Max sat on the floor of an enormous home filled with too many children and no parents at all. Nuns in long black robes and veils bustled about, cleaning, feeding, attending to bumps and bruises, and offering far more love to their charges than most fictional children's stories would have anyone believe.
His chubby toddler hands felt about for blocks.
"Light!" He said.
"Shhh," the sister nearest him whispered. "We are playing a game, remember? All must be quiet and dark so the seekers cannot find us."
He stood and ran to the window. Running delighted him. He never walked anywhere if he could help it, though the sisters often admonished him for being "too busy." In the dark sky, the flashing lights of aircraft zoomed over the city. They seemed far away, but when an explosion lit the sky in the distance, he felt the power of the act. His heart was drawn toward that place he would have run straight toward it if he could, but then strong arms lifted him up and carried him away from the glass. "Time for all of us to go into the basement."
Crouched in the dank shadows below the enormous house, Lily's hand slipped into his. She didn't speak. Not ever. The nuns thought something was wrong with her and they sent her to the doctor all the time. She got to wear a special arm band with multi-colored puzzle pieces on it, just like Donny, but she wasn't like Donny. Not really. Not lost in a world none of the rest of them had no access to. Max thought she could talk if she felt like it, she just didn't want to. When she was ready, she would speak her mind.
They sat side-by-side in the dark, silent basement while the sisters kept watch and prayed and the people outside killed one another.
YOU ARE READING
A Book of Dust and Breath
ParanormalMax has spent the past several thousand lifetimes as a Reaper among humans and, despite the pleasures of a tidy country home with a well-dusted library and a finely tuned Harley, he's starting to get bored. His best friend gives him some advice: "Dr...
