The Enhanced

Chapter 6

Alex had questions, the biggest one being how she could get caught in the rain when she'd been sleeping upstairs when he called to check in earlier, but he didn't voice them.

Eli didn't add anything on.

Alex didn't expect her to. She rarely spoke these days about anything that wasn't about work. He plopped the bag of groceries down on the counter and pulled out some of the noodles, shaking a pack in her face. "Hungry?"

"No." Eli jutted a thumb toward the living room. "She seemed like she was though."

And so Alex made two servings. Eli's tea was ready to drink before he finished, but she hung around taking slow sips from her mug. When he went out into the living room with one bowl in each hand, she came after him, settling down on the couch that Aria had abandoned to sit closer to the fireplace.

Aria was huddled up with a throw wrapped around her shoulders, hair just as damp as Eli's but her clothes dry. They weren't what she was brought to the house in - a big black hoodie Alex recognized as Klaus' and flannel pajama pants that Eli wore often.

"Hungry?" Alex asked, joining her on the floor.

Her eyes were fixed on the bowls, but she was hesitant.

Alex pressed one of them into her hands. "Don't worry," he said, "it's halal."

She looked up at him, her lips tugging down at the corners.

"Religion's in your file."

"File?" she echoed, in a voice very different from the one he had heard in the cafe. It was hoarser now, the words forced out like it was difficult to speak.

"Have you heard of the Elites?"

She nodded.

"The three of us are members. Eli's high up the food chain. When you escaped from the people holding you, our moles found out and the information was passed on. You were a priority for a while. Everyone thinks you're dead now."

"Your boss or whoever's in charge-"

"They don't know you're with us. Nobody will, okay? You're safe here. Heal up and then we can figure out what to do with you."

"I can leave?"

Alex could feel Eli's gaze searing into the back of his head. "If you want to. You're not a prisoner. But for now, just stay here, alright? I'll go get your things in the morning so you can heal comfortably."

"My things?"

"Yeah. From wherever you live."

There was color to her cheeks suddenly, eyes flickering elsewhere.

Alex felt his stomach twist. He was a fool. Somebody hiding from Big Brother was going to stay off the grid and that was hard. That job she held at the cafe couldn't have been paying very well if she hadn't given any information like a social security number or showed an ID. She had to have been underpaid. People did it all the time now. They would employ the Enhanced as a secret and pay them awfully low wages in cash for hours that went on too long.

Her cheeks were hollow and her ribs stuck out a scary amount - he couldn't not notice it when the vet was stitching her up. She was underpaid and she was hungry, he knew that. But for some reason he'd assumed she'd actually have a good place to stay.

Eli was the one to break the silence. "Have you got anything stashed anywhere?"

"There's a locker," Aria said, still avoiding both their eyes. "At the gym by the cafe. I kept stuff in there."

"Where'd you sleep?"

Alex didn't know how to tell her to shut up without embarrassing Aria further.

"Locker room," Aria said, ears glowing. "It sounds gross but they lock it at night. If I needed to pee or something there was a bathroom. And a shower for the mornings."

Eli tipped her head. There was a glint in her eye. It was the same one she used to get before, the kind she got before she said something that would end in a brawl or a lifetime ban from a club he liked. Now it was the look she got before she tortured someone. The sight of it made Alex uneasy, the sight of it directed at a Siren that Eli already thought of as a weapon made him even more so.

"Smart," Eli said.

"The key to the locker was in my apron," Aria added, finally looking at Alex. "I don't know where it is."

Alex did. "I burned it, but I kept the key. It's in the car. Just tell me the locker number later."

Aria nodded, ducking her head down and filling her mouth with a forkful of noodles. Soup dripped over her bottom lip and down her chin, but she was too focused on getting another mouthful of noodles to bother wiping it away.

He would make more after she finished the first bowl, he decided. There was more than enough sitting in the kitchen.

A u t h o r ' s  N o t e

Alex is Enhanced, an empath specifically. More about what he does and how he does it will come up later. Same with the others.

Summer semester ends in three days for me, but fall semester starts on the 26th. I will be taking five courses and doing an internship while working full-time to help pay for school. Naturally, that means I'll be tight on time. Starting August 23rd, I'll be updating once every two weeks. I hope you guys don't mind the change in my updating schedule.