Chapter Fifty-Six: ‘Gather unto thee...’

Gina didn’t get to drive. She had to sit in the front passenger seat, while Mr. Edith took the wheel and followed her directions. Mrs. Edith sat directly behind her, no doubt ready to pounce on a moment’s notice and kill her in any number of horrible ways. Gina just tried not to stare at the woman in the car’s side mirror. She would’ve liked to call Hector again, but Mrs. Edith also confiscated her phone.

Mr. Edith was something of a chatterbox and seemed entirely too relaxed for Gina’s comfort. In fact, so did Melanie--Lynnette’s sister. She’d managed to learn all of their names during the drive. The father’s name was Jacob, and the mother’s was Isabelle.

And apparently, Isabelle was not an Atreyan native.

“She came here from Intar when she was twelve,” said Mr. Edith. “We met only a year later, if you can believe that.”

“Oh,” said Gina. “So you fell in love quite young, then?”

“Well, not exactly. She terrified me back then!” He laughed. “We didn’t start dating until we were much older.”

Mrs. Edith pursed her lips. “Jacob, why must you tell her these things?”

Jacob ignored the question. “She’s actually very sweet, once you get past all the aggression.”

“Aha, I’m sure,” said Gina.

“Isabelle’s mother was a government-trained assassin, you know.”

“Jacob!”

“What? We’re not in Intar. It’s okay to tell people. Isabelle is a bit touchy when it comes to her mother. I’d recommend avoiding the subject if you want to get on her good side.”

Mrs. Edith just sighed.

By the time they reached the bunker, Gina could no longer tell if she or Mrs. Edith was more relieved. She was just starting to show the family around the facility when the King arrived from one of the back rooms.

“Greetings,” said William.

Lynnette’s whole family bent a knee at once. Gina only gave a small bow.

“That is unnecessary,” said the King. “But thank you.”

Gina eyed the gray coat draped over his shoulder. At a glance, it hid the King’s missing arm rather well, but as one’s gaze lingered, it became increasingly apparent that the man was not in the best of health. Pale complexion, bags under his eyes. Hopefully that would begin to change now.

“Your daughter is this way.” The King showed them to the rearmost room where Lynnette was sleeping.

Mr. Edith rushed to her side first. “What happened?”

“I do not know exactly,” said William. “I only know that she was injured after rescuing me. I do believe she will be fine, however.”

“How do you know?” said the young Melanie.

“It was many years ago now,” said William, “but I have some experience in such matters.”

And Gina blinked, because she suddenly recalled reading somewhere that the King had actually been an EMT when he was younger, prior to marrying into the royal family. “Did you tell that to Hector before he left?” she asked.

“I intended to,” said William, “but I... hesitated.”

“Hesitated? Why?”

The man hung his head a little. “I was still rather confused and... frightened, I am ashamed to say.”

“Oh.” Gina frowned. “You don’t have to be scared of Hector. He’s a sweetheart. Besides, you’ve already dealt with much scarier people than him.”

“I know that now,” said the King. “Lynnette explained that he is different from Abolish.”

Mr. Edith interrupted. “Pardon me, Your Majesty, but when will she be waking up? Do you know?”

“In a few hours, probably, but she should remain in bed a while longer than that. She has at least one broken rib, so she will be in considerable pain unless we can provide her with analgesics.”

“I’ll see about getting my hands on some,” said Gina, and she eyed the King again. “You might need some, too, yeah?”

He gave a tired smile. “That would be appreciated.”

“You should rest, Your Majesty,” she said. “You look terrible.”

“I think I shall.” He shuffled off to the next room over.

At length, the family seemed ready to listen to Gina. She tried to bring them up to speed on everything--the Queen’s departure, the presence of Abolish, the princes’ betrayals, Lynnette and Hector’s roles as well as her own.

When they were done asking questions, Gina helped everyone get situated and comfortable. There weren’t enough rooms for everyone, but there were plenty of cars. For herself, she took a black SUV. The rear seats folded down, offering plenty of space to sleep, though she wasn’t prepared to turn in for the night just yet.

She had to make a few calls. Painkillers were the priority at the moment, but she figured that a more spacious place might be needed soon.

