Adapt (I)

SCARLET

I knock three times on Trent’s bright red door. I take a deep breath before the door cracks open. Clark’s face appears first. I give him my biggest smile. “Hi,” I breath, waving at him. He beams at me. The door opens more, revealing Jess.

Her curls are in a bit of a disarray, but when her beautiful brown eyes see me, she smiles. “Scarlet, hi!” She moves to the side. “Come in!”

I sigh, glad that she doesn’t seem to be holding any sort of grudge at my words to Trent yesterday. I am sure that Trent had told her about my outburst. “Thank you.” I say. Stepping in and scooping up Clark. He giggles. No one picks him up like this anymore, now that he is nine, but my extra strength means that I have no problem lifting him.

“What’s been going on, buddy?” I ask Clark as I carry him to the kitchen.

He shrugs. “Nothing. Playing GTA.”

“That stuff will rot your brain.” A say in soft reprimand.

His face turns sour. “You always say that.”

I give him a bored look. “You are always playing that game.”

“Yeah, well I have nearly unlocked all of the cars now.”

“Have you thought about playing outside every once in a while?” I ask, giving a pointed look to the back yard.

He screws his nose up. “I’m nine. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

Give him a shocked look. “No. That can’t be right. You are five.”

His brow lowers, shadowing his eyes. “No!”

“Then how do you explain the fact that I am carrying you like you are five?”

His nose screws up again. He squirms, indicating that he wants to be put down. I oblige him, setting him on his feet. “I’m nine.” He growls. “Only four more years and dad will teach me to fight, just like you.” He marches off to his room in a puff.

I raise my brows at him, my disbelief not forced now.

I shake my head and I turn back to Jess, who is tending to Tamara in her highchair. Tamara is mashing up pieces of banana and smashing them into her face, most of it ending up around her mouth rather than in it. I circle and give Tamara a kiss on the top of her head. “How’s the munchkin doing?” I ask.

Jess huffs. “She still won’t eat meat. How is that even possible? I struggle to get her father and brother to eat anything but, and this kid won’t even touch it enough to throw it across the room.”

Tamara twists and gives me the cheekiest smile I have ever seen, as if to confirm Jess’s problem.

I laugh. “Karmic balance. You have a child that won’t eat vegetables, and one that won’t eat meat. They balance each other.”

She sits back in her chair. “Whatever it is, I don’t like it. I can put more salt on Clark’s vegetables to get him to eat them, but I don’t know what I can do for Tamara.” She cleans up Tamara’s mess. “It’s good to see you around, Scarlet. We have missed you.”

I go over to the kettle and start to boil water. “Yeah, I’m sorry Jess. I haven’t been a very good babysitter.” I have always tried to take care of the kids for at least a few hours a week so that Jess can have some time to herself, or her and Trent can go out on the date.

“I’m not worried about that.” She says as she runs water in Tamara’s bowl to prevent anything sticking. “We have just missed having you around. I know you train with Trent when you can, but you are a part of our family, sweetie. We love you - there is no quid pro quo here.” She gives me a look that only a mother could possess. Eyes that tell me that everything is going to be okay, and that you have a place where you belong.

I nod and look down at my feet, ashamed of my words to Trent a few days ago. “I know, Jess. I’m sorry. It’s actually why I am here. I want to apologize to Trent. I said some things yesterday that are not true and were completely out of line.”

She gives me a soft smile. “He is out in the ring.”

I give her a thank you smile. I make a green tea for me and a black tea for Trent, knowing that it is his favourite. I walk out to the shed in Trent’s yard, that houses the kick boxing ring he and I train in, and where he holds his classes.

With wrapped knuckles, Trent is throwing jabs and punches into the medium boxing bag. I can tell that he has been out here for a while. His brow is dotted with sweat. The room smells of a mixture of dust, pine scented disinfectant and exertion. It is not a pleasant smell, but I love it. It is synonymous with becoming strong and confident, and sharing some of my best memories with Trent.

He sees me enter and throws one last combo into the bag then steadies the bag. He doesn’t look at me directly, but wanders over to claim his tea.

