The garage smelled faintly of oil, old cardboard, and damp concrete.
Grigori shut the interior door behind them and locked it. The change was immediate. His shoulders loosened, and the disappointed father was replaced by the instructor Adam knew just as well.
Aaron leaned against the workbench. Adam remained standing.
Grigori looked at him for several seconds, then smiled warmly.
"Good."
Adam blinked. Aaron laughed once.
"I knew it."
Adam frowned. "You're not angry?"
"Oh, I'm angry." The smile disappeared. "But not because you defended Lena."
Grigori stepped closer and tapped 2 fingers against Adam's chest. "He discovered what mattered to you. Different problem."
Adam absorbed that. Grigori stepped away.
"You protected your sister. That's good, just like what I taught you." There was no sarcasm or performance in it, just approval.
Adam felt a warmth he hadn't expected. Grigori rarely praised outcomes without immediately dissecting them. Apparently this would be no exception.
"Your method," Grigori continued, "was idiotic."
That sounded more familiar. Aaron folded his arms and frowned.
"I tried not to expose myself," Adam said. "Tenet 20."
"I know my own Tenets, young man." Adam went quiet.
Grigori shook his head. "You decided there were only 2 choices: let him hit you or show everybody what you could do."
"Coach Henry knows enough to notice."
That gave Grigori pause. "Did he know before today?"
"Not for certain." Adam looked down.
Grigori faced Adam again. "Concealment does not mean helplessness. Did you think letting another boy punch you in the face was supposed to make you look normal?"
Adam didn't answer.
"You were controlling Carter. You weren't controlling the hallway. One bad fall, one punch you don't see, one friend you missed. Somebody pulls something from a backpack. That's the mistake," Grigori said.
Adam nodded slowly. "So what should I have done?"
"Give him one reason to reconsider."
"I told him to stop."
"You asked. To somebody who thought you were harmless, that meant nothing." Grigori angled toward him. "A short body shot. Break the grip. Move him. Something small enough that only he understands continuing is a bad idea."
Adam considered it. "And if he keeps going?"
Grigori's expression sharpened.
"Then end it. Quickly. Once Lena became the target, you did that part right."
Grigori held up a finger. "But once Carter stopped being an immediate threat, it was over. Anything after that was unnecessary. You're not fighting for spectators, you're solving a problem."
Aaron pushed away from the workbench. "What if somebody grabs Lena?"
Grigori looked at him. "Then the conversation gets much shorter."
Aaron seemed satisfied, even smiling softly.
"Restraint isn't letting somebody hurt you," Grigori said. "It's using less force than you're capable of."
Grigori crossed to the locked steel cabinet at the back of the garage and entered the combination. He opened it, reached inside the door, and removed a plain brass key.
Adam recognized it immediately.
The training shack sat on a wooded parcel just beyond the edge of the Costanza neighborhood. From the road, it looked like an old storage shed barely worth noticing: weathered siding, a low roof, and nothing outside to suggest it mattered, but the shed was only the entrance. A concealed stair beneath the floor led into the bunker below: reinforced concrete rooms, equipment storage, a planning area, and a ventilated, sound-isolated indoor shooting range. Grigori had taught them marksmanship there for years without advertising the gunfire to anyone nearby.
Grigori carried the key on every trip. Adam and Aaron had used the place for years, but access had always gone through him.
"Dad?"
Grigori held the key out.
Adam looked from it to him. "You're giving me this?"
"Yes."
Aaron straightened. "You're giving us free access to the shack?"
"To both of you." Grigori kept the key extended toward Adam. "I'm leaving for a while, boys. I don't know exactly how long. While I'm gone, I'm trusting you with the gear and access I've kept under my control. You know what it's for."
Adam took the key. Aaron's expression had gone serious.
Grigori rested one hand against the workbench.
"And you're getting older. I can't teach you everything by keeping every door locked."
That didn't explain everything. Adam waited.
"What happened today reminded me of something."
"Reminded you of what, exactly?" Adam asked, straightening.
"You're reaching the point where I can't decide what problems find you."
Adam looked down at the key.
Grigori's voice softened. "I trained you so you would survive when I'm not there."
For a moment, the garage seemed quieter than it had before.
"That doesn't work if every useful tool is somewhere only I can reach."
Adam looked back at him. Grigori closed the cabinet, the metal creaking a bit as it latched.
"You did well today."
Adam didn't know where to look. "Dad-"
"You did." He pointed toward Adam's bruised face. "You saw your sister threatened and you acted. I'm proud of that."
Adam said nothing. He wasn't sure what to do with the words. Grigori seemed to decide he had suffered enough.
"Next time, protect yourself before you let it get this far. I didn't train you to become a punching bag." Grigori gestured to his face and side.
Adam nodded once. "Understood."
Grigori headed toward the door. "Find somewhere secure for it."
"Where?"
Grigori stopped, and smiled over his shoulder.
"That is your first problem to solve."
He opened the door.
Aaron waited until he was gone, then looked at Adam.
"So... He gave you the key..."
Adam pocketed it. "Yeah?"
"Didn't expect that."
"Neither did I," Adam answered.
They left the garage together.
