Part One

Snow Goose

Twelve years later

“It’s a snow goose, sweetie. As long as you have it, I will be with you. I love you, Thomas.”

Thomas slowly opened his eyes, slowly coming out of the memory. It was the only one he had of his mother--at least, that’s who he assumed it was. He couldn’t picture the speaker, only a flash of a sad, small smile, long, dark hair that smelled like fresh baked bread, and green eyes the color of a lush forest. The memory also contained an object, something that Thomas always carried with him wherever he went. Thomas pulled a medallion out from underneath his pillow. On it was some type of bird--a snow goose if the memory was correct. The goose was in flight, its wings wide and its beak pointing upwards. He traced a finger over the engraved lines. It was a usual pastime of his, one he did when he felt like he was drowning in the lack of knowledge about his family or when he woke up from dreams filled with vague memories from when he was a toddler.

When he was younger, Thomas would tether himself to the medallion, fully believing in the words of his mother. As the years passed, though, Thomas began to feel bitter and doubtful of the words. His memories of his mother grew dimmer and dimmer and his memories of his father were nonexistent. How could his mother be with him, if he couldn’t even remember what she looked like?

He sighed before slipping the medallion around his neck. Thomas might not fully believe his mother’s words, yet he couldn’t shake his desire for them to be true. He placed it under his shirt, shoving the thoughts and memory away with it. He rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling above him. Sunlight was streaming through the windows on the left side of the room, painting the walls and ceiling with the pink fingertips of dawn. Birds had started chirping in the trees right outside. Thomas sighed again, realizing that another day was about to begin.

Sure enough, less than five minutes later, the morning bell rang, signaling the start of a new day at the orphanage. Complaints rang out around the room, as they usually did when the bell rang, but Thomas ignored them. Instead, he stood up and began getting dressed. By the time he was done, the other twelve boys were just getting out of bed. Leaving the sleepy boys behind him in the boys' dormitory, Thomas made his way to the door. Opening it, he stepped out into the hallway. On one side of the hallway stood a window, which admitted the morning light into the interior of the orphanage. At the end of the hallway was a door, a door that Thomas knew led to the girls’ dormitory. He turned away from it, instead making his way to the stairs. He headed down them to get to the first floor, where the main living room was. He was only a few steps into the main living area when he heard the sound of running feet pounding down the stairs. Smiling to himself, Thomas kept walking, pretending he didn’t hear the footsteps. He had a guess as to who they belonged to.

“Tommy!” a voice shouted from behind him. “Tommy!”

Turning around, Thomas was hit with a force strong enough to cause him to stumble. He looked down to find a little boy clinging to his legs. The boy grinned up at Thomas, one of his front teeth missing. Thomas feigned surprise, despite the fact that his guess was completely correct.

“Erick?” he asked. “When did you get here?”

“Did I scare you?” Erick asked, stepping away from Thomas.

“Yeah, you did,” Thomas answered. “I di--”

Someone snorted. Thomas looked away to find a boy around his age stepping down the stairs. The boy was rolling his eyes as he said, “Everyone heard him, Thomas. You have to be deaf to not hear him.” There was a bite to his words, enough to make Erick’s excitement dip.

Thomas felt anger surge up within him as he saw Erick fold in on himself. He snapped his head away from Erick, instead setting his eyes upon the older boy. “Back off, Levi. What difference does it make how loud Erick was?”

Levi stepped closer to Thomas, close enough for their chests to touch. Erick stepped back behind Thomas, but Thomas refused to be cowed by the bigger boy. Even if they were the same age, Thomas was still considerably smaller than Levi. “He woke me up,” the boy finally replied.

Before Thomas could reply to that ridiculous comment, the front door opened, admitting the cold, fall breeze outside. Along with it came Ms. Jesse, the woman who ran the orphanage. With her graying brown hair in a tight bun on the top of her head and her gray eyes that took anything and everything in, she looked every inch the no-nonsense lady that she was. Her dictatorial ways could fool anyone into thinking that she didn’t care for the children in her care, but Thomas, who had known her for close to thirteen years now, knew that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Behind her hawkish gaze and her strict rules laid a woman who would do anything to protect the kids in her orphanage. And Thomas knew she hated Levi’s treatment of the younger boys just as much as he did.

