Girl of Mist and Memories

Prologue

The woman's hand trembled as she pushed the thick metal gate open. Swaddled in a blanket, dozing off peacefully, was a baby she might have called her daughter if the circumstances allowed it. Instead, the baby was called nothing at all. The woman observed the delicious colors around her. The vibrant gardens were marvelous, like something straight out of a fairy tale, and she had the sudden urge to grab a fruit from a tree close to her, but she didn't. The woman didn't know how long she had been walking to find this gate; at times, she wondered if the school even existed or if she had gone all this way for nothing. A man in a white suit and a mask approaches her, and her heart races. "Is the baby here for school?"

She didn't say anything. She just nodded her head softly and let the man lead her past full gardens and a white swing set that blocked her view of the building. The door was big and brown, as all doors were, and the vines that worked their way up the walls burst with thin blood red petals, set on a canvas. Inside, the school was just as alluring as the outside. The women couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of their surroundings. She had never seen a place so lovely-not below the mountain, not ever. The man in the white suit walks in front of her, past many rooms, some with names and some without names; empty rooms the woman suspects will be filled by little girls and boys like her own. Finally, the woman arrives at her destination-another white room filled to the brim with roses, somehow blooming from the walls themselves. There is something about this place-its white roses-that the woman feels is not right. A finely dressed woman waits for her behind a desk; her posture is stiff, and her hands are folded across each other.

Lilly reached out to shake the woman's hand. It was cold and thin, the way the woman felt a vampire's hand would be.

"I didn't know we would be receiving this early."

Lilly smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you. I'm here for...

Her breath hitched in her throat. "The permanent program. If that is possible."

"You know we are still under construction?"

Lilly looked down at the baby. "Yes."

"What's her name?"

"She's a girl. I knew that."

Minetta's eyes boring into her made Lilly want to shrink away. It wasn't like she wanted to give away the child, but Lilly herself was still a girl, too young to have her own. Besides, no one could ever know about this baby. It was better this way. Cleaner.

Minetta reached out two open arms for the sleeping child, and Lilly handed her over. "I hope she will be happy here."

Lilly said more to herself than anyone. Minneta didn't say anything; she just rocked the baby in her arms. Lilly stared at her daughter's face for a minute, as if trying to memorize its lines. "I should go."

She said it abruptly. "Thank you for taking her."

"Is 100 pieces enough?"

Lilly stopped in her tracks. She took a moment to think before she spoke. 100 pieces could do a lot for her. For her family. That could buy food for a month. "200," she said, watching Minetta's eyebrows rise. She wasn't sure where that came from.

The woman pulled a pouch from her desk and filled it, handing it over to Lilly without saying a word. "I hope it was worth it," she heard the woman whisper as she turned to leave, and she felt her eyes burn.

Lilly didn't turn and didn't say a word. She swung the door shut behind her and pushed her legs to walk faster down the hall. Her chest heaved, and she fought to hold back tears, but she did not stop.