Back in his room, Adam lay on the bed and turned the brass key between his fingers while staring at the ceiling.
Grigori had never once given them free access to the shack. Every storage container had been locked, every piece of ammunition tracked, every attachment and piece of gear catalogued. And now it was theirs.
Adam stopped turning the key and set it in his drawer for now. Grigori had told him to find somewhere secure, and the drawer wasn't that. He would fix it tomorrow.
He just hoped he would never have to use any of those tools.
Lena woke with a start when a stripe of sunlight slipped through the curtains and landed across her face.
That was usually a bad start to the day.
Her phone lit almost immediately with a message from Kendra.
Hopefully you're having a better day than me. Just got yelled at and Mom didn't give me any allowance.
Lena sent back a sympathetic reply.
Lena had 2 things on her mind. First, she wanted to spend more time with Dad before he left.
Second, she wanted to find out what Dad, Adam, and Aaron had talked about in the garage last night, if she could.
Grigori was more animated than usual that morning, with bigger laughs, more hugs, and a kiss for Sarah whenever he passed close enough. Lena read it as his way of saying sorry for leaving without actually saying it.
Lena told him about the events coming up at school. Sarah promised to send pictures and recordings whenever she could so Grigori wouldn't miss everything from Texas.
Sarah told him what was happening with the women's association and the projects they were working on. Then she pointed at him across the table. "And you call me every day, or I divorce you."
That got a laugh from the table.
Grigori took another sip of coffee. "I'll drive you two to school today."
Lena knew why he was offering. He was leaving. Still, she wanted the extra time, however little of it there was, even if she was still pissed at him. She didn't know what to feel about it.
Lena sat in the passenger seat with her arms folded, looking out the window.
Adam rode in the back seat, his eyes moving over the streets as usual.
The silence stretched. Lena wasn't going to speak first. She could be as stubborn as anyone else in the family.
"So... when I come back, let's take a trip together. All of us."
Lena turned from the window. "A trip? Like those stupid camping trips you always take Adam and Aaron on?"
Grigori flinched. "Lena, sweetheart... that's not what I meant. I meant a vacation. Somewhere different. Maybe overseas, if we can make it work."
Lena looked back out the window. She liked the sound of that, really did, but it still felt like another promise meant to make leaving easier. She was 17, not a child.
"Don't promise me a trip when you don't even know when you're coming home."
Grigori went quiet. He nodded once and kept driving.
She glanced at Adam in the back seat. He was watching the street, his expression unchanged, and that pissed her off too. He'd gotten more time with Dad than she ever had, and the anger came easy. It wasn't really fair to aim it at him. She looked back out the window and watched the neighborhood slide past.
Pinewood High appeared ahead through the damp morning.
Henry stood near the front entrance with a travel mug, stopping a boy from running with a single sentence. Lena straightened without meaning to.
Grigori pulled into the drop-off lane. "All right. Have fun. Learn things. Make responsible decisions."
Lena opened the door. Grigori looked at her.
"That last one was mostly for you," he said playfully.
She gave him a look. "I haven't beaten anyone up this week."
Adam turned slightly in the back seat.
"Technically, I didn't start-"
Lena shut the door with more force than needed. She walked toward the entrance and resisted the urge to stomp like a child.
She was turning 18, and she could count on one hand the times Dad had taken her somewhere the way he took Adam and Aaron on their trips.
Henry caught Adam just inside the entrance and stopped him for a quiet word. Lena waited a few steps away. She was still mad at him, but that didn't mean she was going to ditch him.
The moment they crossed onto school grounds, Adam became public property.
Lena lasted 30 seconds before somebody stopped her.
There was no opportunity to ask about what happened at the garage.
"Is your brother okay?"
"He's fine."
"I saw the video. Did Carter really get knocked unconscious?"
"Yes." Lena didn't slow down.
"I heard Adam broke his arm."
"He didn't."
By the time Lena reached the courtyard, she had answered the same questions often enough to stop counting.
No, Adam was not suspended. No, Carter was not dead. No, she did not know why her brother could suddenly fight like that. Yes, Carter had threatened her. No, she did not want to repeat what he had said.
Adam had already put several yards between himself and the nearest conversation.
"I'll see you at lunch," Adam said.
Lena nodded.
"Victim of fame!" Kendra called across the courtyard.
Lena closed her eyes. "No..." she groaned.
"Too late."
Kendra hooked an arm through hers. Anna and Kelly followed, both carrying phones that seemed to contain Adam from different angles.
"Can we not?" Lena asked.
Anna immediately lowered hers. Kelly paused on the moment Carter threatened Lena and Adam's posture changed.
"I still don't understand that part."
Lena did. One moment her brother had been trying to avoid a fight. Then Carter mentioned her, and Adam became something colder and more deliberate.
Kendra caught her staring at the screen. "You're doing it again. The look."
"Delete the video," Lena warned.
"Absolutely not." Kendra laughed and squeezed Lena's arm.
For a few minutes, the morning almost felt normal.
The bell hadn't rung yet, so they moved toward their usual spot beneath one of the trees bordering the courtyard. Anna sat first. Kelly joined her. Kendra dropped onto the low concrete planter and immediately stole Lena's drink.
