Chapter 2

Hide Away

I felt my heart sink. A creeping dread burrowed deep into the pit of my stomach as Professor Beaumont’s words sank in. They weren’t supposed to be here. Not yet, at least. Pointlessly, I blurted out, “I thought inspection was in two days…” As if the world gave a shit about what I wanted and would fix itself to match. Saying it out loud didn’t change anything. It only made the horror dig deeper.

The professor, her lungs finally full, hastily explained. “The priest, Father Carter, arrived just after me. He caught both me and Missus Dumont unaware. She’s keeping him occupied and sent me to warn you. Get out of sight!”

I snapped back to myself at last. Frantically, I scanned my surroundings for somewhere, anywhere I could disappear. When I was little, I could be stuffed somewhere out of the way, like the pantry or the chest in Miss Talia’s room. Somewhere they wouldn’t look. Now that I’m older, Miss Talia would just send me off into the city to run errands and the like before an inspector arrived. When you get to my size, good hiding spots are harder and harder to come by.

I weighed my options. Should I sneak down the stairs and out the back? No, that wouldn’t work. Those stairs were so aged and rickety you could hear them from anywhere in the building. Out the window? I wouldn’t have trouble breaking it, but that would also cause tons of noise and look suspicious as all hell. Not to mention the fall. Kill the inspector? Out of the question.

My deliberating got me precisely nowhere for long enough that the bottom steps began to creak once more. Two sets of footsteps, one in front and the other behind, and two muffled voices slowly approaching the bunk room. Professor Beaumont looked back for a moment, then turned to me once more, her eyes pleading with me to vanish.

I whipped my head around the room desperately, looking for some way I could oblige. Eventually, my eyes settled on the window, the only option I seemed to have left. I prepared for a running start, all the kids behind me moving back from the narrow center aisle, when my gaze drifted from the window to my bed just left of it. And the cavernous space underneath.

I bolted toward the window and made a last second turn toward my bed, as I dove to the floor just beside it. Both voices were nearly comprehensible, fast approaching the top, as I wiggled my way underneath the bed frame, shoving aside piles of clothing, clean and filthy alike. The space was just large enough to fit me if I laid flat on my stomach and kept my legs bent just a smidge. It was awkward, uncomfortable, and musty, but I was completely hidden. Just in time too, as both voices, Miss Talia’s and some man I’d never heard before, reached the top of the steps. The man, Father Carter, was finishing some anecdote.

“...and that’s when I had to tell him, ‘No, holy water is not Aquana’s spit!’” He laughed at his own story, a deep, raspy chortle, which suggested an elderly man who was nevertheless still quite fit. Miss Talia laughed along as convincingly as she could, but I could hear the tiny notes of panic in her voice. However, there was also the hint of relief that she couldn’t see me.

A brief pause as the two collected themselves. After a moment, the Father spoke up, “Well, looks like the children were already up, and your envoy wasn’t even needed!” He sighed in contentment. “Such good kids.” He paused once more, counting. “Still only nine of them, though.”

Heavy footfalls clomped nearer my hiding spot in a steady rhythm, and I placed a hand over my mouth, trying to mask my breathing. Before he reached the foot of the bed, Miss Talia asked, “Father Carter,” he stopped in his tracks, “If I may, wasn’t inspection two days from now?”

“What, am I no longer allowed to visit one of our most loyal parishioners?” He joked with a small chuckle in his voice. “Why, If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to get rid of me!”

“Oh, perish the thought!” Her incredulous tone was strained, but it would have to suffice. “You’re always welcome here, Father.”

“I’d hope so.” He began. “The church’s funding is what keeps your doors open. This is our property first and foremost.” A simple reminder said without a hint of malice, and yet it carried all the weight of a threat. “Still, it’s sad to see this place in such disrepair. You’re certain you don’t want to take a tenth child? The extra Cinders could do this place well.”

“Oh I’m positive, Father. Ten would be one too many for these old bones!”

“Truly?” A note of smugness hung to the end of his question. “Was it too much for your young bones as well?” His footsteps resumed, tromping slowly closer to me. I kept as still as possible, held my breath, and wished for nothing more than to become a statue. “I looked at past inspection records before coming here, and it seems you’ve only had nine children for the past sixteen years, Missus Dumont.” I could see his leather sandals from the crack at the foot of my bed, along with the bottom of his white, red-trimmed robe. “And it certainly wasn’t for lack of supply. Despite all our efforts, the streets of Ashval are still riddled with abandoned kids.” I watched his feet travel from the foot to the right side of my bed, mere inches from my face. “So consistent too. Sure, some months you’d have eight, maybe seven, but you always got back to nine, and never went above. All that said,'' I heard the faint sound of one of the blankets spread on my mattress lifting, “Mind explaining why this unused bed is in such disarray?”

