Wren was surprised by her behavior. Her actions, the tone of her voice, the words she was using. It all felt too good to be true.
“I doubt that will happen,” Wren said.
She nodded in acknowledgment. “Yes, I fear you might be right there. However, the reason I called you is… Well, I was hoping we could talk and see if we can come up with some ideas to prevent this from happening again.”
Wren’s jaw nearly hit the floor.
“Ideas,” he repeated in disbelief, catching Teddy’s equally shocked expression before he replaced it with that benevolent neutrality.
“Yes.” She gave them a wry smile. “I have personally put all of our personnel on immediate leave until they can all undergo thorough background checks. Various cursebreakers will be brought in to help care for the children in the interim and we willbe talking to the trainees as well, to see if anyone has been put through anything they shouldn’t have.”
Wren listened, barely able to wrap his head around it all as she laid out documents in front of them outlining the plan she had for the instructors at Nexus, the care for the trainees, the changes Nexus would be making. She had seemingly thought of everything and anything and put it all down in writing, allowing them to read it all and asking for their input.
She wrote their suggestions down. She noted the faults they found in the very institution she had been running for years. She took it all in stride.
“Wren, Teddy…” She also kept using their real names. “I am serious about this. As hard as it might be for you to believe this, I am truly sorry for what you both have been through. I am sorry for not seeing it. I am sorry for not being someone you saw as trustworthy and safe. I am sorry for taking so long to believe you, and I am sorry for allowing you to be hurt again as adults. I will never forgive myself for it, but I am hoping, with time, that maybe you will be able to.”
Wren thought for a second. His mind was rushing to places he didn’t want to visit anymore. A child taken from his family before he even knew what a family was. A little boy desperately trying to find his place among others who were all doing the same thing, just more successfully than he was.
A teenager finally fitting well with someone. Just one special someone who made the world feel like it was worth giving a chance to. A teenager so painfully in love, so tied to the other person that he crumbled to dust when they were taken away.
An adult with something akin to family, yet still feeling adrift. Missing a vital piece of himself. Wondering if he’d ever feel whole again.
Was that something he could forgive?
He turned to look at Teddy and knew the look in his eyes matched Wren’s.
Teddy had always been quicker to forgive, eager to resolve issues and keep existing in peace. But this wasn’t a simple squabble between friends. They both knew that.
“I don’t think forgiveness is in the cards for us,” Wren said finally, knowing it wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but needing to stay true to who he was and what he was feeling. “Nexus will never be anything more than a terrible memory for me.”
“Nexus gave me the one thing I care about the most,” Teddy said. “But it also took it away. I don’t know how to move past that right now.”
Gwen’s face fell, but she nodded. “I understand.”
“But I am willing to work with you,” Wren said, “to make sure nobody else ever has to go through this again.”
She brightened, sitting straighter and looking at him with hope in her eyes that he refused to let get under his skin. She was still at fault. All of her mistakes were still written clearly in a file he had stored in his mind. But Wren was adaptable, and he was goal oriented. If working with her meant keeping kids safe while they were training to do the most dangerous job their society had, then he would do it.
“I am listening,” she said.
“You said your instructors are all on leave until they’re cleared to come back?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Who will be clearing them?” he asked. “Because it needs to be someone who knows the workings of Nexus so they can spot where the issues are and how to fix them. We can’t trust someone who has never been here to truly understand how this institution runs.”
“PUMA has a decent grasp on how we operate,” she offered and Teddy scoffed in perfect synchronicity with Wren.
“PUMA has their own issues to fix,” Teddy said. “They are too corrupt themselves to be trusted with this.”
“I understand there were some issues in the Arcstead branch,” Gwen said, pursing her lips. Wren sensed the anger there. “Believe me, they are being dealt with. The Worthinghams too. But I still have faith in our departments. Cyrus, for example. You trust him, don’t you?”
Wren gave the question serious thought.
“I do,” he said, surprising himself. His circle had grown, it seemed. Without him even noticing.
“Cyrus is one of the good ones,” Teddy allowed.
