When silence finally settled over the room, Victor chose to remain quiet. There was no need to fill the void with words. He had known from the beginning that a reaction like this was inevitable. Expected. Completely expected.
After all, it wasn't every day that two supposed "Agents" mysteriously showed up at someone's doorstep alongside their daughter, only to casually announce moments later that she might be an Anomaly.
The shock written across the family's faces, the confused looks, and their obvious struggle to process everything were perfectly natural reactions. Anyone placed in the same situation would have looked exactly the same.
That said, Victor did have a few reservations about the way the truth had been presented. His gaze drifted discreetly toward Rupert. The man had been blunt. Far too blunt for Victor's liking.
Victor had always known this conversation would be difficult, but he'd intended to approach it more carefully, revealing information gradually and giving the family time to absorb each piece before moving on to the next. Maybe that wouldn't have made the news any less shocking, but it would have felt less aggressive. Less forced.
Rupert, on the other hand, seemed to subscribe to a much simpler philosophy: dump the entire truth on the table at once and hope the family accepted it without question. In Victor's opinion, that was practically a disaster waiting to happen.
Looking at the tense faces in front of him, he couldn't help feeling the conversation would've been far less turbulent if they'd taken a slightly more... human approach. As the seconds dragged on and turned into long minutes of uncomfortable silence, Victor finally felt compelled to step in.
The family still looked completely lost. The father and mother exchanged occasional glances and blinked repeatedly, as though they were trying to process not only the words they'd just heard but also the absurd implications behind them.
Their expressions were nearly identical, a mixture of confusion, disbelief, and caution. Neither of them seemed to believe a single word Rupert had said. In fact, Victor strongly suspected they'd both already reached the same conclusion: Rupert was some kind of functioning lunatic.
The sort of person who could carry on a perfectly normal conversation right up until the moment they started talking about something completely insane as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Their only daughter, meanwhile, was considerably less subtle about what she was thinking. The moment Rupert finished speaking, she shot him a look that practically screamed, This guy has completely lost it. But as the seconds passed and nobody seemed willing to challenge him, her disbelief slowly began transforming into something else.
The corners of her lips twitched upward. The skeptical look in her eyes gave way to an expression dripping with amusement and mockery, like someone watching a particularly entertaining stage play. To her, this whole situation felt less like a shocking revelation and more like an absurd story told by an eccentric man desperately trying to convince a reluctant audience.
And judging by the amused sparkle in her eyes, Victor suspected she was only seconds away from asking questions for the sole purpose of watching Rupert dig himself even deeper into his apparent madness.
"Hah!" Charlotte let out an audible scoff, loud enough to snap her parents from the dazed stupor they'd fallen into.
She turned her full attention toward Rupert, staring at him as though he were the funniest person she'd ever met. A crooked smile appeared at the corner of her lips as she raised an eyebrow.
"You do realize how completely ridiculous this sounds, right?" She shook her head. Her tone was light and amused, but there was no missing the disbelief underneath it: "Trust me, if I actually had some kind of power, it would've shown up years ago"
The statement was met with several confused looks. Her parents exchanged a quick glance while Rupert remained motionless, clearly trying to follow her train of thought. Charlotte didn't seem to notice: "Want examples?" She raised a hand. "When I had to do a school project on gravity and spent an entire week trying to make the model levitate with my mind" One finger went up.
"When I tried talking to my horse during riding lessons because I was absolutely convinced he was ignoring me on purpose" A second finger.
"When I spent fifteen minutes staring at the TV, trying to change channels without using the remote" A third.
"Or when I was five, dressed up as a witch for my birthday party, and spent the entire afternoon trying to cast a spell on my dad so he'd increase my allowance" At that, Charlotte's father let out a strange cough and suddenly found the ceiling fascinating. Her mother pressed her lips together, clearly fighting back a laugh.
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Charlotte crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly toward Rupert: "And do you know what the result of all that was?"
Without waiting for an answer, she flashed a crooked grin: "Absolutely nothing" There was an almost provocative satisfaction in her expression as she continued: "So far, not a single one of my wishes has come true. Which makes this whole secret-powers theory a little hard to swallow, don't you think?"
Victor and Rupert were momentarily speechless. Seriously. Who in their right mind would spend that much effort trying to awaken some mysterious power until it finally appeared? The two men exchanged a quick glance, silently trying to determine whether this was determination, stubbornness, or an entirely unprecedented level of recklessness.
Judging by the expressions on Charlotte's parents' faces, they seemed to be asking themselves the exact same question. Victoria and her husband stared at their daughter with a fascinating mixture of astonishment, resignation, and that uniquely parental look that said they were briefly wondering exactly where they'd gone wrong.
