As it turned out, Lyra’s cooking was surprisingly edible. Finn hadn't known what to expect, given what he had learned of her past last night. The taste was actually decent though, even if the vegetables were cut into rough chunks.

It also occurred to him that they were basically eating a rather heavy dinner course for breakfast, but he was too hungry to care, since his body demanded a lot of nutrition to heal under the influence of Radi’s power.

The glowing effect made it clear why going home was a non-option for him right now; in addition to the light periodically coming from his stomach, which might have been manageable with creative use of his power, he also had the fatigue to worry about. And he couldn't maintain his power while unconscious. Not yet.

So that left him stuck here, at Lyra's table, in an apartment she must have acquired through dubious means, bringing spoonfuls of food into his mouth one after the other. While he normally might have had more reservations about eating at Lyra's place, the hunger pangs his body was currently going through quickly washed those away. And maybe it also helped that the girl opposite him was in the exact same situation, already scooping full another plate for herself.

Jack watched on in silent amusement as he watched the two of them eat, still working on his first plate while they were already on their fourth serving.

Finn wondered whether this was an attempt at a recipe or if Lyra simply improvised with what she had in her kitchen cabinets. But either way, it was surprising. She seemed to be acclimating fairly well to having her own place. He was certain many other kids their age wouldn’t be able to handle that many responsibilities.

Though he wasn't particularly concerned with what other teenagers did unless he had to be, they did serve as a point of reference for behavioral norms when he was interacting with one. And Lyra was certainly proving to be nothing like what he had expected. Then again, he didn’t know much about her past. And he wouldn’t for some time unless he prodded Jack for information later.

Or he could just ask her.

Right when he was thinking of what to say, however, Lyra finished another plate and glanced back and forth between him and the kitchen, the silent question not needing to be spoken. He nodded and she moved to get more, but Jack stopped her and reminded her that she should let her leg rest, then went to the kitchen himself. He noticed she and Jack were about the same height.

Finn didn’t know how much food Lyra had stored, and he also didn’t know how much nutrition the healing process required for his injury. It would be inconvenient if she ran out.

When his friend returned, he only carried one plate, which he gave to him. With a glance at Lyra, it was obvious that she was full. He supposed that made sense, considering his injury would be harder to heal than hers, but it did leave him as the only person at the table eating. While that made it somewhat awkward, he didn’t care too much at the moment.

Eventually, Lyra said, “Is the food… good? I cooked it in a rush, but I hope you’re not just eating it because of the cravings from your, ah, concussion that’s still healing.”

“I would’ve eaten this either way,” Finn replied after swallowing a bite. That wasn’t entirely true, but he certainly wouldn’t have declined because of her lack of cooking experience. The food itself was fine.

“He’s right, it’s good,” Jack added. “Did you learn to cook at home?”

“Oh, well, kind of? I never really made a deliberate effort to learn, but I picked up some stuff from my mother whenever she…” Lyra fell silent, her gaze drifting towards her lap.

“That’s already a lot more than me,” Jack said. “More than Finn too,” he continued with a small laugh.

The fork paused halfway up to Finn’s mouth. “You’ve never seen me cook.”

That only made Jack laugh harder. “Yeah, right. As if. No way you’re making a decent lasagna; I’d sooner expect you to blow up an oven.” Then he leaned over to Lyra while pointing a thumb at Finn and saying with a too-loud whisper, “This guy’s lucky he always has his mom cooking for him. Apexia’s streets might be safer with him around, but her cooking appliances definitely aren’t.”

And Finn himself sat there, simultaneously amused and the slightest bit offended, as he often did when they had dinner together. Until he noticed Lyra’s expression, that was. There was a slight smile on her face as she looked at him from between her hair curtain.

“Is that… true, Finn?” she asked.

Finn stared at her, deadpan. “What do you think?”

“Right, sorry, I…” She hesitated. “I should have asked this before, but do you have any favorite foods your mother makes for you? I was so hungry earlier that I just went for something I knew I would like, but if you could maybe tell me what you like, then, uhm, next time…”

He raised an eyebrow. “Next time?”

She raised her hands defensively. “I shouldn’t assume you’d want to come over again. Not that you aren’t welcome, but if we ever have another emergency on our—”

“Lyra,” Jack interrupted. “He’s just messing with you.”

After a beat, the girl straightened. “...Oh.”

Swallowing another bite, Finn decided to answer the original question. It was hard, though, for some reason. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d talked about his tastes in anything to anyone besides Jack. Save for that one odd conversation with Aiden Wardell.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

When it came to food? He wasn’t a picky eater, but he also didn’t have many preferences. So he had to think of something.

“Lemon cake,” he said after a few moments. “It’s refreshing and… sweet.”

“Isn’t that a dessert?” Lyra responded, tilting her head to the side almost imperceptibly.

“I know he doesn’t look like it, but he’s got a real sweet tooth,” Jack told her. “He’s right about the lemon cake though, his mom’s is to die for.”

Jack didn’t know just how apt that choice of words really was, because Finn had never told him about the first time he ate that cake with Mom. She hadn’t called him down for dinner or anything, he had wandered to the kitchen on his own. They had simply sat together in silence and worked on their respective slices.

It was the first time they’d had a meal together since Dad died, after all.

Ever since that day, he preferred that particular flavor over any other. And his mother had made it a habit to make it for him on all his birthdays. Which made it feel like the beginning of something new, a step forward.

