h4Chapter 393: Tests II/h4

"So, did you discover anything else in theirb, or maybe noticed anything out of the ordinary?" Ewan chewed on another cookie, ignoring the rm going off in his head that he had consumed way more than enough sugar for the day.

He would work it offter. He promised himself. Not that sugar was that bad, he justified, taking another bite.

What had these people used to bake this? He had never tasted anything sweeter. He licked a crumb from his thumb, eyes narrowing in thought.

"Yes. I met her daughter for the first time." Athena’s soft reply cut short Ewan’s obsession with the cookie, and his hand stilled in midair.

"Mary has a daughter? How do we not know of that?" His brows rose, genuine surprise tightening his voice.

Athena shrugged, drinking from a can of juice she had seen in the refrigerator, one amongst many. "Maybe we didn’t search enough. Her name is Cairo. About ten years."

She shook her head. "To think she had the baby even before we met..." A pause. "There have been no sign at all. I hadn’t been able to see past her cutting remarks, envy, and wicked jealousy. Maybe it’s part of the facade to keep her true self hidden?"

She rubbed at a line forming between her brows, the can cool against her palm.

Ewan scoffed. "There’s no true self being hidden, just the child. That woman, and her twin, are evil for just creating the Grey virus, knowing the amount of lives that would be given in exchange for some stupid and bloodied wealth."

Another scoff. "No. There is no hidden self. They are all criminals, and I will make sure that they pay for it." His jaw clenched as he spoke, anger shing through his eyes.

Athena widened her eyesically, nodding the same, toasting without words to Ewan’s just concluded speech. The rim of the can tapped lightly against her lower lip in a mock salute.

Ewanughed, anger diffusing entirely. "You are something else. So did you also talk with her, Cairo I mean." He leaned an elbow on the counter, trying to read Athena’s face.

"Yes. She was the one that had told me about the secretb, you see..." Her voice dipped, thoughtful.

Ewan frowned. He didn’t see. A crease appeared between his brows.

Athena dropped the can on the counter, the metal making a soft clink, and started the exnation. "I left the office to search for theb, but after two hours, I found nothing. Too tired, I rested on one of the benches in the hallway. That’s where she found me... turns out she had been looking for me."

Ewan’s frown deepened.

"She was looking for someone with keys to the storage unit, or rather some space in the storage unit where her mother had disappeared... someone like the chief doctor in the hospital. Unfortunately... or is it fortunately?" She looked at Ewan quizzically, eyes searching his.

The male nodded. "Fortunately."

"Yeah, that... well she lost her way whening to my office, and in some twist of fate she found me, recognized me... maybe from TV?, and then she mentioned that she needed my help with finding her mother."

A pause.

"I thought her mother was a patient, especially when she said that her father had gone to heaven... but when we got to the storage unit, I wasn’t that sure anymore. So, I asked, and she confirmed my thoughts. Her mother was a doctor, one of the big doctors, ording to her..."

A half-hearted chuckle. "A doctor that goes by the name, Mary. And I knew it was Mary rkson, it was then I had noted the resemnce, that button nose, the slightly full lips..."

A sharp exhale. "I think that’s all I got going. I told her to wait outside, while I searched for an opening. But when I came out, she was nowhere to be found. The nurses at the reception also im that they hadn’t seen anyone that had matched that description. And because I’m not crazy, I’m sure that someone had taken her away... maybe a mole in the hospital."

She shook her head. "There are a lot of unknowns, Ewan. I just..." A sigh. "We need trackers. I don’t know if Rodney is back with the children... I need the contacts of their friends in the dark web..." Her gaze drifted to the door, worry nibbling at herposure.

"I don’t think I will ever get used to hearing that." Ewan spoke finally, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What?"

"My children having some ties to the dark web at their age. They im you aren’t bad with tracking either..." He managed a wry smile.

Athena nodded. "Yeah, but we know that whoever is backing these people utilizes, most likely, the tracker that had something to do with the attacks on you in your younger years..."

"That’s true. We need stronger hands than the usual." Ewan concurred, expelling a short breath. "But we are trying the best we can... at least we have that vial... imagine if we had none, if we hadn’t discovered theb..."