Eventually, Hector arrived, his mother following in her own car. They both looked completely exhausted, and everyone else was already asleep, so Gina figured introductions would have to wait. Mrs. Edith sat up inside her blue convertible to watch the newcomers, but she probably just wanted to make sure they weren’t going to attack anyone, because she lay back down as soon as she saw Gina welcoming them in.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hector’s mom.”

“Likewise,” Mrs. Goffe said flatly.

Gina smiled with sympathy. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience. And everything else, really. We’re a bit pressed for space at the moment, so please just bed up anywhere you like. You’d probably be most comfortable in your own car, but please feel free to use any of the vehicles here.”

The woman just nodded and returned to her car.

Gina walked with Hector as he searched for a place to sleep as well. “How’s your mother handling things?”

“...Not very well, I think. Garovel will keep an eye on her, but, um... could you also watch out for her? I’m a bit... worried, I guess.”

“Eh, I’m not sure I’ll be able to help much with that. I need to get back to Sescoria soon.”

Hector shook his head. “P-please, um... don’t go back there.”

“I have to. We need the intel.”

“No, we don’t,” said Hector. “I have, um... a new source. Prince David will be helping us.”

She raised her brow. “Wha--? How the hell did you get a prince to help us?”

“Ah--” Hector rubbed his neck. “He just kinda... offered. And look, even if you go back there... you won’t be able to learn anything. Because... Abolish will be more cautious now.”

“Hmm. You have a point, I suppose. I’m sure they’re curious as to how you knew to attack the castle today. They may’ve already found all the bugs I planted.”

“Y-yeah. So...”

She gave a nod. “Okay. I’ll stay and look after everyone. What about you, though? What are you going to do?”

He took a deep breath. “I need to rest while I can...”

“Do you think you’ll have enough time to rest?” said Gina.

“Maybe... Garovel says that Abolish probably won’t make another move for at least a few days, so...”

“Why does he think that?”

“Oh, because of Lynnette.” Hector smirked faintly. “She fought Desmond and Andres by herself... and she fucked them both up.”

“Heh.”

“We, uh... we couldn’t kill them for good, unfortunately, but... they’ll probably need more time to recover than I will. They both died twice.”

After that, Gina let him go to sleep. He was out within minutes, and after making a couple more calls, she finally turned in as well.

In the morning, she was early to rise, more out of compulsion than because she felt fully rested. She’d never been much for sleeping, really, and so decided to whip up a large breakfast for everyone. Mr. Edith had beaten her to the kitchen, however, apparently having had the same idea. She offered her assistance with the preparations, which he happily accepted.

There wasn’t a large enough table for everyone, nor even enough space in the tiny dining room, so they all gathered in the garage and ate in a kind of rough circle, some standing, some sitting on the floor or in the back of a truck.

Lynnette, William, and Hector were the last to arrive, each one looking similarly ragged. Gina pitied Hector the most, however, as he became the target of a barrage of questions from Lynnette’s mother.

“So if you’re not really a mass murderer,” Isabelle was saying, “then why does everyone seem to think you are?”

“I... ah... that’s... not easy to... agh...”

Gina looked to Hector’s mother, expecting her to pitch in with something, but the woman merely listened. Gina had to help him out herself. “He ended up being blamed for something that someone else did.”

She actually knew more of the details than Hector probably realized. She’d looked into the events rather extensively and found several contradictory testimonies from people who’d been in the school at the time of the attack. In particular, there was the version given by one of his teachers, Ms. Trent, who claimed to have been saved by Hector.

Ms. Trent’s account of what transpired had been too difficult for the media or the police to believe, what with it talking about students becoming possessed with murderous intent. This, combined with the fact that Hector’s own father had been among the listed victims, gave Gina a fairly clear picture of what had truly happened. Not to mention, it also explained why Hector seemed to have an especially difficult time talking about it.

She was, however, still left to wonder if Hector really had to kill the possessed students in order to stop them. That was the only thing to give her genuine pause, but even that had not lasted very long. She had one of her minions investigate and subsequently earned herself a peek at the autopsy reports, where she discovered that suffocation had not been the cause of death for any of them. Rather, it had been the work of severe brain damage, despite only one of the bodies indicating any kind of head trauma.

Gina was forced to articulate all of these things to Lynnette’s parents by morning’s end. She left out the part about his father, as everyone probably knew that already due to it being a focal point of many news reports.

Hector tried to assist her in explaining, but he mostly just ended up nodding awkwardly. And afterwards, he shambled off to go sleep again.

