Page 16 of Soul
“The care worker insisted Ham had healed the boy, which he obviously had. But she made a massive deal out of it, and I pulled Ham out. Word started spreading, and people began knocking on our door, wanting Ham to heal them. He was two! Madden moved us into a gated community, and things calmed down. I worked from home to stay with the kids, and then Maci’s abilities kicked in.”
Bryony stared into the distance as Maci patted her hand. “Mom says that I kept screaming and drove everyone crazy.” Maci seemed proud of that fact, and I was amused.
“Maci is lucky she made it to the age she has,” Bryony said dryly, and Maci laughed. “But yeah, Maci kept shrieking when people spoke around her, and her first word was lie. Once I understood what was happening, I felt awful. I’d exposed Maci to some of the worst liars in the world. People who were paid to lie.”
Guilt soaked Bryony’s voice.
“How so?” I asked.
“Their father is Madden Brighton.”
A stunned silence fell. “The actor?”
“Yeah,” Bryony said shortly.
“No wonder that poor kid was in agony,” Priest grumbled.
I studied Bryony’s expression. She was looking defensive. “What did he do about the kids?”
“Oh, Madden thought they were…” Bryony looked at Maci, who shrugged.
“Dad says we’re defective, and it comes from Mom’s side. We don’t really like him,” Maci explained matter-of-factly.
How the hell did someone respond to that statement? If it had been an adult or not Maci’s father, I would have commented, but I was unsure what to reply.
“Dad’s a grade-A jerk,” Maci stated, and I choked on a laugh.
“You say it as it is,” Slasher said in approval.
“What do you want?” Bryony asked.
I was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“My kids are like you. So what?”
“Ah. You’re wondering if we plan to use them?” Slasher added with a shake of his head.
I was insulted. Did we come across like that?
“Nobody will use them. Not a single one of us. What your kids have gone through, so have we. There’s no way any of the club would harm, embarrass, or use your children,” I replied.
“I don’t know that! And I’m not discussing this in front of Maci,” Bryony retorted.
Maci was starting to seem worried. And Bryony was clearly becoming defensive, and she had no reason to trust any of us.
“We’re available if you ever wish to discuss things or if something surprises you. The door is open for you, Bryony,” Slasher said. “And if you’d like to meet more of our club with abilities, inform Soul. He can arrange it.”
“I’ll think about it,” Bryony replied and began pushing Maci down the drive. I watched Bryony go and guessed this wasn’t the end of it. In fact, I bet Bryony would completely pull back, but Maci would get her way. She was too stubborn not to!
Bryony
The kids were on a computer game while I was on my laptop. Yet I wasn’t working. I was searching for a house in a different state. Maci hadn’t meant to expose us to danger, but she had. I was trying to decide how to handle this. The blame game was not the way to go, but Maci needed to understand what she’d done.
“What are you doing?” Ham questioned, eyes wide as he took in the house on my laptop.
“Nothing,” I said, but Maci wheeled herself in and came to a stop.
“That was a lie, Mom,” Maci stated, puzzled, as I began shutting the laptop.
