Chapter Six

I didn't give Keros unnecessary details about the situation.

He didn't need to know who the Mother was, what she was, none of it. None of it mattered to the situation at hand, which was to find Thirteen and get the hell out. All I needed to say was my brother was in trouble and I needed to help him and I had no idea where to start looking in this massive new world we'd been locked away from.

"It sounds like you came from some kind of cult," Keros said after I spoke.

Yeah, that sounded about right. The Mother's following was a cult. After all, cults tended to center around a particular person and their god complex.

"Sounds about right," I muttered, averting my eyes. Keros frowned for a moment, then took out his phone. I watched him type some things, wait a bit, then type something else before he looked up.

"We should go to my place," he said, and when I looked at him suspiciously, he shook his head, "Don't worry, my parents are visiting the King, my sister's probably out terrorizing the city, and my brothers aren't even in town yet. It'll just be us."

"Was that supposed to comfort me?" I asked dryly.

"I wouldn't have offered to help you if I was going to hurt you," he pointed out, leading the way to his place. I inclined my head slowly to that.

"Why are you even doing this for me? Just because you had some kind of vision?" I asked, following close behind. Keros didn't look at me, but there was a look in his eye I couldn't quite name. Almost like he felt like he had to help. Not because anyone was forcing him to, but something else was making him feel like he had to help. Was it his pride? Was he simply... a good person? Did those even exist in the real world?

"It's a hunch," Keros said at last, making me scowl, "Anyway, let's get to my place. We can start there. We have access to wifi." I frowned. People freely had access to wifi around here? We certainly had wifi access back at the compound, but there were strict rules in place to make sure no one used it for anything that would go against the Mother, so like researching the Mother outside of our private documents. The Mother was our source of information, our all-knowing guide. She just used the wifi to convey that information to us. In limited quantities.

We left the more touristy part of the city and entered a neighborhood of large narrow houses and apartments, which then turned into a sparse spatter of beach homes. The paths became dirt packed as opposed to stoned. Eventually we turned down a winding sandy path lined by thick jungle that took us to a huge beach house. It was quaint with a pitched roof, white siding, and floor to ceiling windows. It was... cute.

Keros opened the front entrance and I followed him inside cautiously. I don't know why I expected to be attacked the moment I came in, but thankfully the fear was unwarranted as we entered the empty home.

Well, empty of people.

The house itself was... beautiful. I was so used to the sterile interiors of the compound, but this home was so different. Everything was white and beige, so warm and soft with well suited furniture. There was something so individualistic and special about the house. It was fascinating to me that they could design furniture, design a whole room, to fit so perfectly together like puzzle pieces.

"Wow," I murmured, scanning the place. Keros looked at me, then looked around the room for a moment, like he was seeing it all for the first time. His lips twitched in a smile.

That fucking dimple.

"Yeah," he said at last, "Anyway, let's head up to my room" I nodded and followed him up the stairs where a huge window looked out over the beach. It was gorgeous.

I pried myself away from the view and followed Keros into his room to the left of the stairs. The room itself was nothing like my little cell back at the compound. This room had more than a dresser and a bed. It had a computer, a mirror armoire, curtains, a fucking window. It was... nice.

Keros went to the computer and clicked a few times, opening a web browser.

"So you said they moved your brother from the location you were at, which means they'd probably move him to a similar location here," he murmured thoughtfully, then frowned, "That's still so weird to me. There's not really cults around much anymore, especially in Atlantis. They're a bit too progressive for that." I frowned at that, averted my eyes.

Where would they take Thirteen that was similar to our compound? I'd only seen the outside of our compound a couple of times in the past and it really just looked like... A warehouse, I realized.

"A warehouse," I said, making Keros look at me curiously, "The compound looked like a warehouse on the outside. Unassuming." Keros nodded and turned to his computer, typing something in and doing a few clicks here and there.

"Okay, so that doesn't narrow it down exactly," he admitted, "But maybe if we looked at some of these places, we'd be able to figure out which one looks the most similar. There's a lot of warehouses down by the docks. Let's see what we can find."

