“What did you mean that my parents are not my parents?”
Smoke cleared his voice and spoke next, “Remi, sweetie, you are one of us now and forever, and we take care of our own. When you arrived, Reaper asked me and the others to investigate your background. What we found didn’t add up, so Player and I dug deeper. You were adopted honey.”
“Well, technically, you were kidnapped, sold, and then adopted,” Player added.
“Then who are my real parents?”
“That’s why we brought you in here. I met with Chief Conners today. He found your birth parents. I’m sorry babe, but your birth parents died last year in a fire. You have two siblings. A sister who is fifteen and a brother who is eight. They are currently in the foster care system in San Diego.”
Panicked, I turned to Max and pleaded. “Max, we have to get them out of there. The bad man takes kids from the system. I’ve seen him do it.”
“Who is this bad man, Remi? You’ve mentioned him before. I need to know who he is?” Max asked carefully.
“I’ve only seen him twice. First when I was eight and then again when I was sixteen. The day my mother died. My father brought him into my room and told me he was the one who bought me, that he waited as long as he could. He …he…”
“It’s okay, babe. You don’t have to say anything. Do you remember a name, what he looked like, an accent, anything that might help us identify him?”
“I first met him when I was eight years old. He came to my parents’ house for dinner. He wouldn’t stop staring at me. I remember feeling uncomfortable. When I was getting ready for bed, my father came in, packed my backpack, and said I was going on a trip. I didn’t want to go, but my dad said I had to. That Mr. Johnson had paid a lot of money to spend time with me. So, I went. I remember getting into his fancy car and driving away. I don’t know how long we drove, but I remember lots of stars in the sky, mountains, and lots of cactus. His house was big, and I remember him telling me he even had a pool. I didn’t know how to swim, so I didn’t worry about it. When he took me inside, he showed me around. He had a lot of nice things, glass things. He liked different kinds of glass. I remember mirrors. Lots of mirrors. When he showed me his bedroom, I panicked and ran out of the room. I didn’t mean to, but I accidentally broke one of his glass things, and I ended up cutting my foot, which made him mad. He yelled at me, cursed me, and blamed me for ruining my perfect skin. He grabbed me by my hair and dragged me back to his room, and tied me to his bed. You can guess what happened next.
“Afterwards, he untied me and left me on the bed in shock. I remember hurting everywhere, but my foot hurt the worst. I didn’t know it at the time, but a large piece of glass was stuck in my foot. Wanting the pain to go away, I took the glass out, and that’s when he came back. He saw me with the glass and tried to take it away from me, but I stabbed him with it in his arm. It bled so much, I started screaming and couldn’t stop. The next morning, I woke to find myself in a cage.”
“What about when you were sixteen?” Healer asked carefully.
“As I said before, it was right after my mother died. He came to the wake. After everyone went home, I was so tired, so I went to my room to lay down. When I opened my eyes, he was there. He looked scarier, harsher, and he was.”
“That’s good, Remi,” Smoke said, typing away on the laptop in front of him. “What color was his hair?
“Brown.”
“Did he have all of it? Was he balding?”
“No.”
“How tall?” Player asked, typing away on another laptop.
“About five-ten, maybe five-eleven. Not tall like you.”
Player smiled and nodded. “About how much would you say he weighed?”
“I don’t know. He was slim, but not muscular like Max.”
“Any tattoos, piercings?” Smoke asked.
“Yes, a big black bird on his chest.”
“A blackbird? Like a sparrow? Wings spread?” Bullseye asked, stepping forward.
I nodded.
“Bullseye?” Max asked. “You got something to say?”
Bullseye shook his head and got to his feet. “No, not yet. I need to check something out.” With that, he left the room.
“Max, what about my brother and sister? I don’t want them in the system. Can we bring them here?”
“Already got that in the works. Tomorrow, you and I are going to see the Chief. He needs your signature on a few forms. After that, you can take custody of them.”
“And we will live here?”