Athena nodded slowly, the cloud of dejection easing off somewhat. "It would have been worse. We might not have seen their next nsing until when it’s toote. But with this, we can make ns..."

"I can send in trusted fellows, with ideas in the science field, to help..." Ewan suggested then.

But Athena shook her head. "It’s too risky. I don’t trust anyone except family. It’s like these people are everywhere."

A pause. " It lessens my faith in humanity, you know, that someone could be bought with a price to do something heinous, to put the lives of many at risk."

Ewan couldn’t agree more. "Yes... but let’s look on the brighter side of things still." He said, noting Athena’s spirits dampening again.

He stood up from the stool and walked over to her, cing a hand on her shoulder. "We will conquer this. I promise."

Athena smiled sadly. "You shouldn’t be making promises you can’t keep."

Ewan lifted a brow in response. "And who said I won’t be keeping it?" He winked at her, to her amusement, a yful glint breaking through the tension.

"You are crazy." Sheughed, shrugging his hand off her shoulder. "But thank you."

She stood up, and headed toward the mainb area. And Ewan followed.

Since she didn’t want to hire help, he would be her help, would let the chemicals swarm him even though the smell of it wasn’t pleasant to his stomach.

"What can you see?" Ewan questioned momentster, peering into the vial ced on a stand, not sure what he was supposed to notice, though aware that there should be a inotice/i going on; that Athena was noticing something.

He squinted, as if focus alone could trante science into sense.

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So much for wanting to be a scientist while growing up. He mused, suddenly remembering his five-year-old self wanting that.

He paused, blinked, and touched the memory again.

He had been with his father in his study, his father who was hunched over papers, yet having time to answer his numerous questions.

iSo, what do you want to be, my boy? You said a musician two days ago, is it still that today?/i

Little Ewan had shaken his head. iScientist. I want to be a scientist./i

A smile was on Ewan’s lips before he knew it, a smile that disappeared when he tried to remember more, when he tried to see his father clearer, when pain snatched that from him. His breath hitched, just once.

"Are you okay, Ewan?" Athena, who had been noticing the variety of emotions shing across the face of her ex-husband, spoke, worry cloaking her eyes.

Was the chemicals too thick for him? Maybe he should wait in the kitchen?

"Yes, I am. Just a memory that snapped into ce. It came with a little pain..." He rubbed his temple briefly, letting the ache ebb.

Athena nodded slowly, contemtively. "That’s good news. Your memories areing back. But don’t force it. Has your stash finished?"

Ewan shook his head. "I think I still have some." A loaded pause. "Thank you, Athena, for giving me this." His voice softened on thest word.

Athena shrugged, her mind only reaching in diverse directions. How much could he remember? What will happen if he remembered her? Will he still be civil?

Because there was surely a difference between knowing something as a fact, and actually experiencing it. Remembering her might make things more unstable.

How long did she have of thisfortable bnce with him? She exhaled slowly, steadying herself.

"Do you want to know what I remembered?"

For a second, Athena considered saying no.

"Yes." She folded her arms lightly, bracing.

Ewan smiled, and she thought she had answered well. He wanted to share. "I was five. And I was telling my father I wanted to be a scientist..."

Silence, where she searched his eyes for evidence of his statement being a joke, a ruse to make herugh, but seeing the truth lurking there, made herughter even more boisterous.

Sheughed, holding her belly, bent over her table, hitting itmely at intervals, tears pricking her eyes from the release.

"Laugh all you want, but my dreams are valid..." Ewan tried for deadpan look and failed, smiling with her.

It only made herugh harder. "Ewan... you..." A sputter ofughter. "You don’t even know what a beaker is. You called it a cup."

Ewan chuckled. "But it is a cup really. Just a different kind. However, still a cup." He lifted his hands, palms up, as if presenting irrefutable evidence.

Athena gestured with her hand, that he get out,ughter not letting her speak. She waved him away and sank onto the stool, catching her breath.

Ewan smiled, watching this, loving to watch her, to hear herugh—the way her nose lifted, the way her eyes shone. He wanted her like this every time, unburdened by the cares of the virus, by the chaos it came with, by the lives it imed.

And it was his responsibility to do that. He thought, swearing inwardly to follow through, to strive to make her happy, no matter the odds stacked against her.