Free Winter's Awakening: The Metahumans Emerge (Winter's Saga #1) by Karen Luellen

minute. Who has her? And bait for what?” I was trying to keep it together, to keep from bursting into tears. The more I focused on the details and kept this at a business level, the more I could help. At least, that’s what I told myself.
    “The Institute has her. My guess is it’s all being handled by Dr. Williams himself. Williams is the Chief Executive Officer of The Institute and he’s been looking for Margo for many years now. As for the bait, well they’re holding her because they really want to get you.”
    “Me? What do they want with me? I’m just a kid!”
    “They want you and your brothers. And no, you are not just regular kids. But you know that, don’t you? I mean, you have to have realized by now that you’re different.” He looked earnestly into my eyes but all he saw was confusion and pain. “She never told you? Any of it? You don’t know who you are?”
    “What are you talking about?” I was honestly confused, and my heart hurt so much for my mom being held against her will. It was hard to concentrate on what he was saying to me.
    “Let’s get the boys. They need to hear this too. It’s time you three heard the truth.”
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 22 The Truth
     
     
    Everyone gathered in the living room. The boys looked scared, and I imagined I did too. Alik, Evan and I sat together on the sofa. Cole sat on the floor close enough to my legs that I could feel his warmth. He was trying to be supportive, and I appreciated him for it.
    Michelle sat next to Dr. Andrews looking slightly bored. That woman was annoying me more and more by the minute.
    “Okay, I’ll tell you what I know, but I don’t know everything. Margo and I attended medical school together. She was there on military scholarship and I was working two jobs trying to put myself through medical school and take care of my wife and young son.” He stopped and looked at Cole with absolute love in his eyes.
    “We were assigned to each other as lab partners one semester and were immediately great friends. My wife, Cole’s mom, Jenna loved Margo too. She would often come spend time with me and my family outside of school. Margo was like your aunt, Cole,” he added with a nostalgic smile on his face.
    “I was so exhausted from my studies and work that it wasn’t unusual for me to lean on Margo to help me through a class. She was a true friend, honest and loyal. I couldn’t have graduated without her.
    “After graduation, her military superiors asked her to stay on though her contract was up. Margo declined their offer. She was determined to get to work on her real goal.
    “See, Margo had grown up with a sister who was autistic. She loved Becca so much, but the autism made it so she could never be close to her. Just when she’d get a glimpse of who Becca was she would slip back into her world and leave Margo with a shell instead of a sister. She swore to herself that she would do anything she could to help find a cure for autism.”
    I had so many questions for Dr. Andrews now, but I feared interrupting. I was afraid he would stop telling me the answers to everything I’d always wondered about. Mom never told us anything about her past, her family or her dreams before us. The few times I had asked, she would hug me and say, “This is all that matters, Meg. My world didn’t matter until I had you.” So I bit my lip and listened to his words.
    “We were hired by a company called The Institute for Neurobiological Studies but everyone just called it The Institute. They had us both in research and development. Margo was brilliant and had a determination that was mistaken for ambition. She was promoted. The project she was assigned to was beyond my clearance level so I didn’t know details. I just knew the name: The Infinite Project.
    “On the day she was given her first tour of the facility housing her new assignment, she called my voicemail and left a panicked message. She asked me to meet her at a coffee shop where we