Boran watched them go.
Then he looked at Elara.
She was standing exactly where she had been — arms at her sides, eyes somewhere else entirely. He looked at her more carefully this time. They had just finished training. Everyone around them was drenched.
Elara wasn't sweating. Not a single drop. She was breathing slightly harder than usual, but her skin was completely dry.
Boran stared at her for a moment.
"You seem to be gifted," he said.
Elara said nothing.
He looked at her for another second, then looked away.
Right.
In the game room, Mayex slammed his hand on the table.
"Just HOW do you keep winning?!"
"I'm just that good," Adam said pleasantly.
"You're not just that good — no one is just that good — you have to be cheating somehow—"
"I'm not cheating."
"You ARE—" Mayex stopped. Something had just registered. "Wait. Hold on."
Adam raised an eyebrow.
"You can speak my language," Mayex said. "How?"
"I learned it," Adam said. "Why?"
"Because—" Mayex looked at him properly. "You don't look Arab."
"I know that," Adam said, completely unbothered. "I'm a ginger. But I'm still Arab — just different."
"Okay but then how do you speak English too?"
"I learned it."
Mayex stared at him.
"You are really getting on my nerves with that tone."
"You seem to be gifted," Adam said, smiling.
A voice came from behind them.
"You seem to have forgotten your partner."
They both turned.
Melon Violet stood in the doorway, one hand loosely holding Elara's. Her expression was pleasant. Her eyes were not.
Mayex looked at Elara, then back at Melon, understanding approximately nothing that had just been said.
Adam straightened immediately.
"Oh — sorry! We were kind of in a hurry—"
Melon wasn't looking at Adam. She was looking at Mayex. Directly, without blinking, for long enough that it became uncomfortable.
"You will learn English," she said. "Everyone will. I hate when someone can't understand a word I say."
Mayex looked at her face, then at Adam, then back at her, with the expression of someone who understood the tone but not the content.
Then he noticed the figure standing just behind her.
A man — or maybe a boy, it was hard to tell — roughly Melon's age. He wore a mask that covered his face entirely. He hadn't made a sound when they entered. He was simply there, still, like he had always been in that exact spot.
Melon noticed Mayex noticing.
She smiled.
"Curious about him~?"
She glanced back at the masked figure with something close to affection.
"He's my right hand. He's very good at his job." She tilted her head. "He would be the last thing you ever saw, if you ever thought about betraying us~"
She said it the way someone mentions the weather.
Adam did not move or speak.
Mayex stood there with a polite, confused expression, understanding none of it.
"Anyway," Melon continued. "I will be training all of you personally. Every single one. Missions come after training — it will be a long time yet." She paused. "Oh — and the four of you will eventually be transported to Germany. After training is complete. You'll be on my team."
She looked at all three of them.
Mayex, Boran, and Adam stared back at her, dazed.
"Don't leave your partner alone again," she said.
Then she let go of Elara's hand and left. The masked figure followed without a sound.
"Whatever — you still cheated," Mayex said.
"I didn't," Adam said.
"You did. Nobody wins that many times in a row without cheating."
"Smart people do."
"I swear—"
Something walked into his leg.
Mayex looked down.
A girl — very small, maybe four years old — had tripped directly into him and was now sitting on the floor, looking up at him with wide, unbothered eyes. He looked down at her. She looked up at him.
"…What's your name?"
He studied her for a moment.
"Damn. You're younger than me. I thought I was the youngest one here."
The girl's face split into the biggest smile he'd seen since Syria.
"Benny!!!"
"Oh!" His whole expression changed. "What a wonderful name!"
Benny grabbed a toy from the floor and held it up toward him with both hands.
"Play with me!!!"
"Sure, why not?"
He sat down on the floor without another word and started playing with her.
Boran, Adam, and Elara stood a few meters back and watched.
"He really just does that with everyone," Adam said.
"Apparently," Boran said.
A short silence.
"Boran."
"Yeah."
"I saw you the other day," Adam said, his voice casual in a way that didn't quite reach his eyes. "You were staring at that wanted poster. The red haired girl." He paused. "Do you know her?"
Boran didn't answer immediately.
He hadn't seen the question coming. That almost never happened.
"Kind of," he said. "I never spoke to her. But I saw her once — running. Fast. Like she was running away from something." He paused. "When I saw the poster it connected. But that's all."
Adam looked at him for a moment. Something in his expression shifted — not quite disappointment, but close to it.
"Why?" Boran said. "Do you know her?"
Adam was quiet for a second.
"Yes."
He didn't add anything. Boran waited.
"All I'll say," Adam said quietly, "is that she isn't normal."
He left it there.