Godsdamn my morning scramble, I didn’t set my fucking bed! The absurdity of the situation nearly outweighed the overwhelming terror. After all these years, that’s what outs me?! It would’ve been hilarious, if I wasn’t so scared that I was sweating.

Mercifully, the gods deigned to grace Miss Talia with a flash of inspiration. “Levi!” She yelled, “How many times do I have to tell you not to jump on the empty bed?! Just because nobody sleeps there doesn’t make it a playground!”

Levi was always fast on the ball. It was one of his best qualities. I heard him right across the room from me, snapped out of the silent stupor everyone else was trapped in. “Sorry ma’am, it won’t happen again.”

I heard the blanket drop back down as Father Carter stepped away. I risked a few shallow breaths, letting sweet air back into my body as he got further and further. As he got closer to the stairs, I heard him speak once more, and had to strain my ears to listen.

“Missus Dumont, allow me to be frank.” His words took on a sad, almost apologetic timbre. “Nobody likes being suspicious of you, but you don’t leave us with much choice. So, I will make you an offer.” All sympathy in his tone was replaced with cold, even delivery. “Give up what you’re hiding…and we both know there is only one thing you would hide…and I promise your sins will be forgiven. However, if you claim innocence, and are later found to be guilty,” his voice dropped an entire octave, gaining an authoritative menace, “You will be spared no quarter.”

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I felt the awful sensation of my soul ripping in two. Half begged her to keep quiet, to just let me keep my life as it was, let me stay and keep helping her. I could always find a way to hide, to stay out of sight. What was a couple dozen more months anyhow? I’d avoided them well enough so far, it was never that hard. I’d age out, find work somewhere and finally stop being such a burden.

The other half pleaded for her to finally give me up, for her own sake. She could barely keep herself going with what little she had now, let alone ten children. At least without me she could finally get the money she needed. She had a golden chance to safely drop the dead weight and live the rest of her life in peace, not needing to jump at every knock on the door. All she had to do was turn me over.

The net result of this was me, sitting petrified in the dust under a bed I didn’t truly own, in a house I wasn’t allowed in. I held my breath, terrified of what the woman with absolute power over my fate would say next. After a short eternity, at long last, she decided.

“I’m sorry Father, but I’m not hiding anything.” Steady as a rock, her voice. I could nearly hear the glare she shot at the priest as she spoke.

Another infinite second of silence. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife, the quiet so thick you could spread it on a piece of bread. It was getting hard to hear anyway, what with my heart deciding to relocate into my ears. But I was able to catch Father Carter’s sigh of defeat.

“Fine,” he growled, “But keep in mind this was your one and only chance.” I faintly heard him walk past where Miss Talia must’ve been standing, and the first step down croaked painfully as he set his weight. “I’ll take my leave now.”

“Let me show you out.” Miss Talia offered, not willing to let him out of her sight. The stairs played their cacophony once more, starting loud and getting softer this time, before it stopped. Even as both of them departed, nobody dared move a muscle until the all-clear was given. Another minute or so passed before Miss Talia worked her way back up to us and announced, “He’s gone!”

In an instant, the room was filled with the dull roar of fear relaxing into relief. Everyone took their first real breath in minutes, as I shuffled out of my piles of dusty clothes and back onto my feet. As soon as I stepped back into the center aisle, I was blindsided by Miss Talia, locking me in a bearhug that nearly toppled me back to the floor. “I’m so sorry Sebastian! I had no clue he was coming, I swear!” A slight tremor rocked her voice, as the overwhelming anxiety of the situation caught up with her. She looked from me to Professor Beaumont. “Thank the gods you got here when you did!”

“Thank the dean,” The professor joked, “He’s the one who scheduled me for five classes today.” The room had fallen back into a comfortable din of children talking with one another, discussing what just happened and what they absolutely would’ve done, had it not threatened the safety of everyone in the building. The professor noticed this, and moved in closer to me and Miss Talia, lowering her voice. “Forgive me for addressing the hydra in the room, but we all agree that was much too close for comfort, correct?”

Miss Talia’s expression fell into grim seriousness. “Yes, they’re getting craftier. Starting to catch on. Luck was on our side this time, but if it hadn’t been…”

I was, and still am, no genius, but even I could piece together what they were implying. Time was running out, and I couldn’t stay much longer.