Taking in the scene in front of her, Erick standing behind Thomas, Levi as close as possible to Thomas, and the rest of the children crowding around them, Ms. Jesse sighed. Just as Thomas had thought, she had instantly known what was happening.

“Erick,” she said, addressing the seven-year-old. “Where’s your brother?”

Erick, who had been staring at Levi for the past few minutes, suddenly looked around the group of children surrounding them, his fear quickly being replaced with an inquisitive look. Thomas spared a glance around the group around them as well, taking in the kids that he had grown up with. There was Charlie with his dark eyes, looking half-asleep. Beside him was Myla, an owlish girl with thick glasses. She usually had her nose stuck inside of a book and seeing her now without one was odd. Jake, who was friends with Levi, had his arms crossed, glaring at Erick. To the right of him was Quinn, another close friend of Levi. She leaned down to whisper something to Jake, who let out a small laugh. Finally, behind the entirety of the group and trying to shove his way through the circle of onlookers, was Erick’s twin brother, Derrick. With his hair the same shade of red as Erick’s hair and the same dark brown eyes as his brother, many people often confused the two. Even people close to the twins, like Ms. Jesse, had trouble. Thomas, however, never had any problems identifying who was who.

A few months after Thomas’ arrival at Ridgecrest Orphanage, the emperor of Aspaya had decided to invade Malin, taking over the kingdom a little over a year later and killing the royal family. A few years after that, he had decided to march onto Tascela, a war that the Aspayan Empire had just won mere months ago. In the early months of fighting between Aspaya and Tascela, Erick and Derrick’s father was forced to fight for the Aspayan Army, in a war that had led to his death, forcing him to leave his wife and sons behind. The twins' mother, sick with grief over the lost of her husband, ended up passing away just a few short months later, leaving her two sons in the care of Ms. Jesse’s orphanage. As soon as they had arrived, eleven-year-old Thomas had become attached to them, helping take care of the little boys. As the twins grew older, they stayed close to Thomas’ side, looking up to him and trusting him to take care of them.

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Thomas nudged Erick’s arm, pointing out Derrick to the younger boy. Erick’s face lightened up and he pushed through the crowd to make it to his twin. Nodding swiftly, Ms. Jesse returned her attention to Thomas and Levi.

“Thomas, come with me. The rest of you, get ready for breakfast. You have twenty minutes.” The kids scrambled off, Levi and his two friends the last to leave. Thomas stayed behind, not the least bit worried at all about his conversation with Ms. Jesse.

As soon as the kids went upstairs, Ms. Jesse turned on her heel, leading the way outside. Thomas followed her out, shivering slightly at the cold air. The sun hadn’t had time yet to warm the air, leaving a chill to the morning air. Keeping to the paved ground, Ms. Jesse headed to the second building on the campus of the orphanage, where the dining hall, classrooms, and Ms. Jesse’s office and room resided. Between them laid a grassy field, where the children played games every afternoon. It was here where Thomas had learned basic skills, where he had made friends, where he had grown up. This was where the people Thomas cared for and, dare he say it, loved lived. This was Thomas’ reality and it had no place for the dreams of his memories of his family. This was something tangible that Thomas could tether himself to, not something vague that he could barely remember.

Still, he couldn’t shake the thoughts of the what ifs away. Still, Thomas brought his hand up, grazing the medallion beneath his shirt, and he felt a warmth he didn’t understand creep into him as he remembered the words of his mother.

“It’s a snow goose, sweetie. As long as you have it, I will be with you. I love you, Tho--”

“--mas.” Suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to find Ms. Jesse holding open the door for him. She smiled, the harshness that might’ve been in her gaze disappearing. Thomas hurried through the door, standing in the front part of the building. The woman stepped past him and he continued to follow her into her office. Once there, she sat behind the desk, gesturing for Thomas to take the seat across from her.

“What happened?” she asked once he sat down.

She stayed silent during Thomas’ story, not interrupting once. After he was done, she sighed, rubbing a hand over her eyes. “I’m sorry,” Thomas apologized, fearing that his story had upset her in some way.

“Don’t apologize, Thomas,” Ms. Jesse said. “Levi is the one at fault here. I’ll speak with him about it later.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Just then, the breakfast bell rang and Thomas stood up, about to leave.

“Wait,” the woman said. Looking back at Ms. Jesse, Thomas sat back down, wondering what else she wanted to discuss. “We have to talk about your birthday.”

