Bayan drives, because of course he does, and no one else knows how to drive. Penny and Nua both stay home, so Ava sits in the back of the car with me and Abigala as we go to the jail. The ride is quiet, though, because Ava is typing on her phone most of the time. When she does look up to ask a question, it startles me. “What exactly did they do?”

I jump, and look at Abigala, and say, “I.” Then I say, “Like, before?”

Ava nods, and I shrug. “They, um, we took care of boys. Who had run away and were homeless and didn’t want to go anywhere because they were afraid they would just get sent back.”

“How old were they?”

“Who?”

“The boys,” says Ava, and I shrug again. “All ages.”

“Older than you? Younger?”

“Both,” answers Abigala in a whisper, and Ava ignores her. She raises her eyes at me, and I nod. “Both,” I repeat. “Some were our age, when we were growing up, some were adults.”

“But they did help underage boys.”

“Sometimes, yeah,” I answer, starting to see what she’s getting at. She nods, looking back down at her phone. I think she is in a very angry text message or email conversation, because it is constantly buzzing at her, even as she is typing back. Then she says, “They can’t sentence people to jail for following the law.”

“You have to be eighteen to marry,” says Abigala softly.

“Technically, yes,” says Ava. “If the boys at your house were under eighteen, they shouldn’t have been married in the first place. Maybe your parents didn’t do the exact legal thing by harboring them, but the legal thing would be giving them to an agency, and we have a lot of reason to believe the agencies weren’t doing much, do we. Too young, remember?”

I do. She said the same thing to her mother, the first day I met her. “But legal,” I say, and she shrugs. “The lawyer thinks we can make a case out of it. That’s how laws get changed, right? We show how they don’t work and how people have to break the law to do the right thing, and then we make the right thing the law instead.”

I exhale slowly. “They weren’t all…”

“I know,” she says with a slight smile. “But it’s a start. And the sentence the judge is recommending is an abuse of power on a whole other level, I can get them out of that.”

The car slows to a stop. I wonder briefly how Bayan knows where the downtown jail is before Ava throws open the door and rolls out of the car, and Abigala follows, and I follow her. Ava leans into the passenger side window to talk to Bayan for a brief moment, and then turns to me and claps her hands and says, “Alright. Let’s go.”

We follow her inside. Bayan has parked in front of a gate, and it creaks open as we approach. The building behind it is big and grey and ominous and I am nervous, I have been nervous the whole car ride down, but someone comes out to meet us as Ava brings us towards the jail. It’s a woman, and she gestures Ava in, and she says, “It’s late, I thought you would wait until tomorrow, at least.”

“My husband wanted to come,” says Ava with a smile, and the woman smiles too, and looks at me, and holds out her hand. “Hey, I’m Anna. I used to work with Nova.”

“Who’s Nova?” murmurs Abigala. No one answers and she does not care enough to press. Anna leads us down the hallway, there is a big desk at the end of it that we’re going to, and Ava says to me, “Anna is your parents’ lawyer.”

“Is she good?” I ask, and Anna laughs. “I hope so. Here. Ava and I have a few things we need to figure out.”

There are a few chairs across from the desk. It must be a waiting room. Abigala and I sit down, and we wait. Ava goes into an office with someone wearing a uniform, and Anna goes with her, and Abigala and I wait.

And wait.

We do not talk. There is nothing to say. Somewhere on the other side of any of these walls could be our mom and dad and we are so close and we do not want to ruin it, we do not want to jinx it, we do not want to breathe a word unless it would jeopardize the whole thing, so we sit, and wait.

And wait.

I watch the clock on the wall. The minute hand moves, the hour hand moves, Abigala leans her head on my shoulder and closes her eyes but I know she does not sleep. We have had nights like this before. Usually it is when Mom or Dad does not come home when they are supposed to. Usually it’s Mom. Dad would tell us to go to bed but we would not listen and he would not press; he would just sit with us on the couch, an arm around each of us, and open a book in his lap. He would not read; he would watch the clock just like I am doing now. I would turn a page every so often but I would not be able to read much, neither would Abigala, she would close her eyes but she would not sleep, not until Mom came home, and every time this happened she would be exasperated that we waited up for her again, of course she was coming home, she would always come home, we didn’t have to wait for her every time. But every time we waited.

And we wait.

The first person I see in hours other than Abigala is the lawyer again, Anna. It is now the early hours of the morning, and we have just been sitting here, and when she comes back into the waiting room Abigala opens her eyes, and then pushes herself to her feet. Anna smiles, and she does not say anything either, but she gestures to a door. We go through it, and another, and one more, and then Anna uses what looks like an ID card to open one last door, and finally finally finally, for the first time in months, in a year, I see my parents.

I bury myself in my father’s arms. He’s shaking, I can feel him pressing kisses to the top of my head, and then I feel my mother, too, she’s reaching out for me, and my dad goes to Abigala, she is crying a little, and I wipe at my eyes too. My parents, my parents are here, Ava found me my parents, Ava got me Abigala and she got me my parents, she did it, she said she was going to do it and she did it.

