The Girl Who Was Taken (Renesme Cullens Twin Sister)

Seventy-Nine

"What?" I asked. I looked at her confused.

"I opened an academy. I mean, really, it's just a kind way to say orphanage, but that's what it is. I..." and she looked briefly sad. "There was a little bit where I was just going along with what they were telling me, that there was no way to handle all the babies and killing them was the best option, but as time went on we kept stumbling on children already born, growing older and older, and I wouldn't let them hurt the ones already here. So I went to Amun, and I told him I wanted to care for them, and he helped me set this up. Have you met Nahuel? He's our kind, almost a hundred sixty years old already, and I asked him to partner with me for this project, he's been the most help. And then I even got Grandpa on board with it, after I started talking to him again. He's still disappointed in my diet, but he's glad I'm doing something important like this."

A bell rang throughout the building, and with a sudden thunder of feet, doors opened, and a flood of children poured out of classrooms, weaving around us. They were all different heights, most of them looked young, none of them seemed to be older than what a human ten-year-old would look like. "How many are there?" I asked, looking at all the little heads bobbing around, laughing, arguing, not paying me any mind at all.

"We're up to two-hundred forty-six now. And they just kind of keep coming."

"Are they all... Stefan's and Vladimir's?" I asked.

"Um, a lot of them, yeah... but not all of them. There are other vampires being irresponsible too." She patted the kids on their heads as they passed her, and she smiled down at a few telling them little things like, "How did class go?" and "Johnathon, put that marker down, no drawing on other people's faces." She plucked the marker out of his little hand, and he looked solemn as he walked away, filing in line to what I assumed was lunch period. "We're probably going to need another building if we get anymore. Right now we're stacking them up like sardines in bunk beds... The oldest kids we have are four years. We came across a couple others that were just slightly younger than me and you too, but they were already so old they didn't need anyone looking after them."

Slowly the kids dispersed out of the hallway. Jane spoke up after the last one was gone. "You don't think you're just training them and raising them for Vladimir and Stefan to come back and turn into an army against us?"

Renesme sighed. "They're all individual little people. Everyone of them. They're not just some army that needs controlling. They're going to grow up and make their own choices. Whatever they may be. But they at least deserve to get a chance to make a choice."

"Fair," Jane said.

"...This is amazing," I said. I looked over at Renesme, astonished, "Why didn't you call me to tell me you were doing this? I was so angry at you."

She swayed her head side to side, "I don't know, I've been busy. I knew you were busy, and everything was happening so fast, and there was always something that came up..."

I nodded, "Yeah. Alright. But this is amazing. I'm... I'm proud of you." She smiled so happily, so proud of herself. Even with her red eyes, and her human diet, she was doing something fantastic, something that would make the world better. I looked around at the academy again.

"You want a tour?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, and she started leading the way. "It's very X-men like, isn't this? An academy for special children."

"You're getting up to date with your pop culture, I see," she smirked.

"Yup, Paul was shoving movies down my throat like there wasn't going to be a tomorrow."

That made her laugh. "Yeah, sometimes it felt like that, that there'd be no tomorrow. But I think we did it. We have tomorrow and the rest of time once again." She took me and Jane around the academy, showing us classrooms, and the dining area where all the kids were eating. "They're not allowed to eat blood on a regular basis," she said. "They mostly eat human food right now, but as they get older, we're trying to introduce them to hunting and feeding in a responsible way...Demetri's actually been a huge help with that program..." she looked back warily at me when she said this. "I know you haven't been on the best terms with him..."