The boy sat on the edge of his bed and looked across the room at Jay. He averted his eyes when Jay caught him staring and pretended to be looking at his fingernails. The boy could not stop thinking about how different Jay looked.

At first, he told himself it was just his haircut that his momma had given his older brother. But the more he looked at him, the more he saw something else in his eyes. He had shadows in his face that weren’t usually there and the boy could not figure out what else was different. He reached his invisible hand out to touch his brother’s mind.

“Fuck off, Rat,” Jay murmured as he flipped the page of his book.

“I ain’t doin’ nothin’,” the boy lied. His eldest brother merely shook his head and sighed.

“Touch my head again and I will slap you.” Jay’s voice was hollow and didn’t sound angry, just matter of fact. He seemed to mean what he said, but there was no emotion behind his threat. It worried the boy that something might be wrong with his brother. He liked helping people, especially his brothers. He had cured Indie, and he could probably cure Jay, too.

When he reached out again, he made sure to close his eyes to hide what he was doing. He laid in his bunk and closed his hands on his stomach. Then he reached his invisible part of him out again, so slowly that he counted to ten before he had reached Jay’s bed. Then another ten to make it to Jay’s face. Another ten to probe slowly into his mind. He felt a hard, open handed slap across his face and gasped.

“I told you to stop that,” Jay said as he leaned over the boy. His hand was raised to slap him again and the boy shrank away.

“I’m sorry, Jay! I just wanna help you!” the boy screamed in shocked pain as he grabbed his cheek.

“I don’t need your help.” Jay laid back down as though he had not just assaulted his brother and continued reading.

Getting hit by Jay wasn’t frequent but it wasn’t unheard of either. The scary part for the boy was the lack of shouting and emotion behind the attack. It scared him more than the slap itself had. Something was wrong with his brother, he knew it.

He didn’t have time to think about it too much, though, as Indie interrupted his thoughts when he burst into the room with an anxious energy.

“Momma just got a call from Mr. Avery. He said he is bringin’ the revised papers tonight.” Indie looked at him for the first time and his eyebrows knit together across his nervous face. His eyes flicked to the boy’s cheek, red and throbbing, and over to Jay, lounging in his bed reading.

Don’t say anything, Indie. The boy pleaded silently. Indie merely inclined his head slightly and waved the boy over.

“Let’s find out what we can do to help Momma before Mr. Avery comes.” The boy forced a smile on his face and followed his brother.

Their mother was at the table sewing one of the twin’s newly ripped shirts. Indie saw her hands move in a quick flicking motion to bring the two edges of the torn fabric together. He raised a hand to his forehead and wondered if his brother used that same idea to heal wounds.

“You boys sit outside until dark. I want some quiet.” She nodded to the backdoor but kept her eyes on the sewing in her hands. Indie shrugged and led the way out the back door, down the few short steps, and to the side path that ran along their house to the front. The boys sat next to each other on the curb in the warm sunshine and were still.

Indie looked around them, suspicious of any shadowy figures. The boy caught him looking and frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Indie hated the worry in his tiny voice.

“Aww, nothin’. Just bored.” He shut his mind as hard as he could against his brother. It just set the boy to giggling.

“That’s not how that works. You don’t imagine a door. You have to actually shut your mind.” He sent Indie the idea of their mother’s stitching. “Maybe you would like that idea better.” Indie merely shrugged and shook his head.

“None of it matters, Rat.” Suddenly, he felt the meaning of his words and tears leapt into his eyes. “Shit, Rat. Shit.” The boy scooted closer to him and rested his tiny head on his shoulder.

“I’ll miss you, too, Indie,” he said quietly. He didn’t sound as sad as Indie felt and the elder brother wondered if he was secretly excited to get away. They sat in silence while Indie’s mind raced. His time with his brother was waning, the seconds ticking away with each tear that fell.

“I’ve gotta tell you about the shadow men, Rat, because you need to ask Mr. Avery about them.” Indie finally decided.

