Page 6 of The Syndicater (Dark Verse 6)

"Lex would like to speak with you," Amara started, and Lex raised his hand for the phone. Amara chuckled, handing it overto the boy and watching as he took a few steps away to the side to talk to his friend privately. "Hi, Xan! How are you? Did you miss me? I gotta tell you about this new…" his voice trailed off as he walked to the end of the clearing and sat down on the grass. This was something he did every few days, and knowing what she knew about him, Amara let him. There was something beautiful about the bond the two boys had forged in their circumstances at such a young age, and Amara wanted to foster it and hoped it grew into an organic, powerful friendship, much like Dante's and Tristan's, as time passed. Having a true friend in one's corner could make so much difference, especially during a difficult time. She knew from experience, and that was why she wished the boys could nurture it.

Her heart gave a pang at the thought of friends. Vin, one of her closest, oldest friends, had been deep undercover into The Syndicate for almost a year now. He had sent Dante updates occasionally when he could, but Amara missed him a lot, especially since he'd been quieter for a while. She just hoped he would come out of it unscathed and undamaged, but even if he did, she would help heal him as he had helped her a long time ago. The scars on her wrists, hidden underneath her bracelets, tingled with the ugly memory of her past.

Shaking it off, she watched Lex talk on the phone as he picked at the grass and asked Nellie about him. "How is he doing?"

"Surprisingly well," Nellie answered. "He's well-behaved and makes sure others around him behave too. He's become a sort of peacekeeper. He breaks up fights and keeps all the spirits high. Kids go to him when they need something."

"He's a leader," Amara mused, watching the boy talk intently.

Nellie nodded. "Dr. Armstrong thinks he's either putting up a facade or repressing, but it's too early to tell. He needs more time to give any conclusive evaluation."

Amara understood that. It could be tricky even in general, but especially with children. It was important to take time and be sure before any kind of diagnosis or the stakes were too great and could impact the child's whole life, or worse, add to their trauma. From her experience, she knew for a fact that any child with the experiences Lex had carried baggage in their brain, consciously or subconsciously, and without proper care, it could manifest in a multitude of ways, some extremely dangerous.

"Keep a close eye on him please," she instructed Nellie. "I want to know if there are any behavioral changes with him at all."

She hoped there wouldn't be, at least not negative. She was rooting for the little boy to do well, rooting for him to have a fabulous life filled with love and joy, and she would do everything in her power to ensure he could live it.

A few other kids greeted or waved at her too, and Amara looked at the little compound, at the little lives impacted by one singular evil entity.

They didn't know much about The Syndicate. In fact, none of them had even known about the organization until Morana had become a part of their lives. It was like a pandora's box opened up when Tristan and Morana got together, aided by The Reaper and the Shadow Man, exposing them to The Syndicate. Even though the organization had been active for decades, her own trauma incited by them and executed by her biological father who worked for them, it was only recently that they all got to know about them.

There were too many unknowns in the foray, things they didn't know anything about.

And Morana's airport guy, who they were sure was the Shadow Man, seemed to know a lot but not share a lot. Amara did wonder what his endgame was. Was he a narcissist playing with them or a vigilante working in the dark? Was it a power-hungry game or fueled by something else? Was he an enemy or an ally?What was he that an evil organization that everyone feared was terrified of him? Was he a bigger evil or lesser? How could he be lesser if he terrorized the monsters so? Though he was an unknown too, she had a gut feeling about him. He had aided them so far, even saved Morana's and Zephyr's life, and led them to their first group of kids. But Alpha, the only one in their group who had talked to him at length, didn't have an iota of an inkling of who he was or what he wanted.'

'Cryptic motherfucker'were the exact words her one-eyed brother-in-law had used. Amara wasn't sure what to make of him, but the more she learned, the more certain she was that he was goal-oriented. From a psychological point of view, he seemed like a fascinating study, and in a very academic way, she wished she could talk to him just to get a better understanding of his motivations and his psyche.

Lex ran back to her with her phone, breaking her thoughts.

"You have a good chat?" she asked him, taking the phone, clicking on a random email notification and realizing it was a spam link before deleting it.

"Yes," the young boy enthused. "He thinks he's getting adopted."

Amara felt her eyebrows go up. The boy was all but adopted. She knew Morana was looking into the legal paperwork, which was tricky without Xander's records. She knew it because Morana had told her about it on their group video call the other night with Zephyr. Though it was a little tense between the two women—Morana juggling through her identity and feeling guilty about Zenith's death, and Zephyr juggling through the darkness in their world and grieving the loss of her sister—Amara had begun doing the group calls every other night. Both the women needed to heal, and it wouldn't happen in isolation. They all needed each other, especially if things were going to get worse, as had been forewarned by the Shadow Man. Amara was willingto take his word for it—much to the consternation of others who were more emotional about it than logical. But he knew shit none of them did, and so far, he hadn't guided them wrong. So, she had made it her mission to keep the girls together. The tension would ease, but they all needed to stand up and get through it together.

But that brought her to the point, how did Xander know about the adoption thing? Becasue she knew Morana hadn't discussed it with him yet.

"Why does he think that?" Amara voiced the question.

Lex shrugged. "He didn't say. He's just happy about it."

Very interesting.

Another boy called for Lex, and he ran off with a "Thank you, Dr. Maroni!" thrown her way.

Amara watched him go, her mind trying to figure things out but hitting a wall every time. She wished she had all the answers. She wished she could interrogate the Shadow Man just to put an end to all the questions. She wished she could talk to Vin to understand what was going on.

Amara walked around the kids, checking up on them, and wished that one day, they could all heal. A darker part of her wished that one day, in the future, the culprits would die deserving, painful deaths.

She could only hope.

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