We scanned through articles, finding several suspicious warehouse busts in the vicinity, but I couldn't tell just by looking at them if they were what we were looking for. I would need to go and do some investigating of the places myself.

There were about sixteen warehouses we managed to narrow down, all of them unassuming without any rap sheets or any major orders.

"Let me send the addresses to my phone for the places we found here and see if any of them match the description of your warehouse," Keros explained, copying and pasting the addresses into a text to himself. I nodded, backing away, then pausing to study Keros's profile at the computer.

There was really no reason for him to be doing this for me. So what if he had a dream? Did that really make him want to help me? Was that really enough for him to just drop everything he was doing just to help me? It was suspicious, and I certainly didn't trust him, no matter what he was doing to help me, but at least he was giving me a starting point.

"You really didn't need to do this," I said quietly. Keros shrugged, glancing at me.

"Somehow, I feel I did," he responded, then got up and took out his phone, scrolling through the messages he sent himself to study the addresses.

"Okay, so these are the ones that are more inland, a couple by the docks, but we can already rule those out because you said it would be more hidden, where they can do things without being caught," he explained, making me nod, "How about we head out to these places tomorrow morning?" I nodded at the same time I heard a door open and close downstairs. I stiffened at the sound and Keros cursed under his breath as he rose to his feet.

"Let me do the talking," he told me. I nodded, getting up and cautiously following him out of the room and down the stairs. A small male was making his way to the kitchen. He was incredibly beautiful, petite, and delicate looking. His long chestnut brown hair was tied back into a loose ponytail, his bangs hanging in his face where a pair of shrewd green eyes swung around to look at us.

"Keros," he greeted, then paused when he saw me, "And who's this?"

"A friend," Keros responded, making those eyes narrow suspiciously, "He's not from around here. I invited him to come stay with us for the holiday. I figured you wouldn't mind." The male stood there for a moment, clearly disagreeing with Keros's assumption. He looked like he was tempted to tell me to fuck off, but then suddenly a smile came across his face and he inclined his head.

"Sure, I'll just set another place at the table. Your father should be coming in soon. He just had to run a couple errands for me," he said, then turned to look at me, "It's nice to meet you. My name's Blaine. I'm Keros's dad." I blinked, then cleared my throat and nodded to him, not entirely sure what to say because I wasn't really expecting him to be polite. Keros seemed to be relieved, though, and smiled at his dad before looking at me.

"I'm gonna help him set the table. If you want, you can wait upstairs," he offered.

"Or," Blaine said, opening the fridge, "You can help set the table too."

"Dad," Keros said in a warning tone.

"Keros," Blaine returned with the same tone. I smiled warily.

"Ah, I can help, it's no problem," I said. Blaine looked satisfied with that. Keros looked annoyed, but he didn't say anything as he went to gather the supplies for the table. I stood near the table, looking at the size of it. It was pretty huge, and it looked like it was carved from driftwood, smooth and wide. The craftsmanship was pretty impressive...

"So, where are you from?" Blaine asked. Keros made a sound of distress and I stiffened at the question.

"Dad, it's really not any of your business," Keros told him sternly, but Blaine ignored him as he got to chopping vegetables on a cutting board with a dangerously big knife. He was so fast too. Something told me he was really good at using that knife for other things too.

"Ah, Easter," I said, remembering the lie from earlier.

"And where's that?" Blaine asked.

"Uhm... Mortal... realm," I said slowly.

"Ah," Blaine answered, "How nice. I didn't know many people lived in the mortal realm anymore. It's turned into quite a cesspool." Keros put the plates down noisily on the table, earning a look from Blaine. I swallowed, unnerved by the tension in the air.

"I've never been to Atlantis," I said after a moment, trying to lighten things up, "Keros offered to show me around during the holiday. Figured it was the best time to see the most of Atlantis." Blaine paused at that, then seemed to relax a bit as he continued cutting.

"Sure. If you like that kind of thing," he replied, "I'm not big on parties, but I like Akin, so."

"You know him personally? The King's consort, I mean," I added. Blaine nodded.