“I have a request,” said King William, who’d remained largely quiet up to now. “Might it be possible for me to speak to my wife soon?”

“Oh,” said Gina, “I suppose I can try giving Master Roman a call. There’s a good chance he won’t answer, though.”

“I understand.”

She pulled out her phone and made the call. It rang for a long time, and she was about to give up when it suddenly went through.

“Master Roman, is the Queen there with you now?”

“I have the King here with me.”

“He’s quite eager to speak to his wife, Master Roman. Please quit hogging the phone to yourself.”

<“No, seriously, what? How did--?”>

There came a sudden rustling, and then Queen Helen’s voice said,

Gina handed the phone off to the King.

“Helen? Ah... yes, I am alright.” He glanced across his crowd of onlookers, and after a moment, he flushed red and walked away, speaking more quietly into the receiver.

Gina eyed Lynnette next. She’d been moving a bit stiff all morning, not speaking very much, and just generally looking tired. “How’s your pain?” Gina asked.

Lynnette looked at her with a half-drawn eye. “Excruciating,” she said. “It’s a little difficult to breathe, but His Highness told me that was to be expected.”

“I’ll make a trip into town and pick up those painkillers for you.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Lynnette.

“No, no,” said Gina. “It’s better if I go alone. I’m the only one here who we know that nobody is looking for. And besides, you need your rest.”

Lynnette frowned but nodded. “Take my phone, then.” She offered it, and Gina accepted.

“Be back soon,” she said. “Oh, and make sure the King fills Master Roman in on what’s happened.”

“Okay.”

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

After watching Gina go, Mr. Edith offered to carry Lynnette back to her room, but that was hardly necessary. Even if she’d wanted to go back to bed, she could walk just fine on her own. Annoyingly, she was tired yet not sleepy, so she just stayed in the garage with her family for a while.

Despite the strange circumstances, it was certainly a relief to see them again. More than a few times, she thought she never would. Her mother had been light on the questions so far, probably not wanting to aggravate Lynnette’s condition, which was why Hector and Gina had been targeted instead.

“It would seem you’ve been keeping up with your training during your absence,” said Mrs. Edith.

Lynnette gave a weak laugh and regretted it. “You could say that,” she said gruffly. “Looks like I’ll have to take a break for a little while, though.”

“Indeed.”

“By the way, Mom, would you mind helping Hector out for me?”

The middle-aged woman folded her arms. “Help him how?”

“We were sparring partners. I’m sure he could benefit from practicing against you.”

Mrs. Edith lowered her brow. “What is your relationship with this boy, exactly?”

“I’m planning to marry him,” said Lynnette.

Her mother’s eyes widened, as did her father’s, her sister’s, and even Mrs. Goffe’s, who was still within earshot. “You’re planning to what?!” said Mrs. Edith.

Lynnette smirked at their faces. “I’m joking. I hardly know him. He doesn’t talk very much.”

Mr. Edith interjected now, looking almost as stern as his wife. “Young lady, that was not funny.”

“Pretty sure it was,” she said, earning a titter from her little sister.

Her mother shook her head. “You insufferable--”

“You can’t be mad at me. I’m injured.” Lynnette clutched her ribs and hunched over a bit.

“Not injured enough, I’m thinking.” But Mrs. Edith couldn’t suppress her slight grin.

It was Mrs. Goffe’s turn to interrupt. “How did you come to meet my son?”

Lynnette stood up straight again, though felt a bit light-headed and decided to lean on the red BMW behind her. “He just showed up at the castle,” she said. “Completely out of nowhere. Saved the Queen’s life. And mine. Did he not explain to you?”

Mrs. Goffe frowned. “As you said, he doesn’t talk very much.”

“Well, yes, but I would’ve thought--”

“We don’t talk very much,” she corrected.

That left an awkward silence in its wake.

Isabelle was the one to break it, addressing Hector’s mother. “You must have had a difficult time with his infamy.”

Mrs. Goffe’s eyes glazed over. “Yeah,” was all she mustered in reply.

“I heard his father was also one of the victims. You must be--”

“Honey, she probably doesn’t wish to talk about it.”

“I only meant to offer my condolences. I can’t imagine what you must be going through right now.”

Mrs. Goffe looked over the family with an utterly blank expression. “You’re right,” she said. “You can’t imagine.” And she walked away.