Page 10 of Saint

“I did. I’m sorry,” he said, frowning.

“Say it again,” she said, staring at him. He looked at her as if she were crazy and then looked at Saint.

“It’s alright,” said Saint. “She needs to know.”

“Okay. Lab experiments.”

“Nothing,” she said. “But it was something. Something about how he said it and what he said made my head spin uncontrollably. I’ve been having nightmares since I was a child and haven’t been able to figure out why. I wonder if this is it. I wonder if it’s because of these lab experiments.”

“It’s possible,” said Gabi. “We’ll do complete workups on everyone. For now, no one leaves this place.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Hex. “Let us know if something is affecting your gifts, making them more pronounced or painful. If we can help, we damn sure will.”

“You’ve already helped more than you could possibly know,” said Kane. “We’ve found, over the years, that the gifts actually become enhanced when we’re close to one another. If that’s the case, we all might find ourselves more powerful and more intelligent.

“When they found us, they were ready to come at us with everything they had. There must have been fifty, possibly a hundred, of them armed to the teeth. That’s too many to risk our team. I wasn’t sure where we would go. Just having food, clean clothing, and shelter is welcomed.”

“Can I ask what your gift is, Kane?” asked Eric. He nodded, swallowing as Ghost smirked at the man.

“I can tell by one touch whether someone is lying, evil, manipulative, or a good person.”

“Damn, that comes in handy,” said Cam.

“It does,” he nodded with a sad grin. “Together with Aislinn, we make quite a pair. She has visions of crimes yet to happen simply by touching a potential offender or victim. She never knows who that might be. Someone walking by her on the street or standing next to her in a coffee shop.”

“Jesus,” muttered Hex.

“I’ve prayed to him a lot,” said Aislinn.

“And he’s heard you, child,” smiled Matthew, walking toward the woman. “He’s heard all your prayers, which is what brought you here.” Kane extended his hand, and Matthew grinned at him, gripping his hand firmly.

Kane’s face seemed to lighten, a sheen of happiness and comfort coming over him. A warmth filled him as if he were being heated from the inside out. His heart seemed light and happy, while his mind suddenly stopped racing.

Aislinn stared at her husband, unsure of what was happening. When Matthew dropped his hand, Kane bent at the waist, taking in big gulps of air.

“Y-you, y-you’re so good. I’ve never touched anyone with so much goodness in them,” he gasped.

Matthew pulled the younger man in for a hug, kissing his forehead as he did with all his ‘boys.’

“You are home now. Safe and home. My wife and I welcome you all.”

“That’s right,” nodded Irene, walking toward them. “You’re our children now. All of you. We work as a team here so that no one man or woman is overloaded. We’ve got your cabins ready with everything you could need.”

“How would you know what we need?” frowned Flip.

“Brother, trust me,” grinned Luke, “my grandmother always knows what everyone needs.”

“Do you have gifts as well?” he asked the older woman.

“My sweet child,” she grinned, “everyone has gifts. You just have to find them and use them. Y’all finish your meal, and we’ll drive you over to the island and explain everything.”

“Kane, I’m curious. Do you think this is still the agency coming after all of you? We know for a fact that they were running the farm, or school, or whatever you want to call it, that our kids were found in,” asked Saint.

“Honestly? I’m not sure any longer. I know that for most of us, it was while our families were living or working at The Depot. We thought we’d taken care of the last of them, but apparently not.”

“You have to know how valuable your gifts are,” said Luke. “The abilities of your team could create an unstoppable force.”

“So could yours,” said Spook. “It’s not just our gifts we were forced to take. It’s your natural gifts.”

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