Chapter 10
Zane sighed as he sat in his office watching videos of Kai's lessons with him and the others on his laptop. He had hardly left his office since he and the others had been rejected by Krux Saunders. Dr. Wu had left their team a few days ago and it was confirmed that Krux was applying for custody of Kai Smith.
"I thought I'd find you here." A voice chuckled. Zane looked up and saw Garmadon smiling at him from the door. Zane just went back to his work as the older doctor took a seat next to him.
"Are you OK?"
"Yes." He replied with a sigh as he closed the laptop. "I was just reviewing the work Jay and I were doing a month ago, it's really all I can do at this point." He sighed sadly and Garmadon nodded in understanding.
"My wife Misako and I have been talking about this whole situation for a while and, well, we have decided to apply to be Kai's temporary foster parents." He smiled.
"That has to be the best news I've heard in weeks." Zane beamed brightly.
"It's not for certain yet." Garmadon quickly said. "Kai is very demanding and we already have two children and I am his therapist; but Misako does have a degree in child psychology, which is very helpful, but because I'm also a researcher on the case, it can be difficult."
"I see your problem."
"But I think it can be done." He reassured. "So if Kai's social workers give us the go-ahead then we'll give it a shot."...
Three days later and after a lot of meetings and fights, Garmadon and his family were finally assigned as Kai Smith's foster family instead of Krux. Soon, the doctor was putting Kai's things in the trunk of his car as the brunette got into the back seat with a bunch of toys on his lap. Kai was very confused by all of this, but he trusted Garmadon. Garmadon's wife Misako was sat in the passenger seat, smiling at the confused boy. Misako had ash grey hair braid into a ponytail with a snowy white streak and pale green eyes.
She wore a pale khaki utility jacket with dark brown pants and a short, dark green scarf.
"Kai!" Someone suddenly cried and they all looked up and back at the house to see Krux running over to them. The teacher had fought tooth and nail to keep Kai in his care, but it just wasn't meant to be. He had tears streaming down his face as he made his way over to the car. Garmadon glared at Krux but said nothing.
"You forgot one." He sniffed sweetly to the boy as he knelt down by the open window to pass him his favorite little rubber ducky. Kai took it and held it close it his chest. "I love you." He whimpered as the tears ran down his cheeks. Garmadon slammed the trunk shut and moved to the driver's seat of the car as Krux slowly stood up, pure, burning hatred in her teary eyes. Just before he got inside the car he looked Krux in the eyes.
"I don't know what to say." He admitted with a heavy sigh.
"Not now you don't, but you believe me this is not over yet." He promised with a snarl. "You are depriving this child of the best home he's ever had or ever will have and I'm gonna make sure you all pay if it's the last thing I do!" He roared in pain and anger. Garmadon chose not to say anything as he climbed into his car and drove off. As they slowly drove away from Krux's house Kai pointed his head out the car window. He slowly waved goodbye to Krux, who just watched as tears flowed down the old teacher's face...
It didn't take long for Kai to get settled at Garmadon's house with the doctor's family. Thanks to their jobs, Garmadon and Misako could afford and a nice, big house in a very lovely neighborhood. From the outside, the house looked grandiose. It had been built with red pine wood with spruce wooden decorations and small and large rounded windows that helped brightened up the house. The house was equipped with a state-of-the-art kitchen and two bathrooms.
It also had a large living room, five bedrooms, a large dining area, a game room, and a snug basement with a private study for Garmadon to work in.
The building was shaped like a T and the two extensions had extended into a patio reaching until the end of that side of the large house. The second floor was the same size as the first. Part of it hung over the edge of the floor below, however, creating an overhang on one side and a balcony on the other. This floor had a very different style than the floor below. The roof was low and square-shaped and was covered with dark, almost black, ceramic tiles.
A large chimney poked out the center of the roof.
Many smaller windows let in plenty of light to the rooms below the roof. The house itself was surrounded by a modest garden, with mostly grass and a few small trees and colorful flowers. After his arrival, things seemed to have fallen into a stable routine for the family. At the same time almost every day, Kai would watch from his new bedroom balcony as Garmadon went to work. Then a few minutes later his children, Harumi and Lloyd, would follow.
Lloyd was Kai's age and Harumi was two years older.
Lloyd had long, light blonde tousled hair with bright, shining emerald green eyes that many people would state could sometimes glow in the dark. He wore a dark green jacket with a white t-shirt and black pants and black and dark green sneakers. Harumi had long bleached white hair with long bangs fashioned in a bun with black chopsticks. She wore a green jacket with matching pants, a white shirt with dark red lotus flowers, and full lips painted red.
While the children went to high school and her husband went to work at the hospital, Misako would stay at home with Kai to take care of him.
After watching Garmadon and his children leave the house, Kai walked back into his room and sat on his comfy queen size bed. Scattered on the bed were his plastic toys and textbooks that Lloyd had given him. Unlike the ones Nya would sneak into his room, these books didn't have and scribbles in black marker. Even though he couldn't read he liked looking at the pictures. There were even times when he would go to someone in the house and point at one of the pictures, wondering what it was.
Sometimes Garmadon, Misako, or even Lloyd would sit with him and makeup stories with the pictures in the books.
What surprised them was when Kai started to try and copy the words that they were saying, even though he never pronounced the words correctly it was still an improvement. The brunette picked up one of the books about Antarctica that he was given this morning and started flipping through the pages. He smiled innocently as he saw the cute, fluffy baby penguins playing in the snow. Unfortunately, his small dropped when he turned to the next chapter and saw a team of sled dogs.
He turned the pages again and again but the only pictures he was were more of the sled dogs.
Some were even close up in the dogs' faces, showing their dagger-like teeth. As he stared at the pictures, all he could hear was the sound of Ray's snarling. He suddenly threw the book to the floor, in fear, along with all the other items on the bed...