“I know about them. I think it’s only one man, and he’s not a shadow. He’s just real fast,” the boy assured his brother.

“You ain’t scared of him?” Indie asked, confused.

“’Course I am. But Mr. Avery said I ain’t gonna get taken while we are with him. Before Mr. Avery I would wish and worry and think and pray that nothing came in that window.” His voice trembled a little.

“I’m sorry I brought it up, Rat. I’m just scared for you. I will ask Mr. Avery myself, then. Because I need to know if we should be worried about him when you leave.” Indie hadn’t planned on talking to the visitor but talking with his brother made him change his mind.

They sat until the shadows of evening fell across them and then went back inside. Indie saw that his mother had dressed in a nice dress, combed her hair up in a flattering pile on her head and had put on a little lipstick. Indie, too, felt like this occasion was momentous.

Each family member filtered in slowly but this time, each brother took his spot at the kitchen table. Their mother stood behind the boy, her hands resting on his shoulders lightly. Their father stood with his backside resting at the sink, sipping a cup of coffee.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The knock startled them all and Indie watched as Jay got up to answer the door. His face was passive, solemn, and blank. He returned shortly with Mr. Avery in tow. Mr. Avery carried two large briefcases, which he set on the counter. He turned and faced the family.

“I’m glad to see you’re all here, as the newest provisos and agreements must be read to all pertaining parties.” He gestured to the two cases and addressed Indie’s parents. “The agreed upon amount.” He drew out a single sheet of paper from his breast pocket and unfolded it slowly. He held out the sheet of paper, breaking down what each child had been worth. Indie reached under the table and grabbed his brother’s tiny hand. His brother squeezed his hand back and gave him a soft smile.

You’re going to come with me, Indie. The boy’s voice had a confident lilt inside his head.

How do you know?

“Dora and James, the Nightbound Hierarchy, on behalf of the Lux Initiative, request formal transference of guardianship of your son…” Mr. Avery intoned formally. He stopped and his eyes landed on Indie’s brother’s face.

“James Junior.” The stunned silence laced with a sharp coldness in the room was broken only by Jay’s own whisper.

“What the fuck?”

“We also request the transfer of guardianship of your sons Benjamin and Joseph.” The shock rippled around the room for a second time, so palpable that Indie swore he could see it.

“Why?” whispered Indie’s mother.

“We also request the transfer of guardianship of your son Indiana.”

“What’s goin’ on here?” Indie’s father finally spoke up.

“And finally, we request the guardianship of your youngest son, Alexander.”

I told you. Indie’s brother’s voice echoed hollowly in his mind as the shock, and something else, wrapped around him. The last thing he heard was his mother’s screaming sobs and his little brother’s delighted, childlike giggle, then nothing.

The boy watched in glee as his parents signed the papers. He was going to take not just Indie with him, but all his brothers. They would be a family, only missing their mother, who he would write to constantly, once he learned how to write. And to read.

“This second contract states that the contact you have with your sons will be limited to written communication, and when we see that it does not interfere with their work, verbal communication may be permitted. You will not attempt to find them, nor will you try to contact them yourselves. We will send any communication from our end.” He watched his parents sign this as well. He looked around the room to his brothers who all stood motionless in a creepy way. Even Indie’s hand in his own felt tense and immobile.

“What’s wrong with my brother, Mr. Avery?” he asked finally.

“They are in stasis, young Alexander.”

“Rat,” he corrected. Mr. Avery merely pursed his lips and frowned.

“You will not need that nickname any longer. I suppose you won’t need Alexander much longer, either, so we should probably just dispense with names entirely for now.” He looked to the boy’s parents and motioned for him to follow him.

“Wait, I wanna hug Momma.” He got up from his chair and hugged his mother’s legs. She stood still and didn’t move to embrace him. Sad coldness was rising in his chest and he beat it down with scowl. He was taking his brothers with him and now maybe Pops would be nicer to Momma since they wouldn’t be around to bother him. He was not going to cry because his Momma wouldn’t hug him.

