Ares takes the seat at the head of the table with Dante to his right. Milo pulls out the seat on Ares’s left for me, then sits down on my other side, while Ollie takes the spot next to Dante. I look around, the room is formal, like where you’d expect to have holiday meals and such. I felt more out of place here than I have anywhere else in the house.
Crossing my legs and placing my linen napkin on my lap, I wait for the others. Ollie lets out a muffled snort. I look over at him and watch as he uses his hand to hide the obvious smile on his lips. “I told you this wasn’t a good idea.” Dante rolls his eyes.
“We have a lot to discuss, I thought it would be easier here than in the kitchen,” Ares adds, sounding like he’s scolding young children.
“Can’t we just sit on the couch like normal?” Ollie asks, a slight whine to his tone. “This room makes me feel like I’m about to get in trouble for sneaking wine.”
Milo shakes his head. “Probably because every time you were in here, you did.”
“Couldn’t be helped. I needed to take a bit of the edge off, you know I can’t stand all the stuffy bastards that would always show up.”
“You were twelve,” Milo adds drolly.
“Let’s just eat,” Ares interrupts, passing me a plate piled high with buttery garlic toast. Everyone starts filling their plates with tomato and herb topped chicken and creamy rice.
The table is quiet at first, only the clatter of dishes and cutlery to fill the silence. Ares’s roll of leader is becoming more clearly defined with each passing day. He begins the conversation by saying, “Laura, what more can you tell us about your mom, about how you came to be here in Canton?” I swallow a delicious bite of chicken and wipe the corner of my mouth with the napkin.
I feel self-conscious telling them about our life—will they judge me? But I decide the truth is the best way to get to the answers. “We moved around a lot… I mean a lot. Usually like three schools a year.”
“Why?” Milo’s question makes me pause and think.
“Well, I’m not sure now. Once I was old enough to understand it wasn’t normal, I started to realize that my mom wasn’t like other moms.” I shrug, hoping they can understand it was all I knew. “My mom would go into these manic moods, where anything could set off her paranoia, and I thought she had some mental issues. But now that I know about you guys and what you say we are, I don’t know if everything I’d always thought is wrong.”
“You need to eat more. Tell us about the moods and paranoia,” Ares demands, his full attention on me.
I can’t do both, so I settle on giving him more information. “Like I said, at the time I thought she was bipolar or something, she would have anxiety attacks if she had to go out of the camper. She wasn’t always so bad. I’d say it got worse when I was about ten, maybe twelve.” I shovel a bite in my mouth.
Ares steeples his fingers, covering his lips. “Do you know the event that precipitated the change?”
“Not really, I can’t even remember what city we were in. I know it wasn’t long after I was noticed in school for scoring high on a test—you know, one of those whole grade level tests for the state?”
“Got noticed how?” Milo questions.
I feel a slight flush in my cheeks, so I look at my plate. “They made a big deal about my score, sent a letter home with me saying I was eligible to test up into another grade.” My confession is met with silence. I push the rice around my plate. Do they think I’m bragging? I always felt kinda funny about being called smart. It’s nothing I do, it’s just something that is. I can’t help that it’s easier for me to retain useless information.
Finally, I hear a deep chuckle, and I look up and meet Dante’s light amber eyes. “I always go with the D, C, D method.” I frown, unsure of what he means. “When we have to do those tests I just fill in random bubbles.” He shrugs his shoulders like it’s no big deal. I lift my lips in a small smile. I know he’s trying to make me feel