"Home "Claudia Murmured as she pulled her book closer
The banner the other children were holding up looked really old like he had it for a while , "Let me introduce you to the other children then since you will be here for a while "Artie had said "What happened to you arm ?"One of the boys asked as Claudia remembered from his running up the stairs was Lattimer "that would be Pete , sorry he tends to be a bit blunt and curious , I'm Leena by the way , i never introduced myself " Leena told her "Yes that's pete , then Steve , Myka and Helena "Artie told her , just as Pete smirked , Who she assumed to be Steve tilt his head at her who she assumed Myka looking at her with interest and the Girl with a book still reading , only acknowledging her by looking up once and disappearing back to her book "Well , this is Clauida , she will be staying with you children for awhile then , Helena why don't you show Claudia to your and her room "Mrs. Fredric said nudging the Claudia toward the girl with the book "Ok no problem Mrs. Fredric "Said the girl who looking at her before not the one with the book "Come on then , lets go have a look "Helena said carefully taking Claudia's not broken hand and leading her upstairs "let me formally introduce myself i am Helena Wells , i am 13 years old and an amateur' inventor you know you can talk around me , you can trust me , i saw you pull your book closer if you want Myka has a rather large book collection if you want to read it "The other girl said as she pulled Claudia to the room to the right "We share a room , Steve and Pete share one and so do Myka and Leena , Myka used to share with me but Artie said you liked making things and saw an opportunity to have two of them in the same room , Myka is upset about it though so don't take it personally , Artie sleeps down stairs just so you know "Said the British girl trying to make up for silence "Ok , I'm Claudia , and i'm 10 "Claudia said with a smile "Just so you know i don't trust very many people , so if you break it i won't trust you anymore "She said as she put her book on her bed "Alright then , lets get down stairs before Pete and Artie eat all the cookies "Helena said as she ran down the stairs , as Claudia was making her way down the stairs she heard Talking , thinking she did something wrong she stopped in her tracks to hear what was going on "Arthur you have to be careful with this one , she has run away multiple times , are you sure you can handle her? , if not tell me now "She heard Mrs. Fredric tell Artie she knew it he didn't want her either running up the stairs she grabbed her book and ran back down quietly she snuck out the front door unknowingly being watched my a book reading girl and looked where to go seeing the town she ran , but because she ran upstairs she couldn't hear the rest of the conversation that everyone else heard "Yes I'm sure Irene , ,i have waited three years to see her again , i knew i couldn't take care of her then but i can now "Artie told her "Yea Mrs. Fredric Artie has taken care of us this well he can take care of another , beside She was the one be became a foster parent for and got us by luck "Pete said Helena and Steve nodding along with him "But i think you should know she's not upstairs anymore "Said Myka going back to her book
"What do you mean she's not upstairs ?"Artie asked her "She heard the conversation , ran upstairs and ran outside "She said looking at him then back to her book
"I told her to promise not to run till her arm is healed "Irene said said looking out the door "Why didn't you say anything till she was gone ? Mrs. Bering you should be more observant of your new sibling "Said the Social Worker
"She is not my Sibling , and neither are any of the other ones , i just want to go home now "Myka yelled as she picked her book up and ran upstairs to her the room her and Leena shared now "She has just been on edge these past couple of days , i told her that there would be a new kid here and she thought it would be fun and then i told her that she would be moving rooms , but she's 13 and misses her mom and dad "Artie said as he picked up his bag and headed out the door "Alright everyone , we have a kid to find , lets go Steve and Pete you check the woods , Irene you stay here in case she comes back and Helena and Leena you check town she could be anywhere "He said as he handed each of them their own walkie talkies "Meet back here in an hour and check in "He said heading off "Alright he once again never said where he was going , ok Me and Helena will check town you know where to go guys?, and remember be careful she is probably upset and scared , in a town she doesn't know "Leena said as she took Helena's hand and headed out the door "Wait Mr. Jinks "Mrs. Fredric said "Why are you all prepared like this? you just found out she was coming" She said to the young boy
"Oh , Artie has us do this every time there's a new kid , we lost a couple , but don't worry they were found , its just Artie doesn't want to chance this one "Said Steve as he hurried out the door to find Claudia
One hour Later
"Alright , everyone should be checking in by now" said Artie as he had gotten back 5 minutes before the clock ran out he watched as Pete Steve and Leena came in but didn't see Helena "Wait , Leena where is your partner? "Artie asked curiously
