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

Evan plopped the folders down with a thump then picked the one on top and handed it to me. “The documents are in chronological order according to the dates written on the folders. Here’s the file with the oldest date, so it must be the first.”
    I opened the folder and began skimming our mother’s (or Margo’s, ugh, what do I call her now?) neat script. It looked to be a journal of sorts. Except, the information she documented wasn’t about her. It was mostly about us. The first entry read:
     
    We’ve arrived unnoticed to this large ranch in Texas. The acquisition of it was done under an assumed name that I may as well keep. I’m now Dr. Margaret Winter. I’ve already got a trusted source working on creating a whole new identity for me and my children.
    And yes, they are mine now. Mine for as long as God will let me have and hold them. These three precious gifts are in my care, and I will do everything in my power to protect them from The Institute and anyone else who means them harm.
    I’ve named them. The three-year-old little girl with the soulful eyes, I named Meg. The two-year-old blue-eyed little boy, I named Alik. As for the tiny baby, I named him Evan.
    I loved them from the first moment I saw them.
    In this journal, I hope to document the changes observed because of the treatments they were already given. All three children have been branded like cattle, bless their hearts, with a symbol on their upper backs. It’s the symbol for infinity.
    ∞
    The experiment was called “The Infinite Project.” I’m sure it was Dr. Williams’ sick joke to sear that symbol onto his subjects. Baby Evan’s mark is still raw and healing.
    As for the “meta” characteristics, it’s all theory right now. Though Meg was experimented on for three years, she may show no more signs of her meta self as Alik. But Evan was given the most updated formula. The one they had perfected after all the dozens of failed trials before him.
    Any or all of them could begin to manifest their alterations at any time and in any way. But no matter what, I will love them just the way they are. And I will pray daily that our enemy’s efforts to locate us are thwarted.
     
    By the time I read the last line, my voice was cracking with tears. My mother, because that is what she deserved to be called, loved me and my brothers so much she risked her life for us. She rescued us from torture and death. And in that decision, the course of all our lives was drastically altered. And now The Institute had found her, and they were using her as bait so they could get their experiments back.
    I reached over to Alik and pulled down the back of his shirt. There it was.
    ∞
    I’ve seen this mark on my brothers and me before, but it never really occurred to me that it meant anything.
    I remember asking mom about it a long time ago. She just shrugged and said our dad wanted to give us all a small mark to help us feel connected, always. That sounded like a strange idea to me, but I never questioned anything she told us. Besides, as far as I knew, lots of kids had been given a mark that represented their families. Just one more of those things I didn’t realize was abnormal because I was secluded from the real world.
    Evan reached over and tugged down the back of my shirt. The look on his face read the same as mine, no doubt. His eyes showed more amazement than anything else. All three of us had been branded like cattle? Bizarre.
    Changing the subject, I asked, “Hey, Evan. Why didn’t you show us these documents earlier?” It just occurred to me that Evan had been sitting on these priceless documents and never let on that they were so powerfully filled with details of who we were.
    “Look at the cover, Meg.” Evan motioned to the front cover of the huge file folder. “Mom wrote the word ‘Private’ on the file. I had to respect her wishes so I didn’t read it. I just knew it existed. When mom disappeared, it occurred to me that these ‘private’