Page 78 of Sunflower

As we watched George walk over to Boomerang at the other side of the courtyard and motioned for the phone she was on, I leaned into Callum. “Zookeeper?”

“George’s code name,” Callum responded wryly. “Because he herds us all like wild animals.”

The laugh I let out was somewhat hysterical, as whatever tension still in my system found an outlet. What he’d said wasn’tthatfunny, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing so hard that I started hiccupping.

In response to my outburst, Callum only smiled softly, threw his arm around my shoulders, and leaned in to kiss my temple as we walked out. “I know,mo lus na gréine.I know.”

The drive to Callum and George’s workplace was silent.

Callum and I held each other’s hands as he concentrated on the drive, and I stared out the passenger side window at the passing scenery. A mix of emotions filled me as I thought aboutthe past hour and how much had come to light and how lucky we were that our parents hadn’t been home. The coming few hours were going to be telling in more ways than one, and I knew Callum was readying himself for the mother of all fights with Erin. There was no way I was going to get through unscathed, but I knew he had the most to explain.

And that was even without getting into the whole boost thing. How the fuck hadthathappened? I knew Dad had been adopted as a baby, so could the ability have come through him? My birth mother hadn’t been around since I was a baby myself, and I wasn’t sure if Dad even knew where she was now. If the power had come from her, there might not be any way to trace it.

Either way, did it change who I was as a person? I didn’t think it did. I was still the same person I’d been yesterday. And from what George had said, this power was of no benefit whatsoever to me directly; it was only of help to other people. Essentially, I was still a normie. I think that knowledge, more than anything else, settled my spiraling thoughts on the matter. I could help Callum in his job simply by being by his side, which was where I always wanted to be anyway. Was that unhealthy? Possibly, but after seeing our future and how happy we were together, unhealthy seemed like it would work for us.

When I felt the car slow, I blinked and brought myself back to the present. We were coming up to a massive glass and white stone building, all lit up even though we were approaching nine at night on a Saturday. A simple stout sign sat next to the entrance, declaring in bold capital letters that we were entering a federal government building. The associated seal sat proudly to the left of the lettering.

If there had been any remaining doubt at the validity of what Callum and George did for a living, passing that sign demolished it.

Callum trailed George’s car into the parking lot, swiping a keycard at the iron gate. I knew Boomerang was in her car behind us, and her headlights lit our interior as she followed us in, pausing only to swipe her own keycard.

We disappeared into an underground garage, passing what looked like a mechanic’s workshop that had multiple hoists, but only one had a vehicle loaded. Near it, an older man in gray, oil-stained overalls lifted his hand to George as he drove past and eyed the rest of us with curiosity while he wiped a wrench with a filthy rag.

Down we went, two levels into the brightly lit depths of this enormous building, twisting around so many times that I had no hope of remembering the way out again.

In a strange way, that made me feel safe. As far as I knew, Leland was still out there, and that knowledge scared the crap out of me. Even though there was no guarantee he’d be found tonight, logically, I knew it was only a matter of time before he was in custody, because we had the tools to continually track him. My emotions, however, were frayed at the edges after having him get so close to our parents. If we were all in such a secure building, it would be so much harder for the Agent to get to either me or my loved ones.

Callum pulled into a numbered parking spot and turned off the engine. While he dug around in the console for his identification tags, he let the silence envelope us before turning to face me and bringing my hand to his cheek to rub against it. “How are you doing,mo lus na gréine?”

A tiny shiver ran down my spine as my thumb stroked against his skin absently. HowwasI doing? “Numb. But touching you makes it less.”

A hint of a sad smile graced his lips before he turned into my open palm and kissed it. “I’ll make sure to never let you go then.”

I let out a puff of a chuckle. “Might make things difficult getting out of the car. Not to mention going to the toilet.”

“Eh, we’ll make it work.”

Looking past him through the driver’s side window, I could see George pacing near the elevators, while Boomerang stood vigil, her arms crossed in front of her. The bright disposition that she’d held earlier when she’d arrived at Urban Grind was gone, and in its place was a determined young woman eager to get things moving. The contrast was startling.

“We should probably catch up to them.” I nodded looking behind him, and Callum turned his head following my gaze.

Callum hummed, but it wasn’t a full agreement. “They can wait.” He turned back and watched me. “It’s going to be frantic in there, especially when Mam and Barry arrive. Are you ready for all that?”

I shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve really got a choice anymore.”

He nuzzled into my palm again. “You only need to say the word, and I’ll drive us out of here. They won’t be happy, and I have no idea where we could go, but you’ll always have a choice,mo lus na gréine.Always.”

My heart melted. His words were a pleasant illusion, and I knew he believed each one, but I was also highly aware that leaving now would only extend this nightmare for us all. It was better to just get on with it and see where the cards fell when it was all over. I cast my eyes over Callum, sitting there next to me, so eager to protect me from all the bad things, so determined to be everything I needed.

Silly man. All he had to do was exist.

“Let’s go, sweetness. Let’s get this over with.” I tried to release my hand from his so we could get out of the car, but Callum refused to let me go. Instead, he climbed over the center console and followed me out the passenger side door, making me snort in amusement. “You’re ridiculous.”

He simply shrugged. “Didn’t want to let you go.” He held our clasped hands up to his sternum and drew me into him, wrapping his other arm around my waist before he leaned forward to kiss me chastely. “Never want to let you go.”

Leaning my forehead against his, I murmured, “You don’t have to.” I ran my fingertips over his cheekbone with my free hand, suddenly aware that he needed this confirmation of where we stood with each other, this narrow window of calm before the inevitable storm. “I love you, sweetness. Always will.” I let our lips drift tenderly together before I slowly pulled back. “But we still need to get moving.”

Putting his id tags into his pocket, he sighed; his shoulders slumped slightly in resignation. “Alright.”

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