Brothers By Design
Chapter Twenty

The days started to settle into a routine. School remained boring. Kane was glad they were in the final semester, and that it would soon be over. Most of the kids, and a lot of the staff, avoided him because of what he had done to Jessica. That didn’t bother him; he was used to being avoided. He was, after all, a known trouble maker. The important thing was that nobody bothered Devin. Other than that, he couldn’t care less about what was going on at school.

Most of the stuff they were learning in the regular classes was interesting, but nothing he would consider very difficult. The hardest class he had was the Agency class with Randolph and the others. So they were Agency, or going to be when they grew up. Kane wasn’t surprised.

Maggie and William were not in the class. When Kane asked Randolph why, Randolph said it had been decided that it was too dangerous to allow them into a regular classroom with others. Even an Agency class was considered too risky.

They continued to eat lunch with Randolph and the group. Sometimes they were approached by others who wanted to be a part of their group, but those individuals didn’t last very long. It wasn’t that they were mistreated, but it quickly became obvious that they could never hope to fit in with the established group. Some lasted a full week. Most, however, gave up after their first lunch.

There were a few occasions when William showed up looking like he’d been in a very nasty fight. He wouldn’t talk about it except to say that Maggie had bandaged him and he was fine. Maggie usually made a face when he said that; Kane also noted that on those days Maggie ate very little. He asked Randolph about it and was told only that Maggie was the nurse of the group and hated it when anyone got hurt. Kane accepted this with a nod.

Only once did Kane see Maggie looking as if she had been in the middle of a fight. She had her right arm in a sling and a bandage from the wrist up, similar to the cast Devin had been wearing when they’d met. That was the worst day Kane could remember. Nobody was talking, and William was radiating an aura of pure malice. Kane found himself frightened in a visceral way of the smaller but huskier boy. Maggie recovered a few days later. Despite that, it was another week before things settled back to normal.

Most Saturday afternoons Maggie and William came to the house for further training. Kane and William worked out furious and hard. Kane noticed after a few visits that Maggie and Devin were also working out, although their training was on nowhere near the same level. William caught him looking over at them and ghosted a grin.

“Asked her ta help me get Devin more used ta physical stuff,” he explained. “Nothing like what we can do, ya understand, but somethin so’s he can at tha very least take care of himself a little if’n he needs to. Leastaways until ya can get to him to stop whoever’s...” he hesitated, “…stupid enough ta mess with ya boyfriend.”

Kane laughed. William was working on speaking “normal” so the other kids would understand him. Not because he cared that they couldn’t, but because Randolph was insisting on it. Randolph had told Kane that it was an order from High Command and from Williams “current parents.” William wasn’t that hard to understand once you got used to the weird accent.

Kane really wanted to know what the other boy had meant by the phrase “current parents,” but hadn’t dared ask. He had decided anything he was supposed to know they would make sure he knew. If they didn’t tell him, then it was something he didn’t need to know. It didn’t make him less curious. The one time he’d tried to hack into their files he’d found his computer shut down and messed up. The lecture he’d gotten from Steve had been murder.

“Anyway,” William was saying, “there’s a party coming up inna couple weeks, and we was hoping ya an’ Devin’d come. For Maggie’s birthday. It’ll be small. She gots lots a friends, as usual,” he said, sounding very sour about that, Kane noted, “but she don’t want them all coming to tha treehouse. What do ya say?”

A party? Take Devin to a birthday party? Kane reeled, his concentration off enough that William managed to get in several blows that he normally would have blocked. Luckily for him, William took his teaching very seriously. He’d shown Kane what he was capable of; Kane never wanted to see William going all out. Especially if he was on the receiving end. Not even with his enhancements. Which, with William’s help, he was learning limits and control.

William had said there wouldn’t be a lot of people. Maggie had decided to make the party small because she wanted Devin to participate. But...Devin was still very uncomfortable at school. The times they met at the park and played with the gang was better for the shy pre-teen, because everyone took such great pains to ensure he wasn’t bothered. Was he ready for something like a birthday party?

“I don’t know,” he finally said. “I don’t know if he’s ready for something like that. A strange place, strange people...when?”

“Not for six weeks. Thought we’d give ya plenty of time ta talk ta him about it. Like ah said, Maggie wants him there, so it’ll be us and ya if’n ya agree.”

“That doesn’t bother you? That it’ll be the seven of us?”

“Ya kiddin? After some of her past birthdays? It’ll be a blessing!” He didn’t say anything else, and as usual Kane refrained from asking. It was, however, something else to feed his curiosity.

“If it’s going to be us,” he said several minutes later, “I don’t see why we couldn’t make it. I’ll make sure there’s nothing else planned. Just give me the day and time.”

William said he’d get Maggie to fill him in on the details. Which was expected as well. While William tended to make the initial overtures, but Maggie took care of details or finesse. Which made perfect sense, given William’s normal attitude and behavior.

Kane approached Devin about the party that night. Assured Maggie wanted him to come so bad that she had invited no one but them, Devin agreed. Kane was surprised it took so little to convince him, but pleased to learn that Devin trusted that he would be safe.

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