A gray haired old woman, with more wrinkles than Azar pulls me inside and slams the door shut quickly behind us. Ragalira and the other guardians are a few steps deeper inside. I'm so relieved tears nearly fall from my eyes, but I stop them, because I can't cry.
I breathe in through my nose and out my mouth. Letting all the feelings leave me as quickly as they came. I can't give them anything else bad to tell Azar when they go back. She could still change her mind, but she won't if she hears that I've lost control of my powers already.
"I told you to come here, what took you so long?" Miral asks.
"We can take things from here." The old woman says. She narrows her eyes at me and gives me a stern look.
"I have some things to discuss with the girl." Ragalira says.
"Alright. Then let's get this done." The woman says. She turns and walks deeper into the house. I try to look around, but it's dark. They didn't turn any of the lights on.
"Keep up." Ragalira says over her shoulder. The other women move aside and I follow Ragalira and the older woman a little farther into the house. The woman stops at a door and I hear something click, like maybe she used a key to unlock the door. She goes in first and turns on a light and we follow after. It's a small office with a big wooden bookcase, a desk with a chair behind and two in front. There's an array of knickknacks, a painting on the wall, but I try not to look around too much, because by now the woman is watching me. She takes a seat behind the desk and Ragalira helps herself to one of the chairs. I don't sit.
"You have some rules to follow." Ragalira says. "Do not under any circumstances use your powers. Trigon has followers here and they will look for you because you can become the portal. You said you didn't want to release him, so don't let them know you are here." Her eyes are the same cold and distant eyes of everyone in Azerath. The same eyes that have silently accused me of being like him for as long as I can remember.
"Be discreet, be quiet, don't draw attention to yourself. Stay inside as much as you can. Don't talk to strangers if you can avoid it. Don't speak to anyone in our tongue or tell them where you are from." This is not my first time hearing these rules. Azar had told them to me shortly after making the decision to send me away. I've already memorized them.
"Things will be different here. You are not used to dealing with people your own age. They may say or do things that hurt you, but you must remember where you come from and how we deal with problems." She looks away before opening her mouth again. "Thank-you for helping us before, but you mustn't do it again." I nod because I know she's right. She stands up and the older woman does too.
"There's no going back from here. Are you sure you can handle it?" Ragalira is looking at the woman this time, not me.
"It's my honor to serve Azar." I sense the woman means this, but I also sense fear. That's good. That means they didn't lie to her. She knows who I am and what I can do. She knows what will happen if she fails.
I follow them back to the front door. My chaperones open it and leave without so much as a parting glance or goodbye. I'm not surprised. The woman locks the door behind them and then turns to look at me.
"You may address me as Mrs. Huntington. "Welcome to Sunny Oaks. This is a place for children who can't live with their parents." I nod to show that I'm listening because adults usually like to know they've been heard.
"You'll be like any other student here, just pay heed to the rules you were told. It's late. I'll have one of the staff members come get you ready for bed. Wait here." I watch her walk down the hall and up a flight of stairs. I try to make out more of the house, but it's too dark to see anything other than the shapes and outlines of furniture. She comes back quickly with another woman, this one is older than my mother, but younger than Mrs. Huntington. She has dark hair piled high in a bun on her head and even though it's late she's wearing a blouse and skirt instead of pajamas.
"Ms. Vanderbelt, this is our newest addition. Her name is Raven. Please take her upstairs and put her to bed with the ten to twelves." Mrs. Huntington says. I sense curiosity, but Miss Vanderbelt doesn't ask any questions.
"Let's go then." She puts a hand behind me and nudges me along down the hall. Touch again. I move a step faster than her so her hand can't touch me anymore. We go up two flights of stairs and down a dim hall. Eyes peep out of some of the doors and I hear a few whispers. She moves around me goes all the way to the end of the hall and opens a door to a room with white tile covering the floors and walls. After stepping in, it's actually three rooms. The first near the entrance has four sinks in front of a large mirror. Across from the door is another doorway, but has no door, I follow her there and this one has stalls. I take a peek and see a white chair with a hole in the middle and water. It smells a little like pee. I can only look for a minute before she's moving on without me into the third area. This one has stalls, but instead of the white chairs there are faucets.
"You're soaked to the bone." she says. "Go ahead and take a shower. I'll find you some pajamas." She leaves and I frown going into the stall. We don't have these at home. I don't know what to do...
When she comes back and I'm still in my wet clothes I sense she's irritated and it's confirmed by the pulling together of her eyebrows over her nose. She's about to speak, but I open my mouth first.
"How?" Her irritation disappears and turns into something else, something I don't understand.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed." she says. She goes inside the stall and points "When you're ready, just turn this faucet and the water will come out here. You can change the temperature by turning this dial. This way for hot and that way for cold. The soap is in this dispenser. Okay? Be quick, it's late and you need to get some sleep. You can put your clothes in there." She steps out of the stall and points to a basket in the corner.
"Here's a towel and some clean pajamas, I'm going to put them over here, alright?" She puts them on a small shell just outside the stall. "I'll wait for you in the hall. Be quick, it's late." She leaves and I try to follow her instructions. I take off the wet clothes and try the shower. The water comes out just like she says it will and I let it rinse the rain water off and the cold. I use the dispenser on the wall to get soap and it pours out in a white glob on my hand. After a few minutes I turn the water off and dry off quickly. The towel doesn't do much to dry my hair, but I try. The clothes are a little different from at home. Tiny pants that cover only my butt, a white thin sleeveless shirt and a pink long night dress. Once dressed I go past her in the hall.
"Alright looks good. It's late, let's get you to bed." she says. We go two doors down and she pauses in front of it.
"This is the bedroom for girls between the ages of ten and twelve, you'll sleep here from now on." she opens the door and goes inside. I don't want to follow her, it's already too loud, but it's even worse in there. She'll get it mad if I don't though and I'm not supposed to draw attention to myself. It's dark, but I can still make out four bunk beds that line one wall and two dressers on an opposite one. There are toys strewn across the floor, that I do my bed to avoid and a small bookshelf void of books and filled with more toys. She stops at the bottom bunk farthest from the door and gestures for me to get in, so I do. She surprises me by pulling the blankets around me snugly.
"I'll be back in the morning to get you started." she says.
"Thank-you..." I mumble as she turns to leave. I watch her cross through the room, she snubs her toe on a toy, but barley pays it any mind before going through the door and shutting it behind her. The girl in the bunk above me peers down over the rail.
"What's your name?" She asks. "I'm Martha." The other girls get out of their bed and head over too. One of them even turns on the lights. