Page 35

Amias

After we separate to catch up on sleep, we head over to the orphanage. I’m honestly interested to see Clara and Sabina interact! I think they'll get along.

We arrive at the tall brick building, identical to every other city building I’ve seen. I carry a basket of our remaining bread slices with Clara by my side, walking away from the car towards the stairs to the orphanage.

“You think Sabina will like me?” Clara murmurs as she gazes at the building, not taking a step forward.

“Of course.” I chuckle, holding the basket against my dark brown knit shirt, the sleeves short enough to wear on this unusually dreary day for summer. I paired it with some khaki pants, loose yet warm enough for the coolness of today. “Why wouldn't she like you?”

Clara shrugs. “I don't know. I've never really been around kids.”

“It can be intimidating but you’ll do fine.” I assure her. “Don't worry.”

She slowly nods before returning a grin. “There's only one way to find out I guess.” She takes her first steps up the stairs, with her head high and proud, every stride more confident than she implied.

Is it weird to like the way she walks?

Then my gaze runs over her black jacket… then down to her leggings. I don't remember buying them for her, but they really make her backside…

Pronounced…

She's got an athlete's body. Something I've noticed but never paid attention to until we were messing around in the kitchen. She's not stronger than me, but definitely has power in her grip, and it's obvious now that it's in other places too.

The form of a woman is something behold.

“Amias?” Clara looks back down with her brows perked. “What are you looking at?”

My heart jolts as heat storms through my cheeks. Oh fuck, she caught me staring. Why was I even looking? She probably has a soulmate somewhere out there, and I'm just staring at her like an idiot. “Sorry.”

She squints at me as I direct my eyes to the floor and hurry up next to her. “You didn't answer my question,” Clara prods.

“Oh!” I titter. Shit! “I just saw you were wearing some new pants. I don't think I bought you those ones.” That sounds judgemental. “Which is fine. Of course.”

She leans her head back with a slight sneer. My heart stutters. Yeah, great recovery Amias!

“I bought them two days ago.” She shrugs. “The pants you gave me were too bulky for a bag.”

For a moment, “Like the bag you packed to leave with?” My heart sinks to my stomach thinking back to the bag against the wall, stuffed with snacks and clothes.

Her cheeks turn red and she looks forward. “Let’s just focus on meeting Sabina.”

I gulp as we open the door to the front desk area, with walnut wood walls and a large desk dimly lit by a glass chandelier.

The first person to greet us is sitting on a cushion office chair, with a ginger bob cut that's been curled. She has a bold red lipstick on and a blue collared shirt. It doesn't take long for her to notice us and smile.

“Why hello, Amias,” she says, spinning her chair around. “Who's this?” Her brows perk at Clara.

“Hello, Ms. Hollow.” I gesture to Clara. “This is Clara, a friend of mine. She made bread with me this morning to give to the kids!”

Clara nods. “Nice to meet you Ms. Hollow.”

Ms. Hollow scans her up and down and giggles. “Nice to meet you too, Clara.” She then looks at me. “How about you come over here and sign yourselves in for the day?”

She slides the clipboard towards me. I write and sign our names, passing it to her when I finish. She gives me a wink and leans in a little. “She's not bad looking either,” she snickers.

I scrunch my nose. I guess Mother isn't the only one to immediately assume things. “We’re not together.”

“Not right now.”

I roll my eyes before turning to the play room behind us. I open the door with Clara following. “Is this where they all are?”

I nod. “Sabina should be here.”

The door opens to spongy rainbow squares on the floor and swirls of wood on the walls. The sweet and clean aroma of lavender wafts into my nose. Volunteers and counselors play with the younger orphans with various toys, like cars and dolls.

I spot Glaide and Erasmus as they mimic the sounds of cars with some of the boys. They notice me mid sentence and Glaide stands to greet me.

“Hey Amias!” he approaches us. Erasmus stays with the boys, but waves. I return the gesture.

Beside me is a soft gasp. I turn to Clara, gawking towards Erasmus. What's wrong with her?

Before I can ask, Glaide stands before me with his arms wide.

“Hey Glaide!” I grin. “ Nice to see you!” We wrap ourselves in a tight hug. “Everything going okay with the kids?” I pull away from him and hold his shoulders.

“Everything’s been fine.” He peeks behind. “Who's this?”

I look at Clara smiling. I'm sure they will get along. “Oh, that's my new friend Clara. Clara, this is my friend Glaide.”

He raises a brow. “Friend?”

Clara comes closer, standing straight s she reaches her hand out to him. I note that she's slightly taller than him, which means she's way taller for the average woman. “Yes. Nice to meet you.”

Glaide glances between me and her, almost as if suspicious of Clara. I return him a reassuring smile. Why the strange look?

He hesitantly takes Clara's hand, and gives a firm but slow shake. “Yeah. Same to you, friend .” A smirk tugs on his lips.

Before he can say anymore, a familiar little blonde with a green dress runs upholding a little doll. I quickly hand the bread basket to Clara before opening my arms.

"Amee!" She laughs as she jumps to hug my neck. I lift her up and squeeze her tight.

"Sourdough!" I spin us around, making Sabina giggle. She's a precious little kid.

When we stop spinning, she pouts and crosses her arms. “Where were you?”

I mimic her pout. It's a little later than usual. “Sorry. I had to do something before I got here. What were you doing?”

“I had to play with the trucks,” she scrunches her nose. “I wanted to play cat family!”

“No one would play cat family with you?”

She shakes her head. She glares at Glaide. I copy her expression as Glaide titters. “I'll have to have a talk with Glaide then, huh?”

“Yeah!” She gives me a nod before looking over my shoulder. “Who is she?”

"Oh, this is Clara!" I turn to face her. Clara smiles and bows her head. “Clara is a friend of mine.”

