Viktor removed his coat and draped it across his bag. “We’ll wait for Christian.”
Claude walked up with an armload of bottled drinks. The boy grabbed an orange soda, and the girl took a grape. They both sat together in an oversized seat to Blue’s left.
Claude drifted toward the blonde and bowed his head. “I won’t harm you, female.”
I didn’t need his keen nose to see that she was afraid of him. She refused to look up and kept staring at his brown shoes.
Claude examined his inventory and offered her a bottle. “I bet you like root beer.”
“I just want water,” she replied softly, her accent surprisingly Southern. It was so heavy that I had no trouble imagining she’d grown up in the backwoods of Tennessee.
“Are you sure? Whatever you want is yours.”
The pixie-like girl took one of the bottles and escaped to my table and sat across from me. She set her drink on the table and took out a tissue to blow her nose. “I have a stupid cold. Usually it’s allergies, but I’m pretty sure this one’s a cold because my throat kinda hurts.” After she blew her nose, she wadded up the tissue and left it on the table. “I have a sensitive nose.”
I tapped my finger on the table, eager to ask all kinds of questions. Like who the hell were these kids, and why were we transporting what I could only assume were Relics?
Christian finally returned, his sunglasses still shielding his eyes.
“You can take those off now,” Claude said, offering him a bottle of water.
“Unless you want to close the drapes, I’ll be leaving them on.” He strode up to Viktor and lowered his voice. “I checked every car. It’s all clear. No Vampires.”
Viktor nodded. “My contact assured me that no tickets were sold to Breed for this trip, but you can never be too sure. A Mage or Chitah we can deal with, but not a Vampire with prying ears. This train was not soundproofed.”
Blue peeled off her socks and rubbed her foot. “Are you going to tell us what’s going on?”
Viktor pivoted and held the posture of a general. “Our assignment is to protect these children with our lives and transport them to a new location.”
Blue looked at the boy to her left. “¿Cómo se llama?”
The boy screwed the top back on his drink. “I don’t speak Spanish. Do you speak Indian?”
She frowned. “No.”
“There you go.”
Blue stood up. “I don’t speak Indian because I’m not from India. And technically speaking, that would be Hindi or another language. I’m Native American, so make sure to get your geography right before opening your mouth. It’s respectful to speak to new friends in their mother tongue, and I wanted you to feel welcomed.”
The girl poked him in the stomach, and he winced. “We’re originally from Mexico,” she explained, “but they brought us here when we were babies. We’re as American as you.”
“I doubt that. Eventheyaren’t as American as me,” she said, gesturing to the rest of us.
“Well, you know what I mean.”
Blue didn’t take shit from anyone, including smart-mouthed teenagers.
Viktor accepted a bottle of water from Claude and guzzled it before setting it down. “This is a high-risk job, and that is why every step of our trip has been carefully orchestrated. These three young people are Potentials. Do you all understand the meaning?”
A bottle slipped from Claude’s arm and struck the floor, and he looked dumbfounded. “Are you serious? I’ve only heard of their existence among ancients, but that was from the drunkards at the bar who reminisce too much.”
The girl across from me sipped her water and then wiped her wet hands across her beige shirt, an anime cat printed on the front.
Viktor groomed his beard with one hand. “For most, Potentials are a myth. They are an arcane Breed in which few believe. Potentials who have chosen to live as Breed do so quietly, and we have taken care to keep their existence a secret.”
“So what makes them special?” I asked.
“They are humans who have the potential to become any Breed they so desire. Once they choose, they will stay that way for as long as they live. If they do not choose, they will live and die as a human. For years, secret organizations have sought to locate these children and protect them. Some doctors are able to identify them in hospitals, but we do not have insiders at every location. They are easier to find in orphanages, and some are discovered later in life. Children and young adults are prime targets. It is unlikely that nefarious men would find any interest in a married man with a family.”
