"Cynthia, let’s talk."
Cynthia Grant sat on the edge of the bed, burying her head in her knees and shaking it. She clearly didn’t want to talk.
’She could see it—her hands, her feet, maybe even her whole body had become... strange. She really was the one who’d been abandoned, wasn’t she? Even her own father had cast her aside and sent her to a research lab.’
"Flora, you don’t understand!" Cynthia Grant’s voice cracked as if she were about to cry, but she fought back the tears with all her might, leaving her voice hoarse and choked.
Five stood to the side, looking like he wanted to say something but held back. He wanted to step forward but didn’t dare. Flora Bloom took it all in.
"Could everyone step out for a moment? I’ll stay here with her," Flora Bloom said, looking at Five.
Lex Cross left without a word. Once only Flora Bloom and Cynthia Grant remained, Flora took out a towel, wet it with water from her superpower, and handed it to Cynthia.
Cynthia Grant hesitated for a moment before taking it, then lightly dabbed at her face.
"Flora, you don’t have to comfort me. I’m fine!"
Flora sat down beside her. "Are you really fine? If one day my own father sold me to some powerful group, or sold me to a lab like yours did, I would completely fall apart."
Cynthia Grant’s head snapped up, her eyes filled with reproach and resentment.
"What do you know? He’s my own father! He used me as a shield against a superpower attack, then he handed me over to a lab to be a test subject. You don’t get it. You have no idea how devastated I am."
Flora Bloom just smiled faintly, unbothered by Cynthia’s outburst. "Fine, let’s say I don’t get it. But this happened to you. So now what? Are you just going to keep crying? Keep being angry? Keep doubting yourself and wallowing in self-pity? Asking why you have a father like that? What comes next? What are you going to do about it?"
Flora’s voice was steady and calm, but its coldness sent a chill through Cynthia, who stared at her in disbelief.
"Why are you glaring at me? If you’ve got the nerve, go glare at your father, Hector Grant—the one who’s trying to get you killed!"
"Flora! If you just came here to mock me, then please leave. I don’t want to see you!"
"What’s this? I’ve saved your life time and again, and you glare at me, yet you don’t have the courage to face Hector Grant? Cynthia, where’s the tough girl I know? This isn’t you!"
Cynthia Grant stared at Flora, her eyes stinging from being open so wide, but her heart stung even more. Finally, Flora’s words broke through, and she burst into tears.
"What am I supposed to do?! He’s my father! Am I supposed to kill him? It’s easy for you to stand there and talk! What if Uncle Bloom did this to you? What would you do then?"
"I would focus on surviving. I’d work to become the most powerful superpower user there is, so powerful that any future attempt he made to harm me would be useless. And I would make him regret everything he ever did."
Cynthia stared blankly for a few seconds, then collapsed forward, burying her face in her knees and sobbing.
Flora sat beside her, gently patting her back.
"Do you want to hear my story?"
In the small, dark courtyard outside the master bedroom of the low-slung house, the rest of the group waited, lost in thought. All except for Lex Cross. He leaned against the wall of the bedroom where Flora and Cynthia were. He wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help but hear every word Flora said.
"Cynthia, do you believe in past lives?"
"Past lives? No, I don’t believe in that stuff."
"But it happened to me. If you don’t believe me, then just listen to it like it’s a story."
As if a floodgate had opened for emotions she’d long held back, Flora began to weave the experiences of her past life into a story for Cynthia.
With her perceptive spiritual power, she naturally knew Lex Cross was right outside the door. She was telling the story for Cynthia, but she was also telling it for him.
She recounted everything, leaving nothing out: from how Shelton Underwood killed her and Polly, to the things he’d said to her right before she died, and how it all connected to events from before the apocalypse.
Cynthia was captivated, her emotions rising and falling in sync with Flora’s tale.
"That scumbag! Is he still alive?"
Flora smiled faintly. "He’s dead. I killed him myself."
At first, Cynthia had truly been listening to it as just a story. But the more she listened, the more absorbed she became, and the more real it felt. When Flora stated that she had killed the man herself, it took a moment for the words to sink in, and then Cynthia froze.
Her voice trembled as she looked at Flora. "Flora? You mean... that was all real?"
Flora kept her faint smile. "Not just Shelton Underwood. Belle Bloom is dead, too. I killed her myself. So, I naively thought I could get through this apocalypse and keep my family safe. But in these times... who can really stay out of it all?"
Cynthia studied Flora’s beautiful face, which showed not a hint of sadness, and wondered if she was being lied to or if this was all true.
She knew that Flora did have a sister named Belle. If the story was true... she couldn’t even begin to imagine what Flora must have gone through.
"Feeling any better?" Seeing Cynthia’s dumbfounded expression, Flora suddenly broke into a faint smile. "I made it all up. You actually believed me?" She then took out a test tube and handed it to Cynthia. "The Crown Prince and Lynx found this in the underground lab. It’s supposed to be an antidote. It’s the only one, and we don’t know if it’s real."
Cynthia stared at the test tube for a long time. "My current condition... other than my skin looking ugly, nothing else seems wrong, right? Oh, but my superpower seems to be advancing really fast. In just one day, I’m almost at the High-level."
Flora shook her head. "Our classifications of low, mid, and High-level superpowers are just the beginning. The side effects of the drug they injected you with aren’t just the changes to your skin. It’s also rapidly burning through your potential. You have to be cured. But this antidote..."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
After the knock, Lex Cross came in.
"Put the antidote aside for now. Things at the Argent base are complicated, and going back would be a problem. Besides, I have something to tell everyone."
Just then, The Crown Prince and Lynx arrived with an unconscious Gavin Todd, whom they settled in one of the rooms. Robin Grant also showed up in the courtyard, along with Neal Wallace.
"Mr. Wallace, what are you doing here?"
Neal Wallace was Simon’s son. Flora had figured that since he was with his family, she shouldn’t trouble him, but he had followed them over anyway.
"The Thorne family’s research lab back at the base just exploded. I wanted to come check on you all, and on the way I ran into the elder Mr. Grant, The Crown Prince, and Lynx, so we came over together."
"Mervin Warren, Professor Lawson... what... what happened to you all?"
Neal Wallace recognized Mervin Warren and Micah. He didn’t know them well, having only met them a few times at Varden Village, but it was strange to see them looking so disheveled.
And among them was Annelise Locke, who had been missing since Morhaven and hadn’t been seen in ages.
"Weren’t you guys among the first to go back to Argent with Lex Cross? Annelise, you... what are you doing here? Flora has been looking for you for so long!"
"We found them in the Thorne family’s research lab," Flora answered.
Neal Wallace’s brow furrowed. "Flora, that lab in Morhaven you told us about before... is it connected to this Thorne family lab?"
’The fact that Annelise Locke showed up in the Thorne family’s lab was proof enough. But what was this whole group doing gathered here now?’