Remy walked me through the farm's hotel-like complex to the dining room. I wasn't paying attention to things at first, I was too upset and confused. Over time, however, I started to notice just how many people were present. I guess more families live here than I realized, or maybe I didn't realize how many people made up this many families.
"Elora?"
"Yeah."
"Do you. Um. Do you feel comfortable telling me what happened. You slept like all day yesterday and I just want to make sure you are okay?"
I turned my head to stare at the wall behind Remy, breaking eye contact. A single tear slid down my face.
"My... my mom and." I would barely speak, my brain was shutting down.
"I'm so sorry! You don't need to explain yourself. You don't owe me any explanation. I just want you to be happy." Remy reached out and rubbed my back gently.
"No, you don't understand. Kevin, he's in on it too." I sputtered out.
"What did Kevin do?" Remy clenched his fists.
"He drew my blood." I said, my voice was cracking.
Remy's deep brown eyes went dark with rage, like beautiful black holes sucking me in. I'd never seen him look so angry, yet his anger for me felt comforting.
Remy began to growl, much like the day we met and Justin and Roman came over to our table and sat down. Watching carefully.
"I'm going to beat the life out of him tomorrow at school!" Remy said, his voice trembling between his self control and desire and yell.
"You ain't doing nothing. Stop getting your britches in a bundle!"
"Dude, I'll be lookout."
"I said he ain't doing nothing!"
"Kevin messed with his girl, of course he's gonna do something about it."
"Yeah, nobody gets to hurt Elora and get away with it."
"Yeah we are!"
"Justin, you aren't helping! How are you ever gonna handle disputes between people peacefully if you promote violence! And Remy, you need to think about things long term. We need information to take Kevin down, not an excuse for him to throw your skinny bum in the hammer!"
"Roman, sometimes a whooping is needed. Remy we are gonna..."
"Stop. I actually agree with Roman, we need information to take them both down for good. Not instant gratification. I want my mom and Kevin to pay for what they've done to be."
All three boys looked at me, tears falling from my face but my head held high. I would not allow them to bring me down. They could hurt me, they could shake me, but they would not break me.
"I think we need to talk to an adult about all of this."
"I'm an adult." the boys said in almost perfect unison.
"I want to talk to a real adult, not someone who has turned 18, or 19 in your case Roman. Like someone who has real wisdom, not just someone who obtained the legal right to vote."
They all looked at one another, then back at me.
"Does Nolan count?"
"No!"
They looked back at each other, and then back at me again.
"How about Nolan's dad?"
"Mr. Gray? That works for me."
The boys led me through the hall and up through an elevator to the top floor of the building. After following another hallway, we entered what looked to be a very elaborate office lined with large wooden bookshelves and a matching wooden desk.
"Hi, Arthur." Roman greeted.
All three boys bowed their heads as if they were greeting a king. Boys are weird; not that I didn't know that before.
"Hi boys, hi Elora. What can I do for you all?"
"Elora wanted to talk to a 'real adult'." Roman said with air quotations.
"Smart girl. What can I help you with?"
I didn't really know what to say. I wasn't ready to rehash what had happened yet, I was barely able to share it with Remy. I looked over at him, pleading.
"Her mom and her piece of work friend drew her blood until she passed out and we don't know why. But we think her mom is behind the drug stuff happening in Gnawville. Elora also suspects that her mom killed her uncle."
Arthur stood there for a moment, silent. In this moment, he reminded me of Nolan; vulnerable yet commanding.
"This would have been nice to know sooner."
"Well we just found out about the blood drawing."
"I'm referring to her mother's connection to the events in Gnawville. We have been doing our own investigation into the events of Gnawville and that would have helped us greatly."
"Sorry."
The boys all bowed their heads again. There must be some sort of unspoken power hierarchy at play. It would make sense if Arthur's office was at the top floor of the building.
"Elora, I understand this question may come across as insensitive, but I assure you that I have the best intentions. I figure if we can answer one question, we may have a lead to help us answer the others we have about the situation. What I'm getting at is that I want to know if you would consent to a finger prick test?"
And I ran all the way to the elevator, down the hall to the room I woke up in, and locked the door. Remy presumably took the stairs down, but somehow still ended up hot on my tail, just missing the door when it locked.
"ELORA! Open the door!"
"No!"
"Please. No one is trying to hurt you. He just wanted to see if we could figure out why your mom is drawing your blood. And he asked for your consent. Nobody is going to do anything without your consent."
"Go away!"
"Elora, please!"
"No!"
"Bro, let her have some time." Roman scolded.
"No, I need to see her. I need to." Remy pleaded, his voice becoming more desperate.
"Knock it off, you're going to scare her."
I heard them get into a physical altercation and then everything went silent. I spent the next hour crying in bed, but eventually I just laid there numb. What was my life anymore?