Thomas blinked in surprise. “What about it?”

Ms. Jesse frowned. “Well, it’s in six days and you’re turning sixteen. It’s an important date.”

This time, it was Thomas’ turn to frown. “I don’t want you to do anything more than you usually do. I know you have a lot of kids to care for and not--”

“I wasn’t talking about having a party, Thomas. I was talking about the Enlistment Act.” She stopped talking, looking expectantly at Thomas. He only looked at her confusion, prompting her to explain herself. “Thomas, in six days you’ll be sixteen. That means a unit of soldiers will arrive and enlist you into the Aspayan Army. You will then be a soldier for the next ten years. You will fight in their wars, perhaps even dying for their cause.”

“I know,” Thomas said evenly. “I’m not scared.”

Ms. Jesse’s frown deepened. “You’re not?”

Thomas shook his head. A few years ago, the mere thought of the Act would fill Thomas up with panic and fear, yet, in recent months, the fear had dissipated. Why be frightened about something he couldn’t change? Why worry about something he didn’t have any control over? It was part of the law and therefore should be followed, despite whether or not it was fair.

“Are you sure?” Ms. Jesse asked, sounding confused by Thomas’ lack of concern.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Why spend the energy being scared about something I can’t control? The law states I will be a part of the Aspayan Army in six days and therefore I will be part of the army, fighting and dying for them.”

Ms. Jesse leaned back, her gray eyes looking at Thomas in admiration. “I wish I had your view on life, Thomas,” she said after a few seconds. “You may go to breakfast now; that’s all I wanted to talk with you about.”

Thomas nodded and slipped out of the room. He headed down to the dining room, sitting down at a table with Charlie and Myla. As usual, Myla had a book in her hands, reading it intently. Charlie handed him a bowl with porridge in it and Thomas started to eat it. Looking across the room, he waved to Erick and Derrick. They waved back, grinning widely at the older boy. Suddenly, a thought flew through Thomas’ mind and the fear he had felt years ago crept into him.

Nine years from now, those two little boys would be the ones stepping into Ms. Jesse’s office, discussing their sixteenth birthday with her. They would be the ones fearing the Enlistment Act, dreading the day they will have to go to war. While Thomas wasn’t worried about his own safety, the thought that the twins would ever have to fight for Aspaya against their will or, God forbid, die for the Empire, scared Thomas down to his core. He glanced over at Charlie, who had a piece of wood in his hands. Half of the block of wood was a bear. Thomas knew that Charlie had dreams of becoming a carpenter and, looking at the half-carved bear, Thomas desperately hoped that he could achieve them. But if he died fighting for Aspaya, he would never achieve those dreams. He would die before they could come to fruition. Thomas’ gaze fell upon every boy in the dining hall, his heart beating faster and faster in fear as he realized that, one day, every single one of them would have to fight for Aspaya. For some, like Levi and Thomas, that day would be in the next few months. Others, like the twins, would have to wait close to a decade for that to happen.

His hands shook as he thought about it and he could hardly keep his breakfast down as he imagined the futures of the boys. He didn’t care at all if he died or was injured, but the people he had grown up with…he would rather die than let something happen to them, including Levi and his friends. He couldn’t let the Enlistment Act ruin their lives, like it was about to ruin his.

What can you do? a part of Thomas asked. How can a fifteen-year-old boy stop something that has affected thousands of lives?

“Tommy!” He snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed that Derrick and Erick had walked up to him, with matching grins on their faces. “We were wondering…” Derrick’s voice trailed off and he glanced over at Erick.

Without missing a beat, Erick finished his thought. “If we could go outside and play before the morning lessons?”

Throwing his thoughts about the future away, Thomas forced a smile onto his face. “Sure!” he said, standing up from his spot at the table. “Let’s go.”

He let the twins grab both of his hands and drag him outside. They talked a mile a minute, Erick carrying most of the conversation but backing off immediately when Derrick wanted to chime in. They talked about everything and nothing at the same time, but none of it bothered Thomas. If anything, it strengthened his resolve to protect these two young children, boys who didn’t deserve to die for an emperor that didn’t care about them, for a kingdom that took their parents away from them.

I might not be much, Thomas thought, watching the twins run around the grassy field. But I know I have to do something.

What that something was, though, he was at a loss.