Evolution - The Oasis Project Book 3

Twenty-Eight - Ira

Laughter pulled me out of my light sleep and I rolled onto my side, only to have my eyes clawed by sunlight. I let out a slow curse and reluctantly slipped on a t-shirt in this cursed heat, realizing that I was the only one left in this room. Stuart must have gone to talk strategy with Four. I got up, yawned, and stretched.

By the time I made it downstairs, the loudest voice wasn't Yulian's anymore. There was a middle-aged man in the living room, handing Trevor a bottle of beer. There were two cases of them by his feet. Yulian was already sipping his own while Linkin held an unopened bottle with uncertainty, examining the contents of a small box with Fang.

"G'day, One!" the visitor piped up cheerily with a heavy Australian twang when he saw me. His old blue shirt crinkled when he reached for another beer bottle, throwing it to me. "Remember me? Bruce?"

"I remember. Good to see you again." He was vaguely familiar – I remembered that he owned one of Four's safehouses. I caught the beer, checking the rusty clock on the wall. It was ticking past early afternoon, but I cracked the drink open anyway, and didn't bother giving Bruce my name. "What's happening here?"

A grin spread across Bruce's bronze cheeks. The crow's feet at the corners of his eyes deepened as he spoke. "Four called earlier, wanted me to deliver some tech for..."

"Linkin." She looked up to fill her name in.

"Linkin," Bruce gave his Australian interpretation of the name. "Which, by the way, we repurposed the chips we found in your eyes for these contact lenses! Remember?"

"Chips in Aunt Ira's eyes?" Fang piped up as I shuddered.

"You know how Aunt Ira eats fast..." Linkin said, her words tense as she went back to encouraging Fang to look at the high-tech contact lenses. I shook my head at Bruce and he seemed to understand that we had to keep all Deviations talk PG.

"Anyway," Bruce said, "thought I'd bring some booze, since it sounds like you never got around to celebrating China, you know?"

"Maybe we can move..." Trevor suggested, standing up and wrapping his tail around the back of his chair. He pointed away from Linkin and Fang, to where Alessia was lurking in the corner. "This side a bit?"

"Good idea." Yulian dragged his armchair across the floor, which made Linkin sigh. Fang looked at his new favourite uncle curiously, but Linkin got his attention back.

"Shouldn't we get the others?" I whispered, letting the beer cool my body from the inside out. Bruce brought a light one, which I was grateful for. I was feeling a little sick from all the cookies I ate while I interrogated Nita and Celestia.

"I can call Four," Bruce volunteered nasally.

"Isn't she busy?" Thierry asked seriously, but Bruce already had a phone to his ear, lounging back in the sofa as he scratched his chin.

To my surprise, it didn't take a lot of effort to get the others away from the shed. Four and Stuart looked relieved to be back, and Wu looked confused as to why he went, or why he was here in the first place. Fang shrank away from the number of commanding presences in the living room, and I caught Linkin gritting her teeth before she tried to smile.

"A toast?" Yulian stood up when everybody was handed a drink. The others stood up, too, even Linkin after Yulian raised his eyebrows at her. "Cheers to all the freedom we got yesterday, and cheers to the safety we will get very soon!"

It was a terrible toast, but Yulian's excitement made all of us whoop and raise our drinks with a smile. Yulian chugged his bottle empty in one go and, checking his surroundings and guarding his arm, he did a backflip, his bare feet narrowly missing the ceiling light. He landed perfectly back on the floor in one piece, but the wooden planks under the rug at his feet squeaked in protest. Not minding in the slightest, Yulian finished with flashing a grin at Wu.

Linkin sighed and squeezed out of the crowd, pulling Fang tightly to her side and got Four's attention with a tap on her shoulder. "Hey, you want to help me check if this thing works?" All traces of joy had been rubbed off her face, even though the rest of us were still celebrating our victory at the China compound. Yulian was playfully punching Stuart in the arm, saying something that made him laugh. Thierry wasn't drinking anything, but was borrowing Trevor's bottle to pretend to toast.

"Bruce," Four said, pulling the big man away too.

"You need help?" I offered, chewing on the inside of my cheek.

"No." Linkin was quick to dismiss me, and I chalked it up to my paranoid outburst earlier. "I'll be fine, thank you." She didn't sound so sure that she was going to be fine.