“Hello!” Clara chirps. “You must be Sabina.”

Sabina whips her head and scowls at me. “How does she know my name?”

I laugh. “Because I told her about you.”

Sabina squints at her. Clara strains her grin as Sabina keeps silent.

“Hm. Is she gonna play with us?” Sabina glances at me.

I turn to Clara with raised brows and a slight smirk. She returns my same expression before talking to Sabina. “I wouldn't mind playing a little bit.”

Sabina looks back to me with big gleaming eyes. I nod before she pushes from my chest. “Okay!”

I let her down before she grabs my hand and leads us to the next room where she likes to play cat family. Both Clara and I laugh when I notice Glaide and Erasmus glance between us. They stare at Clara especially. Why are they being so strange? Do they not like her?

I shrug it off and focus on Sabina. She deserves my full attention and it would be nice to see Clara interact with her.

◆◆◆

“Meow!” Sabina’s voice is muffled by the piece of bread hanging from her mouth. “I brought food.”

Clara, Sabina and I are all on hands and knees on cream carpet, in a room of toy boxes and walls painted with animals and rainbows. Clara and I wait patiently for food as Sabina's little kittens.

Sabina takes the bread out of her mouth and pretends to offer it to us by stretching an arm towards us. “Eat it!”

I take a pretend bite out of the bread, mimicking chewing noises. “Mmhm. It tastes great. Thanks mom!”

“Yeah it's delicious bread!” Clara seems to be having a great time. There's a shine in her eyes that shows it.

Sabina pouts, and sits on her knees, crossing her arms. “It's not bread! It's a mouse!”

Clara flinches back. “A mouse?”

“Yeah! Cats don't hunt bread !” Sabina scoffs. “They hunt mice!”

I laugh as Clara brings a hand to her mouth and chuckles along. “It would be weird if cats hunted for bread, wouldn't it?” Clara snorts. “Just chasing bread scurry around.”

After a moment of silence, Sabina bursts into a fit of giggles. “Running bread!”

“Imagine! Just pouncing and being like,” Clara does her impression of a cat pouncing against the carpet floor with her knees on the floor. “I just caught a slice of bread.”

My gaze settles on Clara, as her and Sabina continue to joke and chortle. It's nice to see them bond so quickly, Sabina can be harder to talk with. Maybe I could invite Clara to come more often.

I can envision us adopting Sabina together. She’d make a great mother.

I jump at the thought. Why am I even thinking that? She already has someone out there!

“Let's play now,” Sabina says between giggles.

“Okay! Let's do this!” Clara gets back into “cat” position.

I get back into position too, and start to fake chew again. “This is a delicious mouse.”

“Yes, than-” Clara stops. Her veins pop from her arms as she scrunches her nose back. Her eyes go from gleaming to shifty, almost like she’s panicking. The pace of her breath increases with every second.

Why? “Is everything okay?” I ask.

“Yes…”

The high pitch in her voice doesn't assure me. Something’s off.

I search around for a possible source of concern when Clara stands. “I'll be right back. I'm going to the bathroom.”

I rush to get on my feet. “I can show you where it is.” And also get to the bottom of why she's uncomfortable?

“I'll find it myself,” she snaps, her voice slightly shaky. When I jerk back, taken aback by her response, she sighs and places a hand on my shoulder. “Sorry. Just stay with Sabina.”

She glares at me as if she was warning me.

What's happening?

“I can help you if something’s wrong,” I say, but she walks away from me, completely ignoring my statement. Her head keeps turning, scouring the hall before she walks into it.

I look down at Sabina, who's staring after Clara with her head tilted sideways. “Why is she angry?”

“I don't know. It will be alright.” I just wish I knew what was going on.

I flinch when there's a grip on my shoulder.

"We need to talk." I turn to face Glaide who’s squinting at me.

I sigh. It's just him. “You scared me.”

"You like that girl. Don't you?"

I furrow my brows, taken aback by the question. “What do you mean?”

“Clara,” Glaide folds his arms while wearing a smirk. “You like her.”

“What? No!” I can't like her. We would be doomed to fail.

“Don't lie.” I jump and whip my head towards Erasmus on the other side of me. “You’re a terrible liar. We see the way you look at her. It's in the way you smile. In the way your eyes twinkle at her. You like her…"

I shake my head. "It's not like I'm going to get anywhere with her. I'm soulmateless, remember? And it's not li-”

"But you're considering it with her,” Glaide nods. “Does she have a soulmate?”

My face is definitely warmer. I never asked. Never planned to. I could use my powers but that feels I’m entertaining the idea of being with her. It'd be a little selfish, considering it probably wouldn't work.

But there's no memories of feeling a bond when using my powers around her, though it wasn't something I focused on. It could also mean her soulmate is too far away. The bonds are only detectable when they're in a certain range from either.

I glance down to Sabina, who tilts her head at both of them. My attention should be on her. “We can talk about this later, when Sabina isn-”

Boom!

Crash!

I freeze, searching for the source of the noise. It sounded like someone or something crashed through glass around here. My breath quickens as Glaide and Erasmus stiffen. Screams come from the other room.

Sabina stares towards the door, her lips shaking and her eyes wide. I pick her up while trying to connect the dots as to what's happening.

What was that?

“Hm, Amara's grandsons, huh?”

Purple fur comes into view as the creature prowls through the door. Her head is low as she licks her lips. Her eyes are glowing purple as many black dreamscreechers come behind her, snickering and shrieking.

More children scream from afar and run out behind her. Sabina shudders and grabs onto my shirt tightly. I turn my body away, so I'm between the dreamscreechers and her. I can't let these creatures get Sabina, or any of the children, for that matter.

The purple dreamscreecher laughs as she comes closer. “This is going to be good.”