“She’s also in stasis, son.” Mr. Avery said gently. “The contract they just signed will keep them in this state until we leave the premises.”

“Oh,” he said. He felt a little better about not getting a hug back if that was the case. “What about my brothers?”

“Where you go, they follow.” Mr. Avery smiled again, but he looked smug and almost mean like Pops did sometimes. “That bond you share is deep, and I have made sure that they will follow. Let’s go.” He turned and led the way to the front door. The boy tentatively reached out and touched each of his family member’s minds and was sure that they felt just as they did when he explored their heads while they slept. Then he tried to touch Mr. Avery and felt a wall so hot and crack-less that he shrank away in pain.

As they left his childhood home behind, the boy belatedly realized that he had not packed anything to take with him. Mr. Avery reassured him on that front.

“You will have everything you need provided for you at the Initiative and the physical sentimental things you wish to take with you will not matter when you get there.”

They were nearly to the two black cars when the boy caught sight of the shadowy man on the edges of the trees near a house across the street.

“Mr. Avery!” He pointed out the figure lurking not far away. His escort frowned and shook his head slightly.

“Absolute trash,” he whispered. “Hiding in the shadows, as usual,” he called to the man in the darkness. The figure detached itself from the tree it was leaning against and loped animal-like across the street.

He was horrifying up close. His yellowed teeth were long and sharp. His hands were gnarled and had long claw-like fingernails and dirty black hair fell to his shoulders in tangled ropes. The tattered t-shirt and jeans he wore barely clung to his frame, which was, the boy noted, even more skeletal than the gaunt Mr. Ulrich. But his eyes were the most terrible. They were shot through with blood and bulged horridly. The boy shrank behind Mr. Avery.

“Avery.” The creature spat, and the boy noticed it was tinged with blood. “You smell of human, Broker.”

“You smell of rotten rabbits. Are you on the run again?”

“I’m hunting right now, as we speak.” He flicked a bright red tongue over his teeth.

“The Scouts are still here, you low-life scum. You’d be dead before you could touch him.” Mr. Avery rolled his eyes in boredom.

“You seem to be awfully well fed for a Broker, Avery. He can hardly tell you’re not human. This must be a very good bounty for you.” The thing seemed to take delight in needling the well-dressed man.

“I see you have been trying to poach again,” Avery said, ignoring the jab.

“Trying?” hissed the man-thing. He laughed in a hoarse rattle. “Twenty-two, myself.”

“Well, that which you were searching for was just procured legally.” Mr. Avery sniffed. He gestured vaguely to the boy and his brothers. “They are under the guardianship of the Hierarchy and the Lux Initiative.” His smug look came back and the boy frowned in confusion.

“The court will never tolerate a boy king.”

“There won’t be a boy king, so rest easy.” Mr. Avery was annoyed; the boy could tell. He reached out his own mind to touch the creature’s. It hissed in pain and his already bulbous eyes bulged out even more.

“Bonded!” he shrieked. “Bonded. No wonder you wanted them all. Which one did you trick?” The thing raked his claw-like hands through his greasy black hair.

“Why don’t you go crawl in a hole somewhere and die?” Avery suggested.

“The bonds will break, you know.” The man-thing spat again and this time it was even more bloody.

“Most definitely, but it will temper the final product and make him stronger.” Mr. Avery agreed, and he shuffled from one foot to the other in impatience.

The thing jutted his chin out and the boy followed his gaze to Two and Toe.

“They won’t survive.” The boy caught Mr. Avery’s eyes flick toward his own.

“That is a matter for us to figure out. This family is no longer of your concern.” He held his hand out for the boy to move past him to the car. “You can be assured that you will be reported for poaching. This is your third strike, isn’t it?”

The thing’s eyes narrowed.

“You have to catch me in order to punish me, Avery.” He hissed his wheezing laugh again, and darted off into the night, faster than the boy’s eyes could follow.