“You don’t have to do anything, Cym. Your life is yours to live. The only obligation you have to the Other is to learn control. Otherwise, how you use your power is up to you.”
“That makes no sense at all, Marshall. What if I decided to rule the world?”
Marshall laughed. “The Source wouldn’t have chosen you if you were that kind of person. A person doesn’t get chosen to be Stillbringer to become a ruler or a saint. They’re chosen because they are the right person to help keep the balance. No one can tell you what to do because no one can know what you need to do but you. If you’re needed in a situation, you go there instinctively and help in whatever way necessary. It’s just who you are.”
“Nope. Nuh-uh. I reject this. I don’t know how to instinctively do anything, Marshall. Zero skills going on in here.” Cym gestured toward his head with the hand not currently wrapped around Fourteen’s hip. “Seriously, I am almost completely useless.”
“Bullshit,” Fourteen said without hesitation.
“You’re right, Fourteen. Strength training can wait until Cym gets in some serious hug therapy. I’m really good at that if you need instructions.” Jack draped an arm around Marshall’s shoulders as if to give an example. Then he reached out to Adelle to drag her in as well. He squeezed the siblings against his massive chest and ignored their protests until he seemed satisfied he’d gotten the point across.
“Pass.” Fourteen was pretty sure if Jack hugged Cym like that he’d crush him to death. “I’ll take care of any hugging that’s necessary.”
“Fine. I’ve got my hands full with Marshall anyway.” Jack released Adelle but gave Marshall another spine-popping hug before releasing him.
Adelle moved out of hugging distance and brushed off her clothes and hair, acting like a cat who’d been mortally offended.
Marshall went back to his lecture like he was used to being manhandled on a regular basis. “No one is useless, Cym. Some people just haven’t found their passion yet. And the Source wouldn’t have chosen you if you weren’t right for the mantle of the Stillbringer. You’ve already proven you’ve got what it takes. You found me when I needed you most. I would have died if you hadn’t shown up when you did.”
“And me,” Fourteen said. “If you hadn’t found me right after my handlers died, I would have gone back to The Company, been debriefed, and probably wiped again.”
In hindsight, the timing had been uncanny. If Cym had run down that alley while Fourteen had been mid-mission and his handlers were still alive, Cym would likely have become a casualty, and Fourteen would never have known how close he’d come to his own salvation. It was possible that Steve or Frank would have ordered Fourteen to gun Cym down himself.
Fourteen tossed the emotions inspired by the thought to The Cold to let it deal with them. He wanted no part of that thought experiment.
Fourteen gave Cym an extra squeeze and it was returned two-fold.
“They can’t ever have you back.”
Cym’s words hit Fourteen like an order, and for once, it was one he was happy to comply with. “No. They can’t.”
“You’re a natural at hug therapy, Fourteen. A plus." Jack gave him a thumbs-up.
Cym turned to Marshall. “So you’re saying all I have to do is be myself?”
“Exactly.”
“That makes no sense at all. You realize that, right?”
Adelle gave Jack a wide berth and came up to Cym. She also kept a healthy distance, which Fourteen appreciated. “You don’t need to understand it for it to work. Just trust Marshall. I promise you he won’t steer you wrong. My baby brother is an excellent teacher.”
Sterling finally came to his senses to butt in, saying, “I mean no disrespect to Guardian Adelle, but do you really trust strangers more than you do your family?”
“After being inside Marshall, I think I know him pretty well,” Cym said hotly.
“I think you could have phrased that one better, sweetheart,” Jack said with a laugh.
Fourteen gave Marshall the stink-eye for existing, but otherwise he kept his thoughts to himself. If he didn’t like the reminder of how quickly Cym had become close with Marshall, that was his business.
“I don’t need to do much. After teaching you to control your power, all I have to do is point you toward the library, Cym. I have a feeling you’ll be able to take it from there.” Marshall tapped the side of his head as if to remind everyone that he’d been inside Cym’s mind just as much as Cym had been in his.
Fourteen gave him another dose of stink-eye in case Marshall had missed the first one.
“You have a library?!” Cym wiggled and tried to slip free to race toward a library he didn’t know the location of, and Fourteen was tempted to let him go to see how far he got on his own before realizing he was lost in the maze-like corridors of the mansion.
“Hold on, tiger. Let’s deal with the body in the lobby first, shall we?” Jack kneeled down next to Harper’s body but didn’t touch it. “What do you want us to do with him? Did he have family we can send his body to?”
“No family.” None of the agents had families. It was a requirement. One that Fourteen hadn’t complied with voluntarily.
“Hmm, that makes this tricky. What would you like us to do with him?”
“Whatever you normally do with bodies in this situation.”
Everyone turned to Marshall.
“Hey, this is a first for me. We don’t see a lot of dead norms in this line of work.”
“I’ve got this, Guardian Marshall. It’s my chapter house, after all. Eir, my love,” Samatha called softly. “Can you take this poor man back to the earth?”
Harper’s body shimmered before fading away. Fourteen noticed the vague outline of a humanoid figure in the air above the body before it faded away as well.
“Eir?” Cym asked.
“She’s introverted,” Samantha said, like it explained everything.
Cym nodded slowly, but it was clear to Fourteen that he didn’t understand any more than Fourteen did. “Where were we? Let me think… dead body… library… lessons… Oh yes. Sterling.” Cym turned his attention to his brother. “You should probably go for now. I’m not coming home with you, and this isn’t your problem to deal with.”
Sterling’s eyes went red and it looked like he was trying not to cry. “Are you ever coming back?”