Lyra mumbled something unintelligible, prompting him to look up.

“What was that?” Jack said.

“I said I’d… like to try it sometime. Maybe. If that’s okay with you,” she fidgeted in her seat.

Finn exchanged glances with Jack. What should they say here? “No, because we don’t trust you not to get our families involved in the trainwreck that is your past” sounded needlessly harsh considering her generous offer to let them stay at her house. And if they did say that, he was sure she would understand, or at least say she did. Which would make it even more rude.

Besides, it was obvious at this point that any friends she might have had before her life got uprooted were no longer in contact with her. Because they couldn’t be, after she changed her identity and moved districts.

So was it friends she wanted? That seemed likely to Finn, though he couldn’t say he’d ever been in that position himself. He had Jack, and he didn’t care to form a connection with anyone else. But now it seemed like he would have to.

Still, regardless of how much Lyra was in need of human interaction, that didn’t mean they shouldn’t continue to gather more information and act when they had a better way of ensuring her safety and their own. That was what he imagined Jack was thinking, anyway.

“Someday,” Finn ended up saying.

Lyra blinked. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Jack said, going along with Finn’s decision. “But it’ll be a few months before Finn’s next birthday, so you’ll have to wait.”

“Ah, Finn is fifteen, right?”

“Yup, I’m a bit older than him. Have you had your sixteenth birthday yet?”

“Y-yeah, I had it a few days before I got my power.”

The conversation drew out after that, with the three of them getting to know each other better, until Finn was finished.

For the rest of the day, there wasn’t much to do besides talk about their lives and discuss Aegis related business, but that already kept them busy enough.

Maybe that was to be expected, because the Venin infiltration was drawing closer, and they had yet to make a decision.

One thing was for certain. If they did take this leap, there would be no turning back.

*******

Emily Allister was at a loss.

These days, it felt like she hardly knew Finn anymore. He was in his room whenever they weren’t having dinner, and when they were, she could never get him to open up to her.

When she found that this sudden change in behavior wasn’t letting up, she had thought that her son was finally moving on from his grief.

She certainly hoped so, but that explanation didn’t account for his recent disappearances. She never noticed him leave the house, but he always left after school. Whenever she asked him about it, he would say he was exercising, or that he was with Jack.

It wasn’t like she was trying to be overbearing, she just wanted her boy to be safe. And the first step to make sure of that had been to check how he was doing in school, something he should have been making time for. If there was anything amiss, she would have a chat with the teaching staff to see what was going on.

Contrary to her expectations, the answer turned out to be nothing. Or rather, nothing bad. His grades had skyrocketed. He had done better than ever before in his midterms, for reasons totally unknown to her. Jack had been helping him study, but she hadn’t expected Finn to actually apply himself.

She also knew Finn was a growing teenager, so it had occurred to her that he might be seeing someone. It wasn’t her business to pry, and she had already given him “the talk,” so it was hard to see what else she could do, if that were the case. He’d been to some party recently, no? And there was something about him dancing with a girl there, too, but she was just guessing at this point.

Even his current whereabouts were unknown to her, other than that he was somewhere with Jack. Supposedly, he would be back later today, but he didn’t elaborate further despite her texts asking him to. It made her anxious.

She supposed she just wanted him to make the right choices.

Letting him go and make his own life decisions was difficult. Emily had known that from the moment she started leaving little Finneas at the daycare when he was a toddler. But years later, life had taught her that lesson again.

Months after that government official gave them the worst news of their lives, she had moved them out of the central district, wanting to live someplace that wouldn’t remind her of… that time in their lives.

Her job at Apexia Properties was relocated to the company building in their new district, which worked out about as well as it could have, given the circumstances. She could’ve easily lived off of the retirement savings and life insurance alone, but she didn’t want to get stuck in her own head, and work really helped with that.

Finn’s placement, on the other hand, had ended up being everything he didn’t want. And it was her doing. He had been practicing combat sports in the central district, after spending so long convincing her to let him try it, and registering in a new organization would have cost her no more than a moment. But she didn’t. Instead, she had signed him up for extra school tutoring so he wouldn’t be held back a year after spending so much time away from school.

He argued he could do both, but she had refused to listen to any of his pleas, no longer wanting to enable anything that led to such a dangerous career path for her only remaining family.

“Your father is gone,” she had said. “And I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I let you make the same choices he did.”

She remembered the expression on his face. Of betrayal, of utter devastation. But he hadn’t made a sound. He had shut down completely.

A blanket of listlessness had settled over him, as if he wasn’t entirely awake anymore, just going through the motions. Upon meeting Jack, he’d slowly gotten to a point where he could function normally again, yet he’d never gone back to the person he used to be. And years later, the person who emerged from that blanket was not anyone she recognized.

In retrospect, she wished Finn had fought her more on that decision. If he’d screamed and slammed doors and stomped across the floor to get his way, that would be a sign that there was some fight left in him. That she hadn’t broken her son.

She considered that her greatest failure. Failing to notice that he was barely hanging on by a thread before it was too late. She’d been too caught up in her own loss to realize he was only putting on a brave face for her.

Hot tears trailed over her cheeks, and she wiped them away. To say she had this coming would have been an understatement in her opinion.

Despite that, this wasn’t about her. She still worried for her son. She prayed that, no matter what, Finn wouldn’t fall victim to one of the many monsters of this world.

Especially not to Omega, like his father had.