"Hey! What the hell?"
Kendra took a sip. "You weren't drinking it."
"I was going to!"
"If you're not drinking it, it's going to waste."
"Give it back. Now," Lena warned.
Kendra handed it over. "You're so controlling."
"You stole my coffee."
"I need a pep to my step today!" Kendra winked and made a pose with a peace sign.
Lena sat beside her. Anna groaned.
"Can we please talk about literally anything except Adam beating up Carter?"
"Yes," Lena said immediately.
Kendra raised a hand.
"I have news."
Kelly looked suspicious. "Mason?"
"Why does everyone assume boyfriend news?"
All 3 stared at her.
Kendra sighed. "Fine. Mason is still my boyfriend. He's 19, he has a car, he works, and we've almost made it 2 months."
Anna blinked. "That might actually be a record."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't praise, Kendra..."
Kendra rolled her eyes. "Anyway. That's not the news."
Lena leaned against her shoulder. "What is?"
Kendra's face twisted.
"My parents are being such bitches again."
Lena's smile faded slightly.
"What now?"
"They won't let me stay over at Mason's."
Kelly looked at her. "You asked them?"
"Of course."
"And they still said no?"
Kendra scoffed. "Apparently being 18 doesn't count while I live under their roof."
Anna made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a cough. Kendra continued.
"I told them where I'd be. I gave them his address. Mom has his number. They've met him."
"That doesn't mean they're going to let you sleep at his house," Lena said.
Kendra looked betrayed. "Whose side are you on?"
"Yours, obviously."
"Doesn't sound like it." Kendra threw both hands up. "See? This is exactly what they do, treat me like I'm 12."
"You do still live with them," Lena said.
"For now."
Something in the way she said it made Lena look over. Kendra had gone from annoyed to genuinely frustrated. She picked at a loose thread on the cuff of her cheer jacket.
"They're just impossible lately."
Lena's voice softened.
"Are they fighting again? So soon?"
Kendra shrugged.
"Pretty much, yeah."
Anna and Kelly quieted. They all knew enough about Kendra's parents not to push too quickly. Kendra stared out toward the parking lot.
"Dad's hours got cut again."
Lena frowned. "At the plant?"
"Yeah. He picked up weekends, Mom hates that he's never home, he says she's spending too much. Same fight, different version."
Anna grimaced. "That sounds fun."
"Oh, it's amazing." Kendra smiled too brightly. "I highly recommend listening to 2 adults argue about a credit card at one in the morning."
Lena watched her. "Kendra."
"I'm fine, really."
It came too fast, and Lena knew something was wrong, but this wasn't the place to call her on it.
Kendra picked at the loose thread again. "Mom's been selling stuff too. Jewelry. Old electronics. Some of Dad's tools."
Kelly frowned. "Where?"
"That pawnshop near the old highway. Dad's used it forever."
Anna made a face. "The one with bars on the windows?"
Kendra nodded. "Smells like cigarettes and sadness."
That got a laugh out of them. Lena barely registered the pawnshop itself. Plenty of people sold things when money got tight.
Kendra leaned dramatically against Lena. "Please adopt me."
"My parents already found Aaron in the woods. I think we're at capacity."
Anna stared. "That is still the weirdest way anyone describes adoption."
Kendra rested her head on Lena's shoulder. For once, she stayed still.
Lena looked down at her. "You really okay?"
Kendra was quiet long enough that the others stopped pretending not to listen. Then she sighed.
"I just hate being home lately."
This time there was no joke behind it. Lena squeezed her hand.
"Come over after school."
Kendra looked up. "You sure? With your dad leaving?"
"He leaves tomorrow morning."
Kendra's expression softened. "Shit... You okay?"
Lena looked down at their hands. "I don't know..."
Kendra squeezed back. "Then I'm coming over. I can get out of your way later if you want family time."
Lena looked at her. "You don't have to."
Kendra smiled. "I know, silly. That's why I'm doing it."
The first bell rang across campus. Students started moving toward the buildings. Anna stood and slung her bag over one shoulder.
"Class time..." Anna groaned.
"Obviously," Kendra said.
Kelly nodded. Lena stood last. Kendra caught her arm before she could move.
"Hey."
Lena looked at her. Kendra's usual grin had disappeared.
"You know I love you, right?"
Lena blinked. "What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"Kendra..."
"I'm being sincere. Stop ruining it."
Lena smiled. "I love you too."
Kendra nodded once, then the grin returned. "Good. Replacing you sounds exhausting."
Lena shoved her lightly. Kendra laughed and took off toward the doors. Anna followed. Kelly called after them to slow down.
Lena watched her friends head into the crowd. For a second, Kendra turned around and walked backward, blew her a kiss, and almost walked into another student.
Lena laughed. "Watch where you're going!"
Kendra recovered without a trace of embarrassment, linked arms with Anna, and disappeared through the entrance. Lena shook her head.
Kendra was always too loud, always flirting, always turning everything into a joke when she didn't want anyone looking too closely.
Lena followed them inside just as the second bell rang.
The garage would have to wait.