To Be A Hero

Chapter 15: Weight Of Living

It's warm inside the greenhouse. That's the first thing I notice when Penelope leads me inside. Her face is bright and her eyes are alight with joy at the greenery that surrounds us. She takes my hand, guiding me over to the small group of plants she's been in charge of keeping healthy.

"These dandelions are my favorite, and the peonies," She says happily, and I smile. It's good that she's found a hobby she enjoys. It keeps her out of trouble, plus her interest in gardening will help a lot when she gets older, since she can help in gardening and possibly farming.

And if she's interested in being a farmer or gardener, then she won't be interested in being a runner.

The last thing I need to for another child to do something that will get themselves killed.

Penelope keeps on about her flowers, and how hard she's been working on them. I give her a closed lipped smile, a bit of guilt tugging at me heart when she beams at having my attention. She's a good girl, truly. It's sad that she always has to fight to get my attention, especially when it comes to her brother.

It's my fault. My thoughts are almost always on Milo because he's the one always causing trouble. Penelope does what she's supposed to, so I don't have to worry about her.

I wish I didn't have to worry about Milo.

But Willis's death changed him, and he changed even more after Caleb died. That's what worries me the most. He wants to be a runner, but he gets so hurt when he loses someone he loves.

How many times have I had to see good people, my friends, die? How many lives have I seen disappear because of zombies, because of Van Ark, because of Moonchild?

I was barely clinging to my sanity when Simon died, and I've been through terrible things, seen terrible things. How on earth would Milo be able to handle it?

"Mum?" Penelope tugs on my hand, snapping me back to the present. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am. I just got lost in thought looking at the pretty, um..." I trail off as I look at the purple flowers with a yellow center, "those."

Penelope giggles. "They're called callistephus. Veronica says the scientific name for this is callistephus chinensis... I think I said it right. They grow to Korea, but Veronica wanted to use some of the seeds saved under Abel to see if... to see if there were any other plants similar to the ones Moonkid used to control people's minds."

"Moonchild," I correct, although I'm very surprised at how much she knows about a specific flower. She has the makings of a botanist in her. "The name of the plant is interesting. But, um, if Veronica was using it to see if there were any similarities to the blue flowers, why are they in here and not in her lab?"

"She don't need them anymore."

"Doesn't," I correct.

"Yeah, that. So now they're just in here for me to take care of."

I nod, eyeing the flowers once more. "You really like taking care of these plants, don't you?"

"Yeah. Sometimes Carina and I help each other water each other's plants, and Runner Six and Runner Two are in here a lot, so they help me when I need it. But I like here better than I do working with the animals."

"And why's that?"

"Because the animals kept trying to bite me."

I nod. "Well, yes, I suppose that would be a good reason to want to work plants instead of animals."

We walk around the greenhouse some more, with Penelope showing all of the plants she's helped care for and the ones that some of her classmates are in charge of. It's easy to see which children actually care about the job that's been given to them. But then again, Penelope's class is full of eight-year-olds. I don't think many of them care too much about gardening.