"Well you see we were walking around town her hand in mine and she saw something , i asked what and she responded with the abilities of time travel exclude the amount of which is sentimental and needs a base of trust to form , and then she ran off and disappeared around a corner in town , im sorry Artie i looked and looked but i couldn't find her , Where were you anyway?" Said Leena trying to hide the tears that were forming in her eyes
"I was checking all the security cams in town looking for her and to no avail , but i did see Helena run off and lost her around the same corner you did "He explained when they heard a squeak of the stairs they all looked up to see Myka looking at them back "You lost two kids? how could you lose Helena ? she's the only one who gets me , and you just lost her how could you , she was my best friend and now she's gone "Myka said tears forming in her eyes as she ran back upstairs with Pete following "Mykes , its ok we will find her Artie knows where she is its fine "Pete soothed her
Just as they went upstairs the front door opened and in walked Claudia being blocked form everyone else by Helena as she walked upstairs past , Artie Mrs. Fredric , Steve and Leena. Past Pete and Myka up stairs and went strait to their room not saying a thing
"Well i think you should go talk to her Arthur , i will be going now , i left Her things in her room and will be checking in next week , tell Claudia i say good bye and beware of her night terrors ,Good day to you all "Mrs. Fredric said as she walked out the door "What just happened ?"Artie asked not sure for himself "Well i think you just got yelled at by Myka , Helena found Claudia and brought her back , not saying a word and Mrs. Fredric left "Steve said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice "I know that , Leena will you go and get the cookies , i will get the kids from upstairs and be back down "Artie said as he headed up stairs "Myka , Pete , get down stairs now "Artie yelled as the 13 and 14 year olds ran down the stairs he walked up the door the in fancy handwriting said Helena and is Leena's handwriting said Claudia he stopped when he heard them talking knowing he shouldn't he carefully listened to the conversation "And it's not very different here , he was already trying to get rid of me , i would rather go live on the streets then be rejected again cause i've been through it all , I've taken care of younger children and older ones too , i was always brought back and i have had too many broken bones to deal with more , so once my arm is healed i am running away again its just going to be a couple months before it is "Claudia informed her roommate "Yes Claudia but if you leave , you are going to have to inform Artie so he can know not to inform Mrs. Fredric of this "Helena tried "And i know you have been through a lot for a child your age and i never went through any of that either , but i know how you feel , i was raised in England with my parents and brother .Charles , but once they moved to the States everything changed , my father got sick working and he passed it to my family i was still in England finishing up school so i could see my family again and when i got there , my family had passed away and left me there by myself in a foreign country i took to inventing to make a time machine so i can save them and we can be together again i haven't been successful yet "She said Looking at Claudia across the room as she took in the small bag that was on her bed
" I grew up in Oregon and My family died when i was five in the car crash that put my sister Claire into a coma , i was then raised by my bother Joshua for two years then he died too , I've been in the foster system ever since. Running away when they hit too hard or was brought back . You know me telling you this i have to kill you now "Claudia said ending in what Artie thinks is a joke "You wouldn't i'm the only one you like here , how about tomorrow i will aske Artie if i can take you to the Hardware Store again tomorrow so that way you don't scare him half to death "Helena replied 'The hardware store thats in the blind spots of the camera's of course he couldn't see them' "Yea so he would know like he does now , Snooping isn't the best look on you Artie "Claudia said as she went to the door opening it up she saw no one was there "Huh must have imagined it "She said as she went back inside
it was then that Artie took off John A . Macready's sunglasses he knew it was a close one so as best he could remember he carefully walked to the end of the hall and called them "Claudia , Helena Leena has the cookies out if you want some "He then walked down the stairs ,and bumped into Leena "Artie are you ok? , you were gone for awhile so i thought- are you blind? you used the sunglasses " She said as the two kids came from upstairs "What do you mean Artie's Blind he was just looking for Claudia wasn't he ?"Helena asked
"Yea he was its just sometimes without his glasses he can't see properly , Helena can you go find them they should be in the living room" Leena said not knowing how much the girls heard "Wow can't see with out your glasses old man , what a shame "Claudia said sarcastically as she walked by "And what happened to your Glasses young miss?" Artie shot back "Last i remember you couldn't see five feet in front of your face "
"Well a lot happens , especially when a younger kid took them and broke them "She said walking away
"Oh wow , we need to find her prescription and get her new ones then" Artie said getting his vision back and following her out the room