Chapter 17
The orphanage? And it seemed like this poor woman was running it by herself.
"How many kids live here?" I asked.
"Eight," she said. "Mostly toddlers and younger children, but there is a baby and a few preteens." She
exined.
"Baby?" I asked shocked. Did these people give their children away? How did they end up here? I
found myself wondering a lot of questions.
"Opal, she''s about ten months old. Her parents died in an attack recently. She came with her five year
old brother," Yana exined. I found myself smiling sympathetically at the exhausted woman.
"Well, I would love to help, and have some experience with children. Just point me in the right
direction," I said. Yana gave me a tour of the house. It was honestly just a big house. There was a giant
kitchen, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, a yroom, a media room, and a yground outside. The
only thing that wasn''t very house-like was the reception area.
After the children woke from their nap, we fed them lunch, which I helped prepare while they were still
sleeping. Yana had me do story time while she cleaned up the lunch from mess. She wanted me to get
to know the children, and I did too. I picked up a random book off a shelf full of fairytales and tried to
get them all to sit still so I could begin. There was Opal, the baby, with her big brother, Oliver. They both
had jet-ck hair and hazel eyes. Oliver, I noticed, was very shy and protective of his sister. He
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insisted on carrying her, if we let him, or he would try to teach her how to walk, but more than likely, he
just had to have an eye on her. There was a set of twins na and Anya. They were bubbly, bouncy
six year olds with long, curly light brown hair and green eyes. Matthew was three years old. He was the
reckless time who seemed to umte a different scar on the hour by doing something like running
full force into a wall. His unruly short blonde hair and mischievous blue eyes seemed to fit his
personality. I had a feeling he was going to be a heartbreaker when he grew up. Yana informed me
about the other three children; Kennedy, Elliot, and Grier who were at school. Kennedy was ten, while
Elliot and Grier were 13 and 14 years old.
Eventually, after threatening to take away story time, I got them to calm down enough to begin. Right
away, na and Anya crawled into myp on either side and rested their bouncy curls against my
chest. The other children seemed engrossed in the story as well and kept scooting closer. Well,
Matthew kept getting up and running in a circle, before he realized that no one was chasing him and he
would sit back down. I swear that kid had ADHD.
After story time, the kids went out to the yground to y. Yana and I supervised. I was actually
holding Opal until she started crying. Yana took her inside and na and Anya ran up to me with their
identical smiling faces looking up at me.
"Luna, can we y Candnd?" Anya asked. It was easy to tell them apart at the moment because
Yana put a pink bow in na''s hair and a purple one in Anya''s. I smiled at them and took their hands.
"I would love to but I have to make sure I can see all of you," I declined. They looked so sad and
vulnerable when I said that. I felt bad.
"You can go ahead in to the y room. I put Opal in her crib in there so you can keep an ear out for
me," Yana said,ing to stand next to me. The girls instantly looked at each other and smiled before I
was being pulled into the house and straight to the yroom. The twins wereughing the whole way.
For a pair of six year olds, they were pretty strong. We settled into our game quickly.
"Having fun?" I heard from behind me. I knew who it was immediately. I turned to see Elias standing in
the doorway in all his glory. I smiled and nodded. As soon as I stood, na and Anya grabbed my legs.
I almost fell over, but Elias held me steady.