As we walked past the guard at the rear door, he gave us both the once-over real good, as though questioning what the hell was wrong with us to come back in looking like we’d been through a war. He didn’t say anything, though, and that counted for a lot with me.
We walked down the long hallway back to the conference room, my mother limping slightly. I was probably doing the same, since I was matching her pace in a way that felt natural given the state of my body. As we approached Conference Room 4, the door opened and Scott Byerly appeared, Agent Li in tow.
“I can maybe get you a car,” Li said as the door closed behind them with a faint squeak. “A towncar, that’s about it.”
“I have a car,” Scott said. “It’ll be easier if I just drive myself. Save your favors for when we really need to call them in.”
“What’s up?” I asked as we got closer. Scott took one look at me and his eyes widened. Li actually gawked, showing the most emotion I’d seen from him thus far.
“Get it all out of your system?” Scott asked after he recovered.
“For now,” my mother said, continuing past him without a look back. She slapped Scott on the ass as she passed, causing him to jump and glance back at her. She let a small smile of satisfaction show on her bruised and bloodied face as she disappeared into the conference room.
“Was that my mom or my aunt Charlie?” I asked under my breath.
“I got a line on the Directorate students that you escorted off campus,” Scott said when he turned back to me. “My folks talked to a relation at the nearest cloister, the one up on the North Shore near Little Marais? I guess they turned up there a couple weeks ago.”
I frowned. “Did they have relatives up there?”
He shook his head. “No, they were all the ones without meta relations, ones that we’d identified by various means, orphans, that sort. Only about ten or so, but the cloister took them all in.”
I nodded. “We should go talk to them and speak with the folks in charge of the cloister.”
Scott gave a self-satisfied smile to Li. “That’s what I was just saying. We can take my car.”
“Do you want to take anyone else with you?” Li asked, back to serious.
“No,” I said. “Get the England group settled in. This should be simple, and we might need room to bring back a passenger or two if we can find anyone willing to fight.”
Li nodded. “Little Marais is almost four hours from here. Better get a move on if you don’t want to stay the night.”
“It’s probably going to snow anyway,” Scott said, giving me a careful look. “Might want to pack something just in case.” He looked me over. “And maybe change before you leave.”
I looked down at my dirty clothing, flecked with blood. “What? Are you saying I don’t look my best after I’ve been in a fight?” I gave him a grin.
He inclined his head a little like he was considering me. “It does put a certain flush into your cheeks. But really ... when since I’ve known you, have you not just been in a fight?”
“You have a point.” I couldn’t really argue with that.
I said a quick goodbye to everyone in the conference room and implored Reed, Breandan and Karthik to keep a close watch on things and help the new kids get settled while we were gone. Ariadne didn’t give me much expression, and I realized I didn’t know what to say to her.
“We’ll be at the temporary offices tomorrow,” she said to me, preempting any efforts I might have made. “I’ll send the address to Scott so he’ll know where to find us. Your British imports are already there.”
“Thank you,” I said, trying to keep things cool between us. She gave me a slight nod and walked away before I could say anything else.
“Is it cold in here?” Breandan asked after Ariadne had shut the door. “Or is that a draft from outside?”
I retrieved my bag from where I’d left it in an empty office and went to the bathroom, where I quickly cleaned up the excess mess and changed into an unsullied pair of jeans and a blouse. I slipped on my wool coat as I started to apply just the slightest amount of makeup to make myself presentable for my meeting with those who ran the cloister. I was just finishing with the eyeliner when the door behind me opened and my mother swept in, still looking tattered. She gave me a quick once over then shook her head. “You ...” She just stopped speaking, shook her head again, and started toward one of the stalls.
“I what?” I asked.
“You look ...” She hesitated. “All grown up. Be careful on your trip. I’ll work with Reed while you’re gone, see if we can fill in the map on Omega so we have some places to look when you get back.”