Book 1 Of The Silver Series: Silver

Chapter 23: Orphan House

I freeze when the warehouse comes into view. Images from my capture flash through my mind. The most vivid one was of Alpha's body on the cold metal floor.

"Silver?" Jay asks when we stop. "Are you ok?"

I gulp and nod my head. "Yes. I'm just fine."

I hop out of the truck and follow him into the building. It looked huge without the dozens of hunters wandering through the halls.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about this place before," Jay whispers, apologetically, to me. I simply nod my head and follow him upstairs.

"This will be your room," he says, pointing to a metal door on the right side of the hall.

I go inside and looking around. There was a small metal dresser and bedside table. The bed frame was also made of metal and the mattress was thin.

"If you ever need me," Jay declares, "I will be right across the hall. Ok?"

I nod my head and he leaves. I set my bag of clothes on the ground and lay down upon the thin mattress. At least this was better than a bed of rocks, leaves, or dirt such as the ones I had used while living in the wilderness.

I lay on my uninjured side and look around the small metallic room once more. So this was where Jay lived. How did he even end up here? Certainly, he wasn't somehow related to the other assassins?

I get up and walk across the hall. Hesitantly, I knock on the large metal door. A few moments later, Jay opens it.

"Yeah?"

"How'd you end up here?"

He looks at me for a moment before answering, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well you aren't related to any of the other assassins are you?"

"The only ones related here are Legend and Creed. They are cousins. I suppose you could call the rest of us adopted."

"Well how did they find you?"

Jay sighs. "It's not a very good story."

"I don't mind."

"You might as well take a seat then," he says and let's me in so that we can sit together on the bed.

"When I was eight, my mother left. Every morning I would get up early and watch her disappear into the woods for her morning run. One day she just didn't come back.

After that, my dad who, unlike my mother, was human would go to bars and drink and do drugs. Then he would come back and yell at me or hit me. Eventually he locked me in the basement, which we used to keep me from escaping on full moons."

He pauses for a moment and closes his eyes. Then he exhales and continues. "Creed and Legend assassinated my father and decided to keep me. They are basically family to me."

"I'm sorry," I say, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's fine," he answers and says nothing afterwards.

"What about Zack and Jaden?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"Zack and his parents were homeless. He left them to join us when he was fourteen." Jay explains. "I found Jaden on a full moon in winter when he was ten. His parents had died in a car crash on the nearby road."

"Oh," I say, not able to think of anything else to say.