"I don’t know."
For a mont, nothing but silence filled the hallway as everyone stared at Atlas. He raised his brows, noticing the confusion on their faces, including Slater and Hugo, who had been with him in the Order all this ti.
Penny and Zoren looked especially taken aback, as if what he had said was sothing... unimaginable.
"You... don’t know?" Penny repeated, utterly confused.
Hesitation gnawed at Atlas’s chest, but he nodded. "Mhm. I don’t know."
Just as he expected Penny to react strongly, her lips trembled, and her eyes widened. Before she could say anything else, she stepped forward and hugged him.
"Oh, poor you," she muttered, patting her first brother’s back. "It must be so hard for you."
Atlas furrowed his brows, looking down at his sister as she hugged him and spoke as if consoling a small child.
"Not really," he replied flatly, but it didn’t stop her.
"If Dad were here, he’d say how pitiful his eldest son is," she continued, earning an imdiate reaction from Slater.
"Hey, don’t talk like Dad’s gone just because he’s not here!"
Zoren nodded in agreent. "I’m with him, my love. Dad’s just in his room."
Penny ignored them, continuing to comfort Atlas. As for Atlas, he gazed down at his sister and let out a shallow chuckle. He rested a hand on top of her head, his eyes flicking briefly to Zoren, who gave him a subtle smile, then to his brothers.
Atlas didn’t like the words I don’t know.
Growing up, whenever he didn’t know sothing, he made sure to find the answer. He believed he had to know everything. Perhaps because that was what he learned from his father.
Charles, after all, never worried his wife or children. No matter the problem, he handled it.
So Atlas never said he didn’t know.
What his siblings were used to hearing was that everything was under control, or that they shouldn’t worry. Even after he took over the Order, he rarely asked for help and never for anything major.
"It’s okay, First Brother," Penny murmured, rubbing his back. "We’re here. We’ll figure it out. I’ll help."
"I know," Atlas replied, making her pause.
Slowly, Penny pulled back and looked up at him in surprise. "What?"
"Lola told ... I can protect everyone without taking away their right to want to protect too. And there’s no sha in that," he said, nodding at her. "So I know you would."
At that, Atlas noticed Zoren shaking his head slightly. Even Hugo shook his head, while Slater raised a finger to his lips, signaling Atlas to stop talking.
But it was too late.
Before Atlas could process their reactions, Penny dramatically threw herself at him and burst into tears.
"Huhuhu! First Brother is finally growing up—I can’t believe marriage changed him!"
Atlas stiffened, holding Penny as she cried loudly, as if Charles had passed away. Even people passing through the hallway slowed to stare, clearly assuming they were grieving.
"I shouldn’t have said that," Atlas muttered, glancing around. Everyone nodded in quiet agreent.
Now they had an inconsolable, wailing Penny on their hands.
In the end, Atlas gently patted her back as she grabbed his blazer and blew her nose into it.
"..."
Monts later, Finn returned. He slowed when he heard the crying. Upon seeing everyone gathered—and Penny sobbing—his heart slamd against his ribs.
"What happened?" he asked in dread, his face paling. "Did... did sothing happen?"
But when everyone turned to him, their expressions didn’t match the fear he expected. Finn had just taken Nina and Allison ho and knew Charles was stable, but sothing could have happened while they were gone.
"It’s nothing like that," Hugo said, shaking his head. "Dad’s fine."
Finn frowned and looked at Penny. "Then why is she crying?"
All he received were helpless shrugs.
*****
Eventually, Penny cald down, and the siblings went to the private ward connected to where Charles was sleeping. As they had said, his condition wasn’t as dire as they feared. He had a broken arm, but that was the best outco they could have hoped for.
According to the police report, the truck had lost its brakes, causing the crash.
However, another speeding car had been coming from the sa direction as Charles. Before the truck could collide fully with his vehicle, that car slamd into the truck’s side—saving Charles from a fatal impact.
Still, Charles’s car wasn’t unscathed. It spun off the side of the road.
Penny stood outside the door, watching Atlas sit beside Charles’s bed. Charles was asleep, and no one wanted to wake him. It had been a long day.
"Is Mark okay?" Hugo asked, leaning against the wall.
Penny tore her gaze from the window. "Mhm. It’s a good thing I assigned him to Dad."
"What about you and the kids?" Hugo asked. "Is it all right to leave him there?"
Mark had once been part of the Phantom Circle, but after Zoren handed the group over to Atlas, he chose to stay in Anteca as Penny’s bodyguard.
"We have Angel," Penny replied. "My security can operate with or without Mark. Today proved I made the right call to put Dad in his watch. If he wasn’t there, we wouldn’t be here talking like this."
Because the driver of the other car that slamd into the truck and saved Charles was Mark’s.
"Second Brother," Zoren spoke up, "what’s going on? We know things in the Order are complicated, but this happening now—it’s too much of a coincidence for it not to be connected to the Secret Society."
"I think First Brother should explain," Hugo said, glancing toward the door behind Penny, then at Slater. "But one thing we know is that we found the location where Slater was trained back then."
Deep lines appeared on Penny’s, Zoren’s, and Finn’s faces as realization dawned.
"Really?" Penny gasped, and all eyes shifted to Slater.
"It’s in Ravah. Particularly in the region of Ashkar," Slater said, smacking his lips. "We’re still investigating. But... First Sister knows the only person who connects to that place."
Silence settled over them until the door slid open.
Everyone turned to Atlas as he scanned their faces.
"Penny, sit down," he said. "This is going to be a long discussion."
With that, everyone sat down in the room adjoining Charles’s ward, preparing to discuss the current state of the Secret Society and the Order. What they didn’t know was how fruitful this conversation could be.
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