"Oh. Uh, okay."

Renee scrunches up her face. "That's it? 'Oh, okay?' Thank God. I thought you were going to cry, and it would've been real awkward."

"Well, I mean, it sucks, but I didn't know them, so I feel kind of detached from it, you know?"

She nodded, and we sat in silence for a bit before I said:

"But also, who killed them? Because I'd like to kick their ass if it's all the same to you."

Renee laughed dryly. "We don't know. But when the time comes, I'll draw you for it.  Now onto the second portion of your question. We've been watching you for a few years, Jamie, and we've been thinking about bring you in for a while. But it recently came to our attention that something Marco Polo said once has proved to be far more interesting than we initially thought." She leaped off the desk and began pacing the room. "On his deathbed, Marco Polo said, 'I did not write half of what I saw, for  I knew I would not believed.' Everyone just assumed it was the kind of dramatic thing you're supposed to say when you're dying. But we were recently checking out a new artifact we found, one of Marco Polo's diaries, and he mentioned 'a private treasury, in which to protect the world from my most lethal of discoveries.' We want to find it, Jamie. Your parents were our resident experts on Polo, he was the closest thing they had to a God."

"Great, and all of this is my problem because...?"

"Because people could die if Br- someone- gets to that stuff before us. They could weaponize it. We need you to help us find it."

"Yeah, sorry, I still don't understand how all of this merits kidnapping me?"

It was one of the few times I've ever seen Renee get angry. "Because, Jamie, we all looked up to your parents. Because to see you starving to death and trading the black market isn't what they would have wanted! Because since they're gone-" Her voice cracked.

"Because, Jamie, because Oliver, Pete, Minnie, and I all went to your house when you were born. We were your age, and we were training. And-and I'll never forget this until I die- your Dad winked at us and said, just joking around, 'You know, if someone murders us, you have to look after her.' And we all laughed, because the thought of Lisa and Robert not being there was absurd; they were heroes, and now they got their happy ending. Four years later, they were dead, and your aunt took you. And it was complete B.S., but there was nothing we could do about it. She told us not to come near you. She was your aunt, we thought it would work out. It took us too long to figure out what she was doing to you, and I'm- I'm so, so sorry. And now, Fiona finally went and killed herself with the force of her own crappiness, and we had the perfect kick in the ass to swoop in. It was like your parents wanted us to go and get you, or something."

For some reason, I was pissed to think I had come so close to not having to live with Fiona. I could have grown up in a weird-ass building, full of sword-wielding, smoking-rock carrying, kidnapping weirdos.

Christ, my standards are low.

Renee coughed, obviously insecure about her outburst. "You don't have to decide right now. You can stay the night, if you want. If you say yes, debrief is tomorrow. Minnie will, uh, show you someplace to sleep, and give you your stuff back."

I thanked her and left the little office, head spinning.

AN: Holy. Cannoli. 103 READS!!! YOU'RE ALL THE BEST!!! Seriously, thank you so much for reading and voting, it means the world. New chapter later today, weirdos. Xoxo, Kelsey