“Batman!”Olivia shouted, abandoning her breakfast as Penn descended the stairs. He was wearing the clothes I’d brought him last night.
“Hey, Olivia.” He bent slightly as if he could anticipate the moment she’d launch into his arms. He caught her effortlessly. “But I’m not Batman, silly.”
She laughed and wiggled as he carried her back to the table. As he put her in her chair, he smiled at me.
“Morning, Penn. Did you sleep well?”
“Very, actually.”
“Are you in any pain?” Rita handed him a plate with bacon, eggs, hash browns, and sausage.
“Uh, no.”
“You don’t have to be a tough guy, Penn. You’ve been burned, torn up with glass, bleeding knuckles, and whatever is going on with your neck there.” He covered the bite mark I’d made with his hand.
He took the plate and sat, snickering. “No, I’m serious I…” He stopped as if he wanted to say something but suddenly thought he shouldn’t.
“You what?” I sipped my orange juice, my gaze never leaving his face.
His shoulders dipped almost in defeat. “Just, I don’t…” He stared at his plate, his cheeks turning red.
“Penn, what is it? You can tell us.” Rita was beside him and gently squeezed his hand. I wished I were next to him to do the same.
“Okay, I…I’m a freak. A monster, I guess you could say.”
Rita’s eyes widened, and at the same time Dean said, “Why would you say that?”
He glanced at me but wouldn’t hold eye contact. “I have a condition…really, it’s a gene mutation thing. I was born with it.”
“Like the X-Men?” Matteo asked as he chomped on his bacon.
“Don’t talk with your mouth open,mijo,” Rita huffed.
“No, but I thought maybe I was when I found out. I never knew what was wrong with me…my parents put me up for adoption when I was five, said I was weird, unnatural or something. But it was Tenny. She was determined to figure out what was going on with me.”
“And what was going on with you, Penn?” My breakfast was abandoned, all my attention on the vulnerable man at the end of the table.
“I don’t feel fear or pain. Never have. I can understand it in the sense that if Olivia, Matteo, or Owen were afraid, I could see it in their expressions, but I can’t relate. It’s super rare, and I think like maybe four other people in the world have this. It made growing up difficult, but Tenny was a godsend.”
“Tenny—you mentioned her a few times, was she like your aunt or something?” Rita poured Penn some orange juice, which he gulped down.
“No, we weren’t blood related. She worked at Sunrise House. She stuck by me as soon as I arrived, and passed away a few years ago from cancer.”
“My mommy died,” Olivia’s voice was barely a whisper. “I was three. I don’t member her a lot, but I have her hair.”
Penn smiled softly at her. “I’m sorry, little one.”
“This explains a whole lot, actually.” Dean released a breathy laugh. “Like so much.”
Penn couldn’t seem to make eye contact with anyone, and I didn’t like that even a little. “Hey.” I smacked the table, and hemet my gaze. “You’re not a freak or a monster. Believe me, I know monsters, and you’re anything but.”
“I don’t know many monsters who would run into a burning building, or cover someone’s body with their own to protect them.” Once Penn had been in his room last night, I’d told Rita about how he’d saved me.
“Tenny always said people call others monsters because they don’t understand them.”
“I don’t fink you’re a monster, Penny.” Olivia was on the other side of Penn and rested her head on his arm. “I fink you’re so cool.”
“The coolest!” Matteo shouted excitedly, and Penn laughed.
