Birungi was the first of the new generation of Champions to greet him. Once Laurent was done marveling at the Compound, he followed a Javelain woman named Delphine to the fancy mansion that was now his new home.

Hai Yu traveled with him. Laurent assumed that traveling by plane would complicate things a bit, but instead of stepping onto a commercial airline, they got into a private jet. It felt far too prestigious to get onto it, but he supposed it made sense, considering they would be traveling to a secret location.

All of the guards had mentioned that he had so few belongings, including Delphine, who had insisted on carrying his things for him despite his protests that he was more than capable of carrying it himself.

“Your bag is very light,” she had said to him.

Laurent had had many homes growing up, and his foster families had each given him only what was required for his survival. He had some clothes. A past foster sister had made a cup for him during her art class. He had a couple of books and movies that were well-loved.

He supposed it was very little, but it had made packing easier.

When his escort, a man wearing a black suit and sunglasses that hid his eyes, had taken him home, he had decided to leave his foster family in the dark. They were told that a family member of his discovered him and decided to take him in. His foster mother had always been rather lukewarm to him, neither cruel nor loving, but she had shed a few tears for him. Everyone had congratulated him on finding his family after so many years.

An energetic girl named Dawn was the first to greet him. She told him where he could meet the other Champions who had already arrived, and around that time, Birungi descended the steps. He insisted on showing Laurent to his room, which was across the hall from Birungi’s.

The room surprised him. There were posters of the movies he had packed with him hanging on the walls. Books from the authors who had written his favorite books were on a bookshelf. It was far more personal than he had expected it to be.

“You’ll have to share a bathroom with one of the other Champions,” Birungi warned. “We’re not sure when he’ll get here, though.”

“Yes, I saw that in the reports,” Laurent said, dropping his light bag onto his bag. “They’re having some kind of trouble getting him here.”

“No one will tell us why.”

“I do hope it’s nothing terrible.”

Birungi nodded.

“Well, I suppose I should let you get settled,” he added. “It was my turn to make lunch, so I imagine Miss Charlotte would be rather upset with me if I let her make it all by herself instead.”

“Ah, so you were trying to get out of making anything, huh?”

“Not on purpose. I just lost track of time, and she usually makes it for me when I do that.”

Laurent glanced around his new room. He loved the idea of having his own space because he had always had to share his room with someone else in the past, but he was also eager to meet the others. There would be plenty of time to unpack what few things he had.”

“I’ll come with you,” he said. “See if I can help.”

Laurent followed Birungi back downstairs. They went through the recreation room, where he met some of the other Champions yelling at each other while they played video games. It was mostly Makani Manunui, who seemed rather passionate about his racing games.

Raffiela sat next to Makani on the couch. Her face grew more and paler as she inched further and further ahead of Makani's character in the game. Laurent knew it had something to do with the way the large man glowered at the screen.

Laurent followed Birungi into the kitchen. Dawn was already there, humming to herself as she helped stir a rather large salad bowl. There were a few other bowls on the counter beside her.

There was another girl at the stove--Charlotte, he remembered. Her hair was tied back into a small tail with bobby pins holding back what the tie could not. Visually, she was the opposite of Dawn, who wore brightly colored clothing while everything Charley wore was black.

Although Laurent did notice she had cute little red bows on the socks.

Charley was sprinkling a mixture of herbs on cuts of steak she had laid out on cutting boards. There was more than enough there for fifteen people--more people than was living in the house.

Both looked up at them. Dawn grinned at them, and instead of casting a harsh glare at Birungi, Charley gave them a half-hearted wave. She looked more tired than she did upset.

“Hey, Birungi. Nice to meet you, Laurent. I'm covered in cow germs right now, so I can’t shake your hands or anything.”

“It's all right,” Laurent said, leaning his elbows on the counter as he watched the girls work. “Why does Raffiela look like she’s running from a bear?”

“Is she still playing games with Uncle Makani?” Dawn asked. “He likes to threaten to throw people through things when he’s getting upset.”

“Yeah, he keeps telling me he’ll throw me into the pool,” Charley said. “Like it’s my fault he’s the worst at racing games. I’m not even that great at them.”

“There’s a pool here?” Laurent asked.

“In the gymnasium. I haven’t gone over there to see it myself.”

Dawn chuckled.

“The sad thing is that I can’t even say he won’t even throw you in there.”

“Because my God’s the Falcon. Yeah, I know. Everyone keeps reminding me.”

“It’ll be worse when Lucas gets here. He’ll get all bossy and stuff.”

Charley only shrugged her shoulders.

Dawn moved on to mix one of the other salad bowls, and Charley was ready to cook the steaks. Birungi discovered potatoes that had already been cooked and left to stay warm under some heat lamps, and he went about mashing them, mixing some other things with them.

“I could help with something,” Laurent said.

“No, it’s your first day,” Charley said. “You don’t have to make anything on your first day.”

“I don’t mind. It’s why I came down here.”

Charley looked at him over her shoulder, giving him a stern look.

Something about it was cute, Laurent decided. It must have been because she was at least a full head shorter than him.

“You can help by not telling me how bad I am at cooking.”

Laurent chuckled.

“Okay, I can do that.”

The smirk she sent his way was decidedly cuter than the stern look. Laurent found himself watching her, turning away only when he realized she was looking back at him. His face would go warm, but she never said anything to him about it.