numerators and the denominators,” Abigail said. Then she clarified for the other children. “The top number by the top number and the bottom number by the bottom.”

“That’s it?” Samara asked.

“Well, you’ve still got to simplify it, and division can make things complicated, but basically, yes.”

When Samara had finished with her homework, the children all ran off to play. Abigail knew Samara was probably just there to babysit, but she still made sure to keep a watchful eye on them as they played.

She missed those simpler times.

She missed the children back home. Her students.

She’d give anything just to find out everything that had happened back home. She missed Luke. She missed his touch, and his kiss, and the way his forehead always crinkled up when he laughed. She wondered if he was okay, before trembling at the utter horror he put her through. Something about it just didn’t make sense. Luke wasn’t a cruel man.

But that’s how life worked sometimes. It rarely made sense, and when it did, that was when it hurt more than anything.

She felt happier than she’d been in a long time with Dominic, though. She wondered if he honestly felt the same way or if he was just being a good host.

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