"Just came from his place. He's nervous about the whole thing and ever since he and Hannibal got into their fight, they've been super awkward," he said dryly, "Like, they're acting normal, and it's weird. When weird people act normal, it's not good. So whatever set them off better subside soon, because I can't stand normal Akin. He acts kind of like a prick." I didn't know what to say to that, but it unnerved me how well he knew my genetic carriers. This was a bit too close for comfort. I was supposed to be avoiding them, not mingling with their friends and family. I just sincerely hoped this didn't come back to bite me in the ass. The last thing I needed was my genetic carriers getting in the way of my rescuing Thirteen.

The front door to the house opened and voices carried in as I turned to see who'd come in.

The first male was dark skinned with braided hair that fell down his back, his outfit consisting of jeans and a t-shirt with a leather jacket. The second person was female, with his long curly dark hair piled up in a bun on her head with loose strands hanging down over her shoulders, her body muscled in a way a boxer's might be. She wore a bright red bikini top and jeans.

The last male to enter the house was so massive he had to duck to avoid hitting his head on the doorframe, and he immediately made me nervous. His hair was black as night, wavy and falling to his shoulders, his eyes the color of blood, his skin a warm olive, his outfit looked like he went to a goth store and bought the whole thing out.

"I told you, it wasn't my fault," the female was saying in annoyance, "It was Amenti's. She's the one who opened her mouth. I just happened to be standing right there."

"And you threw the first punch," the smaller male pointed out, making the female sputter.

"According to the authorities," the largest male muttered, then cleared his throat, "We're home!" He paused when he spotted me, but he didn't say anything, just inclined his head. The female, on the other hand, saw me right away and her eyes widened.

"Who's this? Keros has friends? Or did dad kidnap someone?" She asked, earning a snort from Blaine and an eye roll from Keros.

"Ah, my name's Seven," I greeted quietly, "I'm... Keros's friend." Her eyes studied me suspiciously, because she clearly didn't believe that. Thankfully she didn't say anything about it and just nodded slowly while the smaller male elbowed her and shook his head.

"Hey," he greeted, approaching me and holding his hand out, "I'm Ayo. This is my sister, Holly, and our dad, Cerberus. Looks like you already met Blaine. And I apologize ahead of time for anything that comes out of his mouth." Blaine set his knife down and folded his arms over his chest, giving Ayo a look while Ayo kept his eyes on me.

"I can feel his dagger eyes on me from across the room already," Ayo muttered, then cleared his throat, "I also apologize on behalf of my sister if she says anything stupid."

"Wow," Holly exclaimed, "I don't need an apology, ya jerk. Anyway, hi. I'm Holly, like he said. If anyone needs to do apologizing, it's me. I apologize for Keros. Just in general." Keros reached up to wipe his hands down his face before putting them on the table, like he was trying to find calm in the chaos. I felt my lips twitch because they were amusing. There was nothing serious to their jabs, strangely enough. It felt casual. It was so weird. I was used to this kind of stuff being serious, the barbs clawing at your insides, but these people seemed so... relaxed.

"Hey, babe," Cerberus went over to Blaine, sweeping an arm around him and hauling him close to plant a kiss on his cheek, "How's Akin doing?" Blaine smiled at that kiss and tilted his head up to return it before he sighed and returned to cutting vegetables, tossing them in a skillet of sizzling hot oil.

"Same. He's still acting weird. How about Hannibal?" He asked. I tensed at that mention of the King. I glanced sideways at them as Cerberus sighed and lowered his voice, not that it did much to keep me from listening.

"He's grumpy as fuck, babe. He's clearly pissed about this thing with Akin, but he won't talk about it. Not that I really wanna hear details. I just want him to go back to being normal. Like, his normal."

"I know, but they have to work it out on their own. Whatever it is."

"Hopefully they work it out by Christmas because I do not want to deal with that level of awkward at the Christmas party. It's already weird with Hades being Hades and Lucifer being. Well. All over Hades. Fuck me. Why is it so hard for people to just kinda... not?"

"Sorry, hon," Blaine said, reaching up to pat his husband on the chest, then he leaned up and gave him another kiss, "On the upside, I'm making your favorite." Cerberus's eyes twinkled at that as he stooped down to steal another kiss.

I stared at them.

