Keshiema played together with the other young children, using charcoal from an old fire pit to draw on the crumbling sidewalk. Finding a long rope to jump over while singing songs. Play fighting with sticks and skipping stones across the slow-running creek behind the house.

  Inside the house, Hiro stood in the living room, contemplating over his next move. He waved his hand, and a cloud of neon orange aura rained down below it. The aura condensed and formed a small black fox. It sat patiently, waiting for its orders. He handed it a scroll and whispered in Daemon, “Que for Milour Holt ." Taking the scroll in its mouth, it sprinted off, phasing through the front door.

  The next order of business was disposing of May’s today and cleaning the blood. He stepped outside to find two Academy guards about to knock on the door. “Good timing men.” He smiled.

  “We received orders from Uvall stating there is a need for discreet body disposal.” One guard said.

  The other handed him a large, heavy box. “He also said you’ll be needing this later.”

  “Right inside. And please avoid letting any of the orphans see it. Two have already, and I’d like to keep that number as small as possible.” They assured him they would make it quick and went into the house.

  After Hiro put the box in the kitchen, he decided to search the rundown house. He wanted to see exactly how these children had been treated. The second and third floors held two bedrooms each. Every room had three beds, and two of them had extra bedding on the floor. The closets held nothing of significance. The children appeared to have very few personal belongings, and he could not find even a single extra set of clothing.

  When he got back downstairs, the guards and all signs of May’s death were gone. Not a single blood spot was left on the floor, but it was still as dirty as when he arrived.

  Exploring the ground floor, he found the office, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and master bedroom. To his surprise, the kitchen was well-stocked. But he only found two place settings. It was obvious Chu and May prioritized themselves and let the children go hungry more often than not.

  He was not, however, surprised to find the liquor cabinet to be well stocked as well. Sniffing the contents of one of the thick, dark bottles, he recognized the acrid odor of illegal moonshine. Summoning another spirit fox, he gave it a scroll, requesting a chemical disposal team.

  The wall-to-wall bookshelves lining the office were filled from floor to ceiling with textbooks of all ages, in various languages. He even spotted a few in Daemon. The desk had a box of nearly sorted papers, with Keshiema’s file sitting right on top. Summoning yet another spirit, he gave it her file and sent it to the Academy.

  The master bedroom was smaller than he had expected, but it was well furnished and clean. A stark contrast to the rest of the house.

  Calling in the older orphans, he found out the last meal they had received was the previous morning. Chu and May had not been able to trade the weekly milk rations, so they mixed it with stale oatmeal and gave it to the children in a large cooking pot to share amongst themselves.

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  Hiro stomped into the kitchen and quickly started pulling things out of the cupboards. He found enough ingredients to throw together a thick, creamy potato soup. Realizing he only had two bowls, he looked around helplessly. His eyes landed on the box the guards had given him.

  Opening the box, he found plates, bowls, and silverware. But on top of that, there rested four freshly baked loaves of buckwheat sourdough bread. Just as he finished dishing out the food, there was a knock at the front door.

  ***

  Mia pulled Keshiema to a stop. “Um, Kesh?"

  “Hm?" Her stomach sank. Something in Mia’s gray-blue eyes told her nothing good was coming. Keshiema was worn out and depressed. She did not want to stay at the orphanage, but she did not want to leave her friends either. She was being pulled in too many directions, and something had to give.

  After a long, awkward silence, Mia yelled. "I'm gonna miss you so much!" Heavy tears fell from her puffy, red eyes.

  Handing Mia a fresh tissue from her skirt pocket, Keshiema smiled, "I'm sorry, Mia! I don’t wanna go either. But I kinda have to."

  "Yeah... I know... It’s just..." Mia spoke between gasps of breath and blowing her nose.

  "It's just not fair that they're taking you away." Tobias finally spoke up from behind Keshiema.

  "What do you mean? Lots of kids have left, that's what an orphanage is about." Keshiema avoided the true meaning behind his words.

  "You aren't being adopted, Keshiema! You're being taken away! To a horrible place that's going to turn you into a heartless, brainwashed killer! They're gonna wash your mind and dye you gray! No more golds when you're happy, or blacks when you're sad, or reds when you're angry! You're just gonna be...gray! Just like that stupid Hunter over there!"

  Tears fell softly down her pale cheeks, and her chest was tight. With black hair and eyes, she replied to his rant with a single word. “Blue.”

  "What?" Tobias stepped closer. "What did you say?" he asked, no longer shouting.

  "What you're saying is I'm gonna not feel anything, right?"

  "Yeah...but, Keshiema," Tobias paused, unsure what to say. Words came easily to him in anger, but when he let sadness leak in, and fear, his words fled.

  "Then what you're saying is I'm gonna be blue." He was right; her palette showed the world how she felt.

  "Keshiema, I don't understand." he knew what she meant, but he needed her to take it back.

  "Don't you remember what I looked like when I got here, Tobi?"

  "Well," fear took his words once again.

  "You don't, do you?" Keshiema jumped out of her seat and looked up at Tobi. "My hair was brown!" She took a step forward, and he staggered back. "And my eyes were hazel! I looked normal!" She took another step, and he stumbled again. "Now I change color!"

  "Keshiema?" He stepped back again.

  "You're right! When I'm happy, I'm gold!" she stepped forward.

  He fell, landing on his back. "Keshiema, Stop!"

  "When I'm angry, I'm red!" Her hair changed to a fiery red, and her eyes sparkled a deep crimson to match. "When I'm sad, I’m black! But you know what!" She paused for a moment, and her hair and eyes rippled back to her normal icy blue. "When I feel nothing, when I don’t care about anything, I’m blue."

  "But Kesh," Tobi spoke and started to stand.

  Keshiema turned away from him, only to come face-to-face with Mia. "You're almost always blue," she said quietly. "Even when you're laughing, and smiling, and playing. And even when you're crying."

  "I know." She turned away to meet Hiro, who sat waiting for her at the end of the walk with his back to the setting sun. As she met up with him, she heard the melodic voice of a woman call for the children to come inside. She prayed to her stars the new caretaker would be kind and watch over her friends.