Her mouth quirked at the corners as her nose briefly touched against his. "You told Julian he was wise!?"
He winced at the reminder and kissed the tip of her nose. "Let's not ever mention that again."
She laughed as he took hold of her hand and led her toward the kitchen. Chris and Luther had cleaned Meredith's blood from the floor but Devon detected the enticing scent of it over top of the stringent chemicals. He realized that Cassie had been covered in Melissa's blood, saturated in some of the most potent blood on the planet and she had turned away from it.
He was an idiot. His hand tightened around hers as he hoped to convey this realization into her, hoped to give her strength and confidence. She turned toward him and grinned as she cocked an eyebrow mischievously. She held her thumb and index finger centimeters apart as she mouthed the words, 'Just a little."
She turned away as Gabriel tottered toward her with a donut in his hand. He lifted powder coated fingers to her and opened and closed his right hand. Her smile was radiant as she bent down and scooped the child into her arms. Barnacle was a good name, Devon decided as Gabriel wrapped one chubby arm around her neck. He continued to munch on his donut as he watched all of them.
"Nice dinner," Cassie commented dryly.
"I've never been known for my culinary expertise," Luther responded. "But I managed to keep Melissa alive."
"That's because all she eats is rabbit food," Chris muttered around the chocolate donut he was chomping on.
Devon wiped the trail of powder smeared across Cassie's cheek away. Barnacle watched him as he took another bite out of the donut. "The other children are scared of us," Cassie told him. "But I think they'll come around. Joey and Dani are talking with them now."
"Is that the best idea?" Julian demanded.
"I think they're the only ones that the children can relate to. They grew up in that town with them, neither of them trusted us at first, and they both put their misguided faith in The Commission. I still don't completely trust Joey but I don't sense any ill intent in him and I think he's doing his best to help us now."
"They have no choice but to come with us," Julian grated. "We can leave the Guardian children behind if we must, but we cannot leave The Hunter children behind with The Elders hunting them."
"We're not leaving anyone behind," Luther said.
"They'll come around," Cassie insisted as she shifted the child on her hip. "Barnacle trusts us."
"You." They all looked to the child as he grasped hold of Cassie's cheeks with his chubby hands. "I trust you."
Cassie became as still as stone as the child's gaze burned into hers. Devon had never seen anything like it, and he caught Julian's astonished look from the corner of his eye. Chris froze in the act of biting into his donut.
"Thank you," Cassie whispered.
Two tiny white handprints marked her cheeks when he released her. He held a hand out to Luther and opened and closed his fingers again. Luther hopped into action and offered another powdered donut to the tot. Luther studied the child, his eyes narrowed and his mouth pursed as he tilted his head from one side to the other.
"He is surprisingly trusting of you," Luther murmured.
"He's the child from my dream. He believes I'm an angel," Cassie explained.
Chunks of chocolate donut sprayed from Chris's mouth as he released a snort of laughter. "You most certainly weren't one of those even before you became one of the living dead."
Cassie scowled at him, but Luther's question distracted her. "This is the child that you dreamed of in the woods?"
"Yes."
Luther folded his hands behind his back as he began to rock on his heels. "I'd assumed that the child in the dream was merely a phantom to enhance your premonition, the fact that he's real changes things."
"Changes things how?" Devon inquired sharply.
"Well there's obviously some kind of connection between them. I think that you are probably related."
Cassie's mouth dropped, Barnacle continued to chomp happily on his donut. "How is that possible?" Cassie demanded.
"It doesn't have to be a close relation. I'm not saying your brother or sister, or even first cousins, but your grandmother had siblings and so did your other grandparents. He's more than likely a distant cousin and because of that genetic connection you were able to draw him in. Perhaps he was even able to reach out to you. His ability may be something similar to premonitions, or even Devon's abilities."
Cassie's mouth parted as realization set in. "No, his ability isn't like Devon's, but a distant relation probably explains why I was able to absorb his ability without touching him. When he's old enough to use his ability he'll be able to make the world seem like it's spinning out of control. But even when it was going crazy, at the center of it was I remained immobile and calm. It was really disorienting."
"A Spinner," Luther murmured. "Powerful little boy."
Barnacle wrapped his arms around Cassie's neck as he polished off the second donut. Devon was struck immobile as he gazed upon the two of them, both golden and beautiful. They would never be able to have children together but as he took in the look on Cassie's face, and the absolute trust on the child's, he felt a new love begin to form and grow.
Family, this was his family now. He'd never expected to find them, never even aspired to have a family after his own disastrous one, but miraculously he had. This beautiful woman and the people within this kitchen, the people within this house, were all his family now. He hoped that the children with Joey and Dani would grow to trust them. But if not, he still had this small piece of heaven, and he was going to do everything in his power to keep them all safe.
Movement in the doorway caught his attention as Melissa, Annabelle, and Liam emerged from the shadows. Melissa was still ashen beneath her olive complexion but he saw no hint of a bulky bandage beneath her new shirt. "How are you feeling?" Cassie inquired.
"Like I got shot with an arrow, but much better than I was an hour ago."
"Will you be up for moving tonight?" Luther asked.
"If it gets us out of this hell hole I'm up for walking there if it's necessary," Melissa told him.
"Nothing that extreme," Julian assured her. "You'll be able to sit shotgun."
"That sounds fantastic to me."
"We'll get the other children together, hopefully Dani and Joey have made some progress with them," Luther said as he lifted his head to study the ceiling above his head.