That kind of affection... was strangely foreign to me. Even though love wasn't forbidden, public displays of affection weren't exactly a thing back at the compound. Shows of love were usually going easy on your partner during training, giving them the last apple from the canteen, taking the kissing shit back to your room so no one else saw. Even holding hands was rare. It wasn't that it was frowned upon; it was just the culture that was created there.

The culture here was... different. It wasn't bad. Just different.

"Here," I looked up as Keros handed me a plate, "Sorry about my family." I offered him a smile.

"No, it's... It's fine. I'm not used to this kind of thing," I murmured, making Keros glance at me, "Thirteen is the only family I have."

"No parents?" Holly asked as she took a seat at the place I was setting, earning a look from Blaine. I shook my head.

"Just... Mother," I said after a moment.

"I take it she isn't much of a mother," Holly said.

"Holly," Blaine exclaimed, glaring at her. Holly held her hands up in surrender. I smiled awkwardly.

"Ah, no, it's fine... She's not. More like a dictator," I muttered under my breath. Holly grimaced.

"I know that feel," she assured, reaching out to pat my shoulder. This time, a spoon went flying across the room and nearly nailed Holly in the head if she hadn't tilted her head slightly to the left, letting the spoon go flying onto the couch. I looked over at Blaine, who turned back to slicing up meat, placing it in a pan. Cerberus shook his head, coming over and giving Holly's head a rough wiggle that made her groan and swat him away.

"Cool it, rebel child," he scolded her, "I don't want to hear anything from you after today."

"What happened today?" Blaine asked.

"Managed to get our daughter out of jail, again," Cerberus sighed, making Keros grimace and look at me, like he was apologizing with those brilliant blue eyes that glowed. I swallowed thickly, looking away at the plate I placed down on the table. I watched Ayo and Keros take a seat and waited, looking over at Blaine and waiting to see where he'd sit, but he waved at me over his shoulder.

"Sit anywhere you want," he said. I looked at the spot beside Cerberus, figured that was probably Blaine's place, so I took the seat by Ayo and across from Keros.

"I'm tired of paperwork when you're involved," Keros told Holly, who shrugged, "Do me a favor and cool it on this vacation or next time I'll make your life a living hell when you're in jail."

"Oh please," Holly deadpanned, "Life with you is a living hell."

"Ouch," Ayo stated as Keros rolled his eyes and Cerberus smirked at them.

I sat there, completely amazed at this family dynamic. Was this what normal families were like? Taking playful jabs at each other without stirring up a fist fight? Sitting around a single table to eat? Having two normal parents?

I didn't know what to say, didn't know how to react to this kind of thing. The only family I'd ever known was back at the compound and it was nothing like this. Jabs were meant to cut you to the quick, meant to lead to a fist fight. Or at least, that was my experience. No one was playful or friendly around me back at the compound. I was defective, so I stood out as the weakest link. Most of the jabs directed at me were meant to injure my pride, my feelings, and result in a fist fight so there was an excuse to beat the shit out of me.

Confused, I sat there quietly as Blaine finished up making dinner and came around to each one of us, spooning food out onto our plates. He even came around with a jug of juice, pouring it into each of our glasses.

"Hope you aren't allergic to mango," Blaine said when he poured mine, and I shook my head, "Good. Freshly made by yours truly."

"Ah, thanks," I murmured. Blaine looked startled at that, then glared at his family.

"You're welcome, Seven. Unlike the rest of my brood, no one ever thanks me," he said, earning sputters and groans from his family. I felt a smile spread across my face in amusement. At least I was earning brownie points with his guy. Something told me the goal was to earn his approval before Cerberus's. How strange that someone as laidback as Cerberus appeared to be would be with someone like Blaine, who seemed to be the one wearing the pants in the household. I suppose opposites truly did attract.

Without realizing it, I found myself staring at Keros as he speared a piece of meat and shot Holly a dirty look for some comment she made about his hair.

Keros reminded me a lot of Cerberus. He seemed pretty laid back, pretty comfortable and relatively friendly. Maybe not with his siblings, but I could somehow tell he was joking when he took a shot at them. He seemed especially close to his sister, despite their bickering. It made sense; they were definitely twins. I could see it in their features, their mannerisms. Keros ate with the same decorum as Holly, like they were royalty and had to put on a show with whatever they did.

