Glistening Embers

Chapter 2: A Black Limousine

Author's Note: Soooooo close to finishing writing this! Just working on Epilogue right now, then done! Excited to share the second chapter with you guys and hope you enjoy it! Now, being an orphan, Glisteen was not incredibly intelligent, but was street smart. And being so, she knew when someone was lying.

Shifty eyes and fidgety hands were both common signs, but the most important one was fixing hair.

When Kavana said she hadn't locked Sia in the attic, she had twirled her hair. When Gilledmop had claimed she gave the orphans everything she had, she had brushed back her hair. Now when the man claimed to be their father, he flipped his hair while waiting for her reaction.

"He's a liar." she blurted out. The small room went back to whispering. Gilledmop stomped over to her and pulled her up by her ear.

"I don't care if he's the king of Niactarcta." Niactarcta was the most southern and most cruel country in all of Aethr. "If anyone, anyone at all, is giving me money to take you nasty little orphans away, you and your little baby sister will go with him. As far as I'm concerned, he is your father. Understood?"

Glisteen tore away from Gilledmop angrily. "Yes, Matron." she muttered in a dull voice.

Yilasia still sat on the floor with a shocked look on her face. "Sia, get up." she said, feeling cold, almost frozen.

Yilasia glanced at the man drumming his long fingers on the table. "But he's-

If possible, she got colder. "If  we don't want to end up on the streets, we have to go with him."

"But-"

"We have to go with him! Understood?" she screamed at the younger girl.

Yilasia froze for a second, then something set in her jawline and she walked over to the man. "Let's go, Father."

Glisteen reached a hand out, then let it fall. She had hurt Sia. The one thing she had sworn never to do. She took a deep breath and walked over to the man.

"My name is Hepas." he informed her. "But until further notice, you will call me Father." Glisteen ground her jaw and nodded. She did not like where this was going.

"Any papers to sign?" he asked Gilledmop.

"No!" Gilledmop replied, gleefully. "Just the money."

"How much?" he asked, pulling the most money Glisteen had ever seen in her life out of his coat. Gilledmop gawked at the overstuffed, jangling bag, uncomprehending.

Whoever this Hepas was, he must have been powerful, or working for someone who was.

"All-all of it." Gilledmop stammered, eyes laser focused on the money.

Hepas smirked, knowingly. "But, of course." He threw the bag over to Kavana, who held it for the smallest fraction of a second before Gilledmop tore it from her hands.

"Thank- thank you, sir. Have a good day with your, ahem, daughters!" Cackling almost madly, Gilledmop waddled into her office, presumably to count the money.

Kavana stayed for a moment, giving Glisteen a hateful, envious glare before following after Gilledmop.

As the 'father' and 'daughters' walked out of the horrible place known as an orphanage, Glisteen saw a black limousine waiting for them. "I thought you got here in bird form." she said, as Hepas ushered them into the car.

"No," he replied, climbing into the driver's seat. "I drove here, turned into a bird, and flew to the window, where I saw you."

"What was the point of that?" Yilasia piped up. It was the first time she'd spoken since Glisteen had screamed at her. "Couldn't you just walk through the door?"

Hepas' eyes twinkled as he turned to look at them. "Makes for a more dramatic entrance, don't you think? You may call me Hepas now. "

The car started suddenly, throwing Glisteen's head back into the seat. "Where are you taking us?" she asked.

"The harbor," he said casually.

Glisteen gasped, a million thoughts running through her head. Was he, could he be... a slave trader? It all made sense now! Slave traders were notoriously rich, which would explain the limousine and the overstuffed bag.

Orphans were their ideal target, parentless and half starved; some would go with anyone with lots of money. Once the slave traders got them on their ships...

"Sia," she whispered frantically, "When I get to 3, we jump out of the car. Ok?"

"What- No!"

"We have to, Sia!"

"That's what you said about going with him!"

"And how right she was," Hepas said, interrupting their plans to escape. While continuing to drive with his front two hands, a third hand (oh right, he was a shapeshifter) grabbed Glisteen and Yilasia's hands (so many hands) and held them palm up.

Glisteen struggled to get free while Hepas then grew a fourth hand, and picked up two pins. Glisteen felt a small prick as a drop of blood was drawn from her finger and placed onto an odd metal box.

Glisteen empathized with her sister and struggled to get free even harder as Yilasia let out a yelp and her blood was placed onto a separate metal box.

As if in sync, both boxes then glowed green. Hepas set the boxes down carefully and retracted his extra appendages into himself.

"What is wrong with you?!" Glisteen screamed at him.

"Exactly as I suspected." Hepas mumbled to himself, pulling the car over to park.

"And what did you suspect?" Glisteen questioned, her voice dripping with angry sarcasm.

Hepas turned to face the two girls. "That both of you are like me. Both of you are Gifted."