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Once everyone had recovered from the morning’s fiasco, the rest of the day proceeded as normal. Breakfast was served in the large dining hall, which doubled as the orphanage’s front entrance. Professor Beaumont decided to teach us about the three different Manabeast classifications: Lesser, Greater, and Major. She stood at the foot of the long table everyone sat at, monologuing about mana density and the elements. Apparently, she was planning on teaching times tables, but was, “inspired,” so to speak, by the priest’s visit.

I’d already heard this lesson before, and was spacing out with my breakfast. I dipped spoonfulls of mashed potatoes into the stew Miss Talia had cooked, allowing it to soak up the broth, before popping it in my mouth. The taste was just as exquisite every time, and I couldn’t help but scarf the whole thing down as fast as I could. Levi sat to my right, racing me to see who could finish his bowl fastest, still not realizing that he would never win. Once I’d cleaned my plate and thoroughly thrashed my opposition, I turned my focus to the very end of the lesson.

“Now,” The professor addressed the dining hall, "Who can summarize for me what separates beasts in different classes?”

Professor Beaumont wouldn’t call on me anyway, even if I did raise my hand, so I just stayed silent. She knew I’d heard all this before. There was quiet for a moment, before Ava raised her hand. The professor pointed at her. “Yes, Ava?”

“Um, Greater beasts have one of the ten elements, while Minor beasts don’t?”

“That’s correct.” She grinned at Ava. “Now, what separates Greater and Major beasts?”

There was a long pause as everyone simultaneously realized they were too preoccupied with their food to really listen. Just as things were getting awkward, I decided to give Levi his losing penalty. I grabbed his wrist and hoisted his hand high in the air. He knew I was stronger than him, so he didn’t even try to fight. Rather, he just glared at me with all the malice a boy his age could muster. The professor called on him.

Levi scrambled for words for a moment before bumbling out, “Well, uh, they can think, right? Like people do?”

“And?” Professor Beaumont pressed.

“And…” His eyes drifted to mine, begging for rescue. I rapidly tapped my pointer finger against my chest. Levi’s eyes lit back up as he got the signal. “They can have babies with humans!”

“Correct!”

Levi let out a relieved sigh before jabbing me in the shoulder. I pretended it hurt.

“For reasons we don’t fully understand, these hybrids, called Demibeasts, typically take on more human traits than beast ones, but will always inherit certain traits from their beast parent. Along with their elemental magic. Demi-dragons for example…” At this point, Professor Beaumont realized she had gotten swept up in the lesson, and checked her pocket watch. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. “Good gods! Sorry kids but I need to go! Enjoy your day!” She frantically jammed her watch back in her dress pocket before she sprinted for the door, yanked it open, and let it slam behind her.

It didn’t take much longer for everyone else to finish up breakfast before we broke away for daily chores. I cleaned the table and washed the dishes as all the younger children stepped outside to play. Today was a free day, meaning that once everything that needed doing was done, we had plenty of time left for ourselves. There was no yard space, as packed as the orphanage was with other buildings on our road, but we were allowed outside for merriment. Some of the older kids would even walk into the city center, wandering around the rich markets and gawking at expensive knick-knacks and luxuries that they couldn't even afford to think about. If you were early enough, you could sometimes even catch groups of Exterminators heading under the royal palace into the Labyrinth for their daily raid.

I was still shaken from the morning and had no desire to risk bumping into a priest while out and about. Instead, once all the dishes and laundry were washed, I headed back upstairs and spent the afternoon amusing Patricia, Conner, and the twins with my dragon-ness. I (very carefully) displayed my fire breath, twisting my mouth into different shapes to give the flame amusing patterns. What always got the biggest laugh was when I’d force the fire up and out through my nostrils, creating two thin jets that lanced from my nose.

I also showed off how sharp and tough my claws and teeth were, tearing and biting through pieces of firewood for the hearth. Larger pieces were tough to break, but I could still shred an average-sized log with my bare hands, which Conner found especially impressive. As supper time neared, however, I’d switched to regaling them with stories from when I was young (well, younger) and the other children I’d met. I was about to tell them about the time a girl named Sophie almost got me caught, when Levi barged in on story time.

“Sebastian!” He shouted as he ran up the steps. He reached the top, panting and sweating buckets. I was sitting on my bed, the four other children surrounding me, as we all stared at him with mild concern. “I was looking for you everywhere! Get downstairs to Miss Talia’s office, now!”

It sounded harsh and blunt, but I noticed the wide smile carved into his face and the jovial air Levi held around him, despite exhaustion. It piqued my curiosity. “Why does she need me?”

“There’s a couple here.” He looked at me like I had accomplished something amazing. “They want to meet with you!”