But if they were related to royalty, I suppose that made sense.

It made me wonder how close Keros really was to Akin and Hannibal...

Akin and Hannibal. That was their names. My genetic carriers. They had personalities. They were fighting right now. It was so weird to put personalities and traits to the mystery genetic carriers I'd been told to avoid. I was briefly curious about them, then quickly stamped that down. Now wasn't the time to get attached to someone I didn't even know, who could be a threat. Rae seemed genuinely afraid of them. There had to be a reason for that. He'd said Hannibal was the true terror. What did that make Akin? His handler? I had no idea. The more I thought about it, the more nervous I got for meeting them. I didn't have time to deal with them.

I had to worry about Thirteen.

With that in mind, I fueled up once more. And found myself eating several plates of Blaine's food because holy shit was it delicious. It was sweet and salty and flavorful. Blaine seemed pleased with the amount of plates I ate, which caught me off guard because I was so used to being scolded for eating too much. Too much food meant too much weight, and too much weight meant too fat to defend the Mother. I'd been put on a strict diet regimen back at the compound, and having that broken was kind of freeing.

I started thinking of Thirteen in that moment and my heart sank. Were they feeding him properly? Were they paying enough attention to him? He would have loved to sit around a table like this with family, enjoying their company and attention. He would've probably broken into a round of giggles and tried to join in, despite being a child. He was smart. He would know they were joking, know it was all in good fun. He'd fit right in with a family like this.

Would it really be okay for me to take him away from the compound and into a life on the run, I wondered nervously. I wouldn't be able to provide this for him, this sense of family and affection. He certainly wasn't getting that from the Mother or the other soldiers. He didn't belong there, of course not. I wasn't changing my mind in rescuing him. I was just afraid of taking him out of a bad situation and just throwing him into another one.

Dinner came to a close and I helped them clear the table. We passed the dishes over to Blaine, who took them and started washing them, despite there being a dishwasher.

"Hell no," Blaine had said when Cerberus had told him to use it, "Those things don't get the dishes clean. They just spray some water and soap. They need a good scrubbing, especially after having animals like you eat off them."

"Owie," Cerberus said, "My feelings." Blaine's lips twitched and he hip checked Cerberus, who hip bumped him back before leaning down to kiss him on top of the head. I still couldn't get used to that display of affection. It was so otherworldly.

"Let's head upstairs," Keros said, "I can make the bed and you can sleep up there tonight." I stared at him.

"Are you sure?" I asked. Keros nodded, then kept his voice low and got close to me. A little too close. Enough so I could smell his spicy aftershave that filled my senses like an intoxicating blend.

"Something tells me you don't have anywhere to sleep right now. And I'd be happy to give you that for a couple nights while you look for your brother," he said softly. I swallowed at that, tilted my head up to look into those blue eyes. I could get lost in them. The heat there that seared me. I nodded numbly. He seemed satisfied with that.

"In that case," Blaine said, making Keros look up with a frown, "Keep the bedroom door open."

"Dad," Keros said through clenched teeth.

"It's just to be safe," Blaine responded swiftly, "I'm sure Seven understands."

"Yeah, it's no problem," I assured. Blaine seemed satisfied with that and Keros sighed, then nodded and led the way back up the stairs again. I watched him clean up the bed a little for me.

"Are you sure I shouldn't just sleep on the sofa downstairs?" I asked. Keros shook his head.

"No, it's completely fine. Besides, I'm gonna look into these warehouses a little bit more to make sure we're not wasting our time with any of them," he responded, making me blink and look at him in surprise. He simply smiled at my stare and I dropped my eyes down to my feet. After he was done, he went to the computer and sat down. I climbed into bed and settled under the covers. I stared at the back of Keros's head as he worked at the computer.

Was this for real? Was Keros even real? His family? Was life outside really like this?

Because it didn't seem like the horrid nightmare I'd been raised to believe.

And it made me wonder... what else did the Mother lie about?