I don’t say anything, letting him accept my token of apology before I launch into the actual apology. He takes a tentative sip to see how hot it is. Once satisfied that it is just right, he takes a bigger mouthful, then sets it on top of a stack of blocks. He starts unwrapping his hands.

“Have you found those missing girls?” He asks. I can see the hurt that my words had caused him yesterday.

I take a sip of my green tea. “We are working on it.”

“How is Boe?” he asks, his tone a little back handed.

I wrap my hands tightly around the cup, letting the burn ground me. “He is okay. Listen, Trent, I am so sorry for what I said yesterday.”

He continues to slowly peel away the wrappings on his hands. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“Yes, I do. It was out of line. You and Jess have done nothing but help me. You are the only family that I have known, and I am not going to let myself screw that up by being a brat.” I say, and take another sip, hiding behind the cup.

He looks up, his eyes soft. I am clearly forgiven. It still doesn’t make me feel better. “Scarlet, we don’t have a clue what happened to you before we found you, but it clearly wasn’t anything good. You saved my wife and newborn child when you were only nine. You don’t owe me anything.”

I give him a smile. “Trent, I am also a teenager. As much as it might annoy me, I still need parents, and you and Jess are the closest thing that I have. You saved me as much as I saved your family.”

Done with unwrapping his knuckles, he is now rolling up the wrappings. “So, are we just going to chalk this up to teenage hormones?” he asks, amusement in his tone.

I laugh a little. “Well partly. I think that I owe you some explanations.”

He sits the two neatly rolled hand wraps down and picks up his tea. “Oh yeah?”

I take a deep breath. I am not going to tell him that I am half Therian. I had bred hatred of them into Trent over the years of training. The last thing I need is for him to turn from me. “Boe had told me about my father the day that you had come over, and it had me rattled.” I sip my tea, giving myself the moment to comprise myself. “Turns out that my father was the one that had the hunters’ gene. He was apparently some high up in their hierarchy. Which is why they want to recruit me so bad.”

Trent leans against the stack of blocks. “So, you come from good stock or something?”

I shake my head and smile. Of course, that is what Trent would get from that. “I guess, but apparently they want me so bad that they don’t care if I come willingly or not.”

Trent straightens. “What, like, they would just kidnap you or something?”

I nod.

“Well, what are we going to do?” Trent asks, worry leaking into his voice.

“Boe has them at bay for now. He believes me when I say I cannot be around other hunters, so he is doing everything that he can to keep me away from there. I don’t think that he can hold them for very long, but we need to take care of the missing girls before I worry about that stuff.” I wave a dismissive hand in the air at the thought of having to deal with hunters. That is another day’s problem. “Listen, I have had to tell Caron everything. One of the... therians... got to her yesterday. I barely got there in time.”

“Oh shit, is she alright?” Trent’s face is getting more and more panicked by the minute.

I nod quickly. “Yes, she is fine. But the other reason that I came over is to ask for your help. I think that you need to come with us for this hunt. I have never done a rescue before, and neither has Boe. We know that you will be a huge help.”

“You want me to hunt?” His astonishment overrides his panic.

I nod. “This behaviour is so out of the ordinary, we need extra help.”

He picks up his hand wraps and downs the rest of his tea. “Alright, what are we waiting for?”

I suck on my teeth for a second, trying to say these next words in just the right way. “Trent, before you run into this headfirst, I want to just remind you that you have a family to worry about here. Just think about that for a second. This stuff is more dangerous than any fight you have gone into before.”

He smiles, pride washing over his face. “Scarlet, I really appreciate your concern, but do you really think that I will sit on the bench after you have finally given me the green light to help you? Do you think that Jess would ever forgive me for not helping you? Honestly, it will be good to put all of my training and trophies to good use.” He puts a sturdy hand on my shoulder. “I am going to help my eldest daughter kick some ass. It’s like a dream come true.”

I give him a bright smile. “Okay, but just don’t get mad when you find out that our first stop tonight is a bar.” I tease.

He rolls his eyes. “Do you really think that I am so naïve that I don’t know that I my seventeen-year-old is drinking?”

I bit my lip, trying to fight back the laughter. Of all of the ways that I would describe Trent, naïve is the furthest from the list.