“Hey, baby,” says my dad softly, he’s talking to Abigala, he reaches out for her, and my mom takes my hand and hugs me again. And then we sit, they were sitting in two hard chairs around a table and there are two more, this looks like an interrogation room from one of Ava and Penny’s police dramas, and my mom runs her fingers over the ring on my left hand. “Abbie.”

“Mom,” I say softly, my voice catching. Her eyes are full of concern. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“They raided the house,” I say softly. “They arrested you. They took the boys back.”

“Back,” whispers Dad, he has tears in his eyes and I haven’t seen him with a beard in years, and I look at Abigala. She shrugs, she wasn’t there, she doesn’t know what happened, she knows other things that happen and I wonder if my parents know about that, about her, but I have to tell them what I know now. “We got everyone who was of age out in time. So by the time they got to us in the back room it was just me and the underage boys. So…”

“Abbie,” says Mom again, now she grabs onto my finger with the ring, and I take a breath. “She chose me, in exchange for everyone else getting sent somewhere safe. Not back to their wives or to an agency. Because they were underage.”

“You,” says Dad. “Who?”

“You’re married,” says Mom softly, and I smile, and then I laugh, and Abigala stands up, running her fingers through her hair, but I ignore her. “I’m okay, Mom, I promise, I’m okay. My wife.”

Dad winces.

“My wife chose me because she knew I was eighteen and she had the rest of them put into homes, safe homes, not agencies.”

Mom sighs, leaning back in her chair. She lets go of my hands. “Where’s your wife now?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“In the other room with the lawyer, trying to get you out of here.”

Mom and Dad’s eyebrows go up. “Really,” says Dad softly. “Are you sure?”

“Oh, god, Aber,” says Abigala. Mom shakes her head. “You stayed?”

“Yes,” I say softly. “Actually, I went to her, again, I looked for her, because she died, but she didn’t actually die, but, that doesn’t matter, okay.”

“It does,” whispers Mom, and Abigala opens her mouth to say something else, but then the door opens again, and Anna pokes her head in. “Abigala. We need to talk to you.”

God, what do they need to talk to her about, I don’t know and right now I don’t care, she gets up and she follows the lawyer out of the room and as soon as the door is closed again they turn their attention right back to me. I look at them, and Dad takes a deep breath. “Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Are you in danger?” asks Mom.

“No.”

“Are you clean?” asks Dad. I open my mouth, and then take a breath. My mother’s eyebrows knit together, and she leans forward. “Aber.”

“Abbie,” says Dad softly, and I shake my head, biting my lip, and then say, “No.”

“You stayed with her,” says Mom softly, her eyes full of concern, she reaches forward for my hands again, and I smile, and I shake my head. “Mom, no, it’s okay, I promise.”

“Aber,” says Dad, I haven’t heard my parents say my name in a year and now they are here and they are worried for me and I’m sure they have been worried about me the whole time we’ve been apart but about this, this was one thing they didn’t need to be worried about. “You stayed with Mom, Dad.”

“I chose your mother.”

“And you love her,” I say softly. Mom’s fingers squeeze around mine. “You love this woman? Who took you from your home and forced you to marry her?”

“It was more her mother who did all that,” I mutter, but they don’t seem to hear. Dad gets up out of his chair again and comes around to hug me, and I stand to hug him again, and I feel him shake slightly. “Oh, my god, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I whisper into his shoulder. “Yeah, Dad, I promise I’m okay. I promise.”

“Oh god, thank god,” he murmurs, and I smile, and gently pull away from him. “Oh, god, you too, I missed you guys, I was trying to get back to you and to find Abigala the whole time, and Ava-”

“Ava, Ava LeGatte, you know Ava LeGatte?” asks my father, and my jaw drops. “I-”

“With everything her mother did,” my mother starts to say, and then the door opens again, and Abigala comes running back in. This is chaos, I can’t think straight, but then Ava appears in the doorway as well, and everything is clear when I see her. She smiles slightly, at me, and then at my parents, and she says, “You’re free to go.”

“Oh, my god,” I whisper, and I go to her and I wrap her up in a hug. She seems a bit surprised, but she hugs me back, and then I let go of her and turn back to my parents. “Mom.”

Her mouth is open. Abigala’s got a look on her face that I can’t quite read, and my dad looks in between Ava and I. “Aber, Ms. LeGatte has visited us a few times, we’ve been working out the details with her for a few weeks.”

Mom elbows him in the ribs. “Addis.”

“You’ve visited my parents?” I say to Ava in shock, and my mother steps forward. “You’re married to our son?”

“Well, now that we’re all caught up,” mutters Ava, pushing a lock of hair out of her face. “Listen, I am their next contact, okay, the office reached out to me when the case was moving forward.”

“Why you?” I ask in disbelief, and she shrugs. “They’re my parents-in-law.”

“They’re my parents.”

“Yes,” says Ava with a slight smile. “And you’re married.”

“Well, what about me, then?” says Abigala before I can even respond to that. “Why didn’t I know about them?”

“Mm, that is a good question,” says Ava, flashing her a grin, “and the answer is that I outrank you. Addis, Ane, would you like to go home?”