"Sweetheart..." Victoria said calmly. Far too calmly.
The tone alone made Charlotte shrink instantly. Her shoulders stiffened, and she turned toward her mother with all the enthusiasm of someone walking toward their own execution: "Y-yes, Mom?"
Victoria smiled. Which somehow made things worse: "What was it we talked about regarding your attempts to acquire superpowers?"
A shiver ran down Charlotte's spine: "That I shouldn't..."
"Exactly" Victoria nodded with satisfaction before adding: "Your father is still very upset about what happened at your fifth birthday party, young lady"
At those words, Charlotte visibly deflated. Victor watched the scene with growing curiosity: "Should I ask what happened at the fifth birthday party?" he muttered to Rupert.
"I wouldn't ask under torture" Rupert replied quietly.
Charlotte shot both men a desperate look, silently begging them not to encourage this line of conversation. Unfortunately for her, Victoria wasn't finished: "And there's one more thing..." the woman continued, crossing her arms.
Charlotte closed her eyes. She knew that tone. It was the tone of someone about to dig up a subject that should have stayed buried forever: "Besides, I didn't know anything about that story involving your horse"
Victoria raised an eyebrow in a way that was almost threatening. Charlotte froze: "Mom..."
"Oh, I'd love to hear that explanation"
"Mom..."
"In full detail"
"Mom, please"
Victor and Rupert watched the exchange with growing interest while Charlotte seemed to wish, more than anything else in that moment, that the ground would simply open up beneath her and swallow her whole.
She let out a series of short, awkward laughs that were far too loud to sound natural. Forcing a smile onto her face, she quickly looked away from her mother and turned toward Victor and Rupert, like someone desperately searching for an escape route.
"Right, right..." Charlotte said, waving at them with a hurried gesture: "You guys were talking about something important, weren't you? Please, go on"
The attempt to change the subject was so blatant that even Rupert had to suppress a smile. Victor and Rupert exchanged a brief glance and silently thanked her for the intervention. Watching this family's dynamic was a strange experience.
There was affection there, of that, there was no doubt, but it manifested itself in such peculiar ways that it left them feeling oddly uncomfortable. It was like watching a play where everyone knew their lines except for them.
Victor cleared his throat, taking advantage of the opportunity to regain control of the conversation: "Before anything else..." he began, drawing everyone's attention back to himself.
The room seemed to settle. Charlotte crossed her arms. Rupert maintained his relaxed posture, while her parents watched Victor with cautious attention: "We're not entirely sure that your daughter is actually an Anomaly" he explained, carefully choosing his words: "At this point, all we have are some pieces of data that are, frankly, very strange. Those findings are what led us to her, but they still don't constitute definitive proof"
Victor paused briefly, making sure everyone was following: "There is a more accurate way to confirm it. A much more thorough examination than anything we can perform here"
Charlotte's fingers lightly drummed against her arm: "And what exactly does that mean?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
Victor held her gaze before answering: "It means we need to bring you with us to our facility. We have specialized equipment there that can analyze your condition in detail and determine, once and for all, whether you're an Anomaly or not"
The silence that followed lasted only a few seconds, but it felt much longer. After all, it was one thing to hear strange theories about yourself. It was something entirely different to have complete strangers tell you they needed to take you to a secret facility for examination.
Her parents were visibly uncomfortable with everything that was happening. The tension written across their faces was impossible to ignore, and Victor understood them perfectly. Any parent would react the same way upon hearing strangers suggest that their daughter might be something out of the ordinary.
He let out a quiet sigh before speaking in a gentler tone: "Of course, you're her legal guardians. You're more than welcome to come with us" Victor shifted his gaze between the two of them as he continued: "In fact, I think that would help put everyone at ease. You'll be able to see everything for yourselves and make sure she's safe"
The couple remained silent, listening carefully to every word: "Believe me" Victor continued, his expression growing more serious: "this is for her own good. If your daughter really is some kind of anomaly, ignoring the situation will only make things more difficult down the road."
He paused briefly, carefully choosing his next words: "It could end up affecting not only the people around her, but Charlotte herself. The sooner we understand what's happening, the better our chances of helping her"
When he finished speaking, silence settled over the room once again. Victor watched the couple closely. The two exchanged a long look, a silent conversation passing between them. The mother appeared hesitant, while the father kept his jaw tight, clearly torn between distrust and concern.
After several seconds that felt far longer than they really were, both turned back to face Victor. At last, the father let out a heavy sigh and nodded. A moment later, the mother did the same. Reluctant, but unable to see a better alternative, they decided to accept the offer.
