Page 80 of Sunflower

He made a pleased noise, his own grin stretching from ear to ear as he wiggled in his seat. “Good.” His pen spun in his fingers once, then twice, before he lost control of it, and it bounced against my hand and headed for the center of the table.

Both Kiddo and I reached for the pen and, in our stretch, Kiddo brushed his hand against mine. Immediately, he froze in place, his eyes wide as his grin slowly faded and he stared straight ahead into space. Seemingly without conscious effort, he grabbed my hand and gripped it hard, making me drop the pen I’d since picked up.

“Um, sure. You can have the pen. I don’t actually need it,” I bantered, trying to make light of the situation, even as I stared at Callum for help. He simply shrugged, at as much of a loss as I was by the turn in Kiddo’s temperament.

Once he began grinding my fingers to the point of pain, I flexed to get him to stop. “Okay, ow. Kiddo? Buddy? You need tostop now, please.” I looked up at George, who was watching us with great interest. “George? A little help, please?”

George did nothing except let his eyes go dark, letting us all know he was going into a vision.

“Oh, come on. Really?” I rolled my eyes, then winced as Kiddo gripped my hand even harder. “Fuck. Kiddo, please, let go.” I wiggled my other hand loose from Callum’s grasp so I could try to pry Kiddo’s fingers from mine.

Of course, it was at that exact moment that Erin and Dad walked in with Marcy on their heels.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Joey

“Zookeeper,haveyougotsome explaining to do,” Erin snarled as soon as she entered the room, before whirling on Callum. “And you! Why the fuck are you with George?” She paused to take a breath, then narrowed her eyes at the scene in front of her. “What’s going on?”

At this point, I was standing up from my seat, clawing at Kiddo’s fingers to get them to loosen, with Callum scooting around me to get Kiddo to detach from the other side. “Help! He won’t let go!”

“Fuck.” Marcy darted around and down the other side of the table before she slid over the tabletop and slapped Kiddo hard across the cheek. “Sorry, Kiddo, but you need to snap out of it.”

It took one more firm slap before Kiddo heaved a gasp, his eyes swinging wildly at everyone in the room before he looked down at his hand, still gripping mine. Like he’d touched a live wire, his fingers spasmed and loosened enough to let me go. He pushed back from the table and fled towards the door, his fingerstangling in his hair as he tried to tear it out. He nearly ran into Boomerang as she re-entered the room before rearing back from her as he passed. “Sorry. Sorry. Too much. All too much. So sorry.”

Cradling my hand to my chest, I felt my fingers throb as blood flow resumed. As memories of my first meeting with Callum ran through my head, I turned towards Callum and said, “This is feeling awfully familiar. What did I do this time?”

Folding me into his embrace, he wrapped his arms around me even as I held my hand close. “You didn’t do anything,mo lus na gréine.”He rubbed circles against my back to calm me. “I think you just activated another power.”

“Yeah, that was a classic activation,” came Marcy’s muffled voice from nearby. “What I’d like to know is how it happened. Kiddo is sixteen. He’s too old for new power. And as far as anyone knows, there were no powered individuals in the compound where he was found. Right, George?”

Lifting my head enough to look in George’s direction, his eyes had returned to normal. He grimaced at Marcy’s words. “Code names, Locksmith.”

Still perched on the tabletop, she swung around to cross her legs in the middle of the table and waved a hand in the air. “It’s too late for code names, old man. We need answers.”

“I agree,” Erin said, crossing her arms and staring George down. “What the fuck just happened? Who was that young man?”

Gritting his teeth, George growled and hauled the nearest seat out from under the table and flopped into it. “Fine. Sit your asses down. If you want answers, answers are what you’re going to get.”

Erin scowled at him, but headed to the chairs opposite Callum and me, and carefully sat down, guiding Dad to take the seat next to her. She then pointed at us to sit, so we did.

Marcy remained where she was, preferring the hard tabletop to a plush leather seat, although she scooted back a little to avoid being in anyone’s eyeline.

Boomerang remained standing, watching everything unfold with abject curiosity. “I feel like I should get popcorn.”

George rolled his eyes at her. “You too, Pippa. Shut the door and sit down.”

Boomerang shut the door and sat. “I still feel like I should have a tub of popcorn to pass around.”

Okay, Boomerang’s name was Pippa. Had Callum told me that before? I couldn’t remember. I added it to the long list of new information rolling around in my head, absently wondering if there was an upper limit I’d eventually hit before my brain would decide it was done and explode in protest.

“What I’m about to say stays within this room, got it?” George asked, ignoring Pippa. Once he’d confirmed everyone’s nods, he went on. “Let’s get introductions out of the way first.” He went around the table, stating everybody’s actual name and code name, but refraining from calling either Callum or me anything other than our given names. “Right. We have two very different scenarios playing out right now. First, Boogeyman and Hellhound, or Tama and Bailey, are out on a call to apprehend someone extremely dangerous. I’m waiting to hear from them to see if their hunt has been successful.” He looked at Erin, who had opened her mouth to ask a question. “We’ll circle back to this in a minute, Erin. Wait until I get the other point out.”

Remaining unconvinced, she narrowed her eyes at him, but nodded anyway.

“Second, we discovered tonight that Joey is a boost.”

At this, Erin’s eyes widened and swung wildly between me and George. “What?”

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