“Ava,” I say softly. “You’ve seen them? How many times have you seen them?”

“A few,” answers Ava after a moment, and I exhale sharply. “You’re only telling me now?”

“You visited us how many times and you never told us you were married to our son?” repeats my mother, I have only seen her this upset a few times in my life and it’s a stark contrast to how relieved she was just a few minutes earlier. Ava sighs, and waves her hands in the air, and says, “Yeah, and this is why. Okay, it is three in the morning and I just bailed you out of jail and we should go home.”

“That was like, a million dollars,” says Dad, and Ava nods. “Yeah, I know, you people are a huge threat to society. So come on, then, and let’s go back to my house before I change my mind about the invitation.”

“Wait, what does that mean?” I say, grabbing Ava’s hand. “That you bailed them out.”

“I’m responsible for them,” says Ava, “while they stay under my roof.”

“And we’ll be staying under your roof?” says Mom. Dad grabs her hand too, but Ava just smiles slightly. “It’s a pretty big roof.”

“No matter how picturesque I’m not sure I want to stay in Lilly LeGatte’s lair,” says Mom cooly, and Ava shakes the hair out of her eyes. “Lilly LeGatte is dead, and her daughter is married to your son.”

“Ava,” I say softly. Her fingers squeeze mine, and Mom looks down at our hands, and her nostrils flare, and there are so many thoughts in my head right now that I feel like I am about to explode. “Mom. Please. Let’s go home.”

“With her?” says Dad incredulously, gesturing with his chin towards Ava. “She’s home?”

“Yes.”

Dad looks at Mom. He squeezes her fingers too, and we go home.

Bayan is waiting in the car by the gate. Ava says goodbye to Anna and says they’ll talk soon, and my parents hug her too, she is their lawyer, and then we pile into the car. Abigala rests her head on our dad’s shoulder and I sit next to Ava and I feel Mom’s eyes boring into me, and then into Ava, and then back into me. Ava did not tell me that she has met my parents before, has spoken to my parents before, has been figuring out the details with my parents for the past few weeks, how could she not tell me that, and her phone buzzes. She sighs, pulling it out, and I say softly, “Are you in trouble?”

She grins a little, not looking up. “Nothing I can’t handle. I just have a few more things to do when we get home.”

“It’s three am,” I say. “We’re all going to bed when we get home.”

Dad raises his eyebrows but doesn’t say anything, and Ava laughs. “You’re finding a room for your parents and then you’re going to bed and I’ll come to bed when I’m done.”

“You always do this,” I say, and Mom scoffs. She is still looking at me and Ava and I don’t know what to do about it. I look back at Ava, and she smiles, and then when we get home we do what she says because don’t we always.

Nua is asleep by the time I finally crawl back into bed in Ava’s big bedroom, but he wakes up when I move the bed. He yawns, and rolls over, and says, “What time is it?”

“Three twenty-one,” I say, glancing at the clock. He groans, but then opens one eye and looks up at me. “Did you see your parents?”

“I did,” I say softly, and then I smile and I lean over and I press my face into his shoulder. “They’re here, we brought them home.”

“Oh, Aber,” whispers Nua as I fall on top of him, and he leans his head against mine, wrapping his arms around me. “Oh, that’s so good, that’s so good.”

“They’re here,” I say again. “She got them out and they’re safe and they’re here.”

Nua nods, I can tell he’s smiling, and then I yawn, too.

He laughs a little, adjusting himself a little. “Where is she?”

“Work.”

“How?” he mutters, and I shrug. “I don’t know. But it’s probably a lot of work, isn’t it, she, she, she brought them home.”

“Yeah,” says Nua softly. “You knew she would.”

“Yeah,” I whisper. I close my eyes, but I do not sleep. I wait. This time it is not too bad, the waiting, because I am with Nua and I am waiting for Ava, and I know that she will come, eventually, she has to come back sometime.

It is less than an hour when she comes back to us, and she comes in quietly through the bathroom, she must have been with Abigala and went with Abigala back up to Nua and my’s room where she has been sleeping. Ava tiptoes up to the bed, but I open my eyes, and she sighs, and smiles. “You should be asleep.”

“You should’ve come to bed sooner,” murmurs Nua, he’s still got his eyes closed, and Ava laughs in exasperation, shrugging off her sweater. She crawls into bed too, sliding between us, and Nua pulls the covers out for us. She yawns, and I roll over to face her, putting my arm under the pillow. “Ava.”

“Aber.”

“For real,” I ask softly. “Are you in trouble?”

She smiles small, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “For real. Nothing I can’t handle.”

I smile too, and finally she betrays a yawn, wiggling under Nua’s arm. “They’re all set up?”

I nod. “They’re in a bedroom, the big guest room, they’re good.”

“Good,” says Ava softly. “And Anna is a good lawyer, she’s done cases like this before. Well, not exactly like this, but, it’s gonna work out.”

“Thank you,” I whisper, and she examines me for a moment, her lips curving into a slight grin, and then raises her hand. She gently touches my cheek, stroking my chin as she pulls her hand back, and says, “Of course, darling.”