He crossed his eyes and sighed. More than anything, he wished he could snap his fingers and get out of this place. Everything in sight promised him that he had gotten himself a whole lot deeper than he had signed up for. His luck, as usual, wasn’t the best.

The kids had been training tirelessly for months, honing their abilities through the small white rooms they were locked in. Between the bleak meals they were given and their gray jumpsuits, it made a lot more sense that they looked as dismayed as they did.

There were glimpses of the kids in them, even so. It was heartwarming in a strange way, seeing that part of them bloom when they were pushed into the courtyard.

Without the cameras in the open spaces, he had waited outside the furthest window, out of sight as he was instructed. At times he could here snippets of conversation, teasing, dreams.

That was how he had gotten to know them.

Out of the six children that had been let out of the cells, he had learned three of their names. Those three, especially, had loved when they were brought old tapes.

Between Aisling and Hugo, it was hard to tell how anyone could begin to tear them from their parents. Those kids weren’t just smart little demons, they had to be the most powerful things on the planet. That’s what made Myrcella hard to understand.

She was the oldest of the group, twelve was his best guess, and she was still the meekest of them. When Aisling resisted or bit the guards that took them in, she just stared, her eyes like a scared rabbit. Hugo had tried to fiddle with his lock about twenty times now, and each time Myrcella simply sat on her bed.

At this point he wasn’t even sure if she would run if the prison was infiltrated. Talking to the kid seemed like it wouldn’t get him anything after the first time.

Once he had seen the way she trembled when he tried to introduce himself, he had sworn to himself to help the girl. Someone so sweet couldn’t be one of the monsters the organization assured him they were.

They would escape. And officially, he would finally quit. Hopefully he could get that bonus before he left.