主妇丈夫倡导的户外生活

Harker went quiet on this, his face dark. The bison kept on chewing at the distance, while the blondes hesitated on whether to interrupt or not.

Mina decided to speak out in Harker's favor. "Little girl…. Your brother didn't mean to lie to you. Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices for your family. You'll learn that when you're older. It's called a 'white lie', a good type of lying. Have you heard of that?"

Roland shook his head disapprovingly. "White lies or not, the truth always comes out eventually. Just look at what happened now, Chloe's going to have to be involved no matter what happens. And the rest would be too. It's only a matter of time."

Harker rubbed his forehead from these two opposing points. They were both valid, and he felt that confusing feeling again that he had as a child on what to do or not to do.

He closed his eyes. "Chloe…. I just want to protect you. I'm sorry if it feels like I don't trust you."

Harker put his hands on his little sister's shoulder. "But this stuff…. It ain't exactly a walk in the park. One you're in, you can't go back."

"And I'm already in this, ever since I've read Mom's journal. Ever since I saw what I saw." She said firmly. "I want in."

Harker sighed. "Alright. Get inside the limo, the trunk ain't a place for this conversation."

They then went inside, and continued the drive to Victoria's headquarters again.

"For now, no matter what happens, you stay here first with the rest of the bodyguards." Harker said. "We're the only ones that should get into the fray. Then you'll see Mom, I promise."

Chloe wanted to push back, but knew that Harker was too stubborn and was already at his limit.

"Okay….." She crossed her arms for the whole ride.

As the dust of this small family fight settled, the blondes picked up the papers again to keep busy. Harker and Chloe were still looking on opposite sides, not meeting eye to eye.

"Can you hear anything strange nearby, Mina?" Roland asked.

Mina lowered her head to hear anything from the  ground. She shook her head. "They could be too far down for me to hear."

"What exactly are you guys looking for?" Chloe asked.

"Victoria's headquarters where she's keeping Mom. We know it's here, but not the exact entrance and how to get there."

Chloe closed her eyes. "This Victoria… Does she have anything special on her? Like a specific earring…. A brooch…."

Harker thought about it. "She only had these weird spectacles…. They look strange. Like they're much thicker than usual and much more antique. It has a golden frame and the lenses were bluish."

"Blue lenses and gold frame…." Chloe's eyebrows furrowed. "Hmmm….."

It took her a while, before she said. "Drive 70 meters ahead, and you will see a sort of hatch on the ground. It's covered by grass and bison poop. Then, you will get into a staircase leading to a space with an elevator. Victoria is somewhere below, looking at a dead body."

The three were amazed by this little girl's ability. It was almost like clairvoyance.

"Since when could you do that? Was it because you received Harker's blood?" Roland asked.

Chloe opened her eyes and shook her head. "Actually, I've been starting to have this weird feeling at the back of my neck when I'm looking for something, sort of like a goosebump.  It's been happening since I was young, but it was weaker. It slowly grew until I could tell where my classmate's pencils were, and I also used it on our newspaper selling business."

She smiled. "I can detect which areas didn't receive a newspaper delivery yet. It's very handy. But that took me a while before, now it's so much faster."

Harker frowned. "Since that long? Why didn't you tell us anything?"

"Are you the only one allowed to keep secrets? I thought if you guys knew, you'd think I'm a freak."  She rolled her eyes. "That's why I do understand your point about 'white lies' and stuff."

Chloe pursed her lips. "But now, can we stop lying to each other, at least? I won't tell Dad or the twins for now, but we'll have to eventually."

"Yeah…. You're right."

Harker had to agree. Especially since things were getting more complicated and getting Shards weren't as easy as he thought.

They followed her instructions, and found the hatch. The bodyguards cleared the area first with gloved hands, wiping away the manure and grass. And then they went down the staircase, one by one.

Chloe was left at the limousine with more bodyguards at her side, while the rest stayed above to make sure they'll have a safe exit later.

"You should stay with Chloe too, Roland." Harker told his friend as he climbed down. "This is too risky for you."

"Hah, I'm not that fragile just because I'm a human and not built like a gorilla." He chuckled. "No offense, Alejandro."

The bodyguard just shrugged. "None taken, sir. My people do call me El Gorila and I take it as a compliment."

Eventually, they saw the elevator, and pushed the button.

"We'd have to be able to sneak in unnoticed." Harker said. "Alejandro could maybe disguise himself as one of the guards here. He has the same look, he just needs to wear some glasses and blend in. Mina and I could also knock out some scientists and shapeshift them. But what about Roland…"

"I have a syringe here." Roland said. "I know that I will get the side effects later, but I'm used to enduring that since I was a kid."

Harker frowned. "Are you sure? It would be painful.  Chloe luckily did not experience any effect from the transfusion because we're family. But just 10 ml wears off easily, and once it wears off, you'll experience the side effects like Mina did."

"Then I'd just have to take even more than that."

"Too much might be enough to kill you, Roland—"

He suddenly went on to inject the syringe on Harker without warning. "Owww!!!"

Roland had swiftly injected it to himself. "Did you forget what I said already? I don't care. If I did die after helping my friend…. Then it's a not so bad death."