Page 70 of Knot Your Pawn

Only one way to find out.

Because I’m definitely ready for my world to become bigger again, to finally be able to go places and meet people, even if it’s only a few people at a time.

13

Luca

I try to smile, I try to keep my voice light. Mum said that Erika offered to take them with her, so they could start a new life somewhere the Hearts didn’t have as much control, where it was less likely that someone would be looking for them.

It’s good news, happy news.

I should be excited about it.

But I only just got them back, so to lose them again so quickly, it hurts. At least, this time, I know that they’ll be safe and they’ll know that I’m alive and well too. So that’s an improvement.

At the same time, I don’t want my family to stay here longer than strictly needed. I don’t want them to get involved with anything to do with the world that Mathew, the Hearts and any of us are connected to.

The sooner they leave, the better the chance that they stay as ignorant of it all as possible.

The better the chance that they’ll be able to get normal jobs again, go to normal schools, and things like that. That they can go back to a normal life.

After I found out that Mathew was my scent match, all those years ago, I knew that my life was never going to be normal.

No matter if I’d stayed with the Hearts, under their control, or if I managed to get out and find Mathew.

I was never going to have a ‘normal’ life, because someone like Mathew doesn’t get out of a situation like that and then not somehow stay involved with that world, in whatever way.

I was right, even if I didn’t want to be.

Though, I never could have guessed how Mathew would still be connected to that world.

“Luca? You still there?” Mum sounds worried.

“Yes, still here. Just thinking.”

“I asked if you’ll be able to see us off.” Her voice sounds so hopeful, I don’t want to break her heart.

“I’ll try. I don’t know exactly how everything will be in a couple of days. But I’ll try to make it.” It’s the best I can give her right now. I want to see them off, give them a hug before I won’t be able to see them again for a while. But I also don’t want to be there. I don’t want to watch them cry, I don’t want them to see my tears.

I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of crying...

“Thanks.” There are voices on her side. “I’ll call you soon. Erika’s here. Talk to you later.”

“Later,” is all I manage, before the line is disconnected.

My heart feels heavy.

Just because my family will live somewhere else, somewhere safe, doesn’t mean that I won’t be able to speak to them. I’ll still be able to call them every day, just like we’re doing now.

But knowing that they’ll be hours away, no longer in the same city, still makes me sad.

With everything finally starting to settle down, it’s apparently also time to pull together all the information that’s been gathered since the night they rescued the kids and me.

While they didn’t let me near the training complex when they were ‘getting information’ from the three Hearts guys, I was asked to look some of the things over after the fact. I’m very sure that what I saw was only a fraction of the information, not anywhere near all of it.

Outside of that, I helped by confirming or rejecting any of the information Mathew’s organisation had on the Hearts, like the locations of some of their buildings in the city, locations of buildings in other cities, people in charge, things like that.

The Hearts mostly kept me at the same place after they found out I was Mathew’s scent match, but not all the time. I’m good with kids, kids trust me, so they would often use me to look after the kids they were transporting.