Prologue
Vancouver, Washington
February 17, 2014
My older brother, Milo, was running around trying all of the windows in the house. He ran upstairs and was yelling at my other brother, Elliott to try the doors.
There was a white haze all over the house and it was making all of us cough. My sisters, Amethyst and Willow, were standing in the middle of the living room. Amethyst was holding me.
“What should we do?” Willow asked, coughing.
“We need to protect Ben, Willow,” Amethyst said. “There’s got to be a closest or something that might be spared.”
Willow looked over to the coat closest that was near the kitchen. “There?”
“Good.” Amethyst looked at me. “Ben, I hope you survive. You’re a good boy. Remember that Mommy and Daddy love you. That me and Willow and Aria and Emerald and Tessa love you. That Elliott and Milo do, too.”
I nodded. I knew that. She was scaring me.
Amethyst carried me tot he closest, opened the rood, and placed me inside before closing the door. I started crying.
“Where’s Ben?” Elliott asked, voice muffled.
“In the closet,” Willow replied. Her voice was muffled, too.
“Why?”
“He’s only three years old, Elliott,” Amethyst said, coughing. “We need to protect him.”
“Who would do this?” Milo asked.
“I don’t know. Are there any windows that will open? Doors?”
“No. Not even upstairs.”
“Can they be broken?”
“No.”
“We’re going to die, aren’t we?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Let’s move a bit away from the closet. I don’t want him to hear us.”
I heard them move a little bit away and it downed like their voices were lower to the ground. It was getting hot in the closet and I laid down. I could see them huddled together.
I started crying.
I heard Amethyst try to comfort me. It took awhile, I’m not sure how long, but eventually they all got quiet.
* * *
The closet door opened and someone I didn’t know gasped.
“Poor baby,” the figure whispered. It sounded like a girl. “Such negligence. They don’t deserve you.”
I tried to look for my brothers and sisters, but it got dark.
“Be quiet, baby. I’m going to save you and take you somewhere safe. These people won’t ever see you again. Just stay quiet, baby.”
I felt warmth. Arms around my body. Rushing.
“Leaving, Linney?” a deep voice asked. It sounded like a boy. A man.
“Yeah, Chief,” the softer voice replied. “The kids. Too much.”
“Understood.”
The rushing movement got faster. I heard a door open and close. A car start and then more moving.
