Chapter 677: Escape (2)
I wake up slowly, like floating up from the bottom of a warm pool. For a mont, I forget where I am, and panic tries to grab with cold fingers. Then I feel the steady rise and fall of breathing beneath my cheek, sll the familiar scent that ans safety and love, and rember.
‘Daddy.’ The word makes smile even before I open my eyes. ‘I’m with Daddy, so everything is okay.’
I’m curled up against Arthur’s side, my head on his chest where I can hear his heartbeat. His arm is wrapped around , holding close even in sleep, like he’s protecting from bad dreams. This is the first ti I’ve ever slept next to another person, and it’s the most wonderful feeling in the world.
‘Is this what having a real family feels like?’ I wonder, snuggling closer to Daddy’s warmth. ‘Always having soone who wants to keep you safe?’
Through the window, I can see that it’s still dark outside, but not the scary dark of the facility. This is natural darkness, with actual stars twinkling like the pictures in my books. Real stars that Daddy said I could look at whenever I wanted.
‘We really escaped,’ I think with amazent. ‘We’re really free.’
The vampires who chased us were terrifying—all fangs and red eyes and threatening voices. But Daddy and Mama Cordelia fought them off like the heroes in the stories Daddy reads to . And when that scary one tried to hurt Daddy, sothing inside just… exploded.
I rember the feeling of power rushing through , different from the controlled demonstrations in the lab. This wasn’t the doctors making use my abilities for their tests. This was choosing to protect soone I love, and the power felt warm instead of cold, right instead of wrong.
‘I saved Daddy,’ I realize with pride. ‘When he was in danger, I was strong enough to help him.’
Daddy shifts in his sleep, and his arm tightens around protectively. Even unconscious, he’s making sure I’m safe. The gesture makes my chest feel full of bubbles, like happiness is fizzing through my blood.
‘This is what I always wanted,’ I think, rembering all the nights I spent alone in my cold room at the facility. ‘Soone to hold when I’m scared. Soone who loves just because I’m .’
Before Daddy ca to visit , I didn’t even know what love felt like. The doctors talked about “emotional responses” and “attachnt behaviors,” but they used such cold words for sothing that feels like sunshine inside your heart.
‘Daddy never uses cold words when he talks about feelings,’ I rember. ‘He says love is when caring about soone makes you happy. He says family is when people choose each other.’
And we did choose each other, didn’t we? Daddy chose to save even though it was dangerous. I chose to call him Daddy even though I was scared he might say no. Mama Cordelia chose to help us even though she could have stayed safe.
‘We’re a real family now,’ I think happily. ‘Not because soone made us be together, but because we want to be together.’
I think about my old room at the facility, with its white walls and dical equipnt and the constant humming of the implants in my head. That humming is gone now—Daddy made it stop, gave my own mind back. I’ll never have to go back to that place, never have to be Subject Zero again.
‘I wonder if the other subjects dread about having families too,’ I think sadly. ‘The ones who didn’t make it.’
Daddy told there were others before , children who didn’t survive the enhancents. Sotis I have dreams about them—shadowy figures who look sad and lost. I wonder if they would have wanted daddies and mamas too, if they would have drawn pictures of houses with gardens.
‘I’m the lucky one,’ I realize. ‘I’m the one who got to live, who got to find a family. Maybe that ans I have to be extra good, to make up for the ones who didn’t get the chance.’
“Mmm, Luna?” Daddy’s voice is soft and sleepy. “Are you awake, sweetheart?”
“Yes, Daddy,” I whisper back, not wanting to wake Mama Cordelia who’s sleeping in the chair by the door. “Did I wake you up? I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” he says gently, his hand stroking my hair. “You didn’t do anything wrong. How are you feeling?”
‘How am I feeling?’ It’s a question the doctors used to ask, but when Daddy asks it, he really wants to know. He’s not looking for specific answers or testing my responses. He just cares about how I feel.
“Safe,” I say after thinking about it. “And happy. And a little scared about what happens next, but mostly happy because I’m with you and Mama Cordelia.”
Daddy’s arms squeeze a little tighter. “I’m happy I’m with you too, sweetheart. Happier than I ever thought possible.”
“Daddy?” I ask quietly. “When we get to our real house, the one I drew plans for, will you still want to sleep close to sotis? When I have bad dreams or get scared?”
“Of course,” he says imdiately. “Whenever you need , for as long as you want. That’s what daddies are for.”
‘That’s what daddies are for.’ The words make feel warm all over. I have a daddy who will chase away bad dreams and hold when I’m scared and read stories about gardens and butterflies.
“Will you tell about the other people in our family?” I ask. “The ones you said love you? Will they love too?”
Daddy is quiet for a mont, and I wonder if I asked sothing wrong. But then he starts talking in his soft bedti voice, the one that makes feel sleepy and safe.
“There’s Rachel, who’s very smart and kind. She’ll probably want to teach you about magic and show you how to make pretty things with light. And Cecilia, who’s strong and brave—she’ll make sure no one ever hurts you. Seraphina has the most beautiful singing voice, and she’ll sing you lullabies when you can’t sleep.”
‘So many people who might love ,’ I think with wonder. ‘A whole family waiting to et .’
“Will they really want ?” I ask, because I have to know. “Even though I’m not normal? Even though I have strange powers and I was made in a lab?”
“Luna,” Daddy says seriously, “they’re going to love you because you’re mine. Because you’re part of our family now. And once they get to know you—your kindness, your curiosity, your beautiful heart—they’ll love you for who you are, just like I do.”
Tears prick my eyes, but they’re happy tears. “I love you so much, Daddy. More than butterflies, more than gardens, more than anything in the whole world.”
“I love you too, my brave, wonderful daughter. More than you could ever imagine.”
We lie quietly together, listening to each other breathe and feeling safe in our little sanctuary. Through the window, the stars are starting to fade as morning approaches, but I don’t want this mont to end.
‘This is the most perfect mont of my whole life,’ I think drowsily. ‘Right here, right now, being loved by my daddy.’
“Daddy?” I murmur as sleep starts to pull back down. “Promise we’ll always be together? No matter what happens?”
“I promise, sweetheart,” Daddy whispers, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Always and forever. You’re stuck with now.”
‘Always and forever,’ I repeat in my mind as I drift back to sleep. ‘Daddy and Luna, forever and always.’
I dream about our house with the garden, where butterflies dance in the sunlight and Daddy reads stories while Mama Cordelia helps draw pictures. In my dream, there are other people there too—the family Daddy told about, all of them smiling and welcoming ho.
‘Ho,’ I think in my dream. ‘I finally know what ho ans. It’s not a place—it’s people who love you.’
And as I sleep safe in my daddy’s arms, surrounded by love I never thought I could have, I know that no matter what happens next, I’ve already had the most important thing in the world.
I’ve had a family who chose .
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