It’s already dark out when we get back to the compound, but Corina’s waiting for us at the end of the Long Hall anyways. I’m so busy working to keep the email I got in Vegas off the psychic wallpaper that when she hugs me I almost give us away because I’m so happy to see her.
“Welcome back, guys.” She leaves my hug and steps into Damon’s. I can’t tell what he thinks, but I make sure to step out of the hallway and onto the patio before turning around to watch them.
Paul comes out from the commons, sees me, and waves. “How was the sun?”
“Hot.”
“Must’ve been nice,” he says, then pulls me in for a hug. It’s good to see him. It’s good to be home. “I barely remember the sun.”
“I’m glad to be back here in the great gray gloomy, anyways.” The email didn’t say anything about Paul.
“You sure are,” he says and smiles. “I bet you’re hungry, too.” He tugs at my sleeve. “I’ll debrief you in the kitchen.”
There’s somebody new at the table—a kid, younger than me and smaller. He eyes us when we come in. He looks scared and I don’t like him on sight.
“Billy, this is Alex,” Paul tells him. “Alex, this is Billy Williams—he just started this morning.”
“Hey,” I say to him before I walk over to the cat carrier. I don’t want to be mean, but for some reason the kid bothers me.
“Alex is a very nice boy who is just tired from a long trip,” Paul says behind me. “Pay him no mind.”
I start to get mad at Paul, but I can’t. He’s right. It just feels weird having things be different here. It needed to stay the same.
Back at the table with a burrito, I tell Paul what I can about the trip, which isn’t much. Billy watches us talk and I start to feel bad for him because I remember what it was like when I first started, so I ask him some questions.
He’s from Idaho. His mom and dad died and he went into foster. He’s seventeen, which surprises me because he looks twelve.
I tell him about my folks and then we talk about LA for a while because he’s always wanted to go there.
By the time we go to bed I’m feeling really good about everything and the warnings from the email and my Voice feel distant and wrong, like things that I can ignore.
But I still fall asleep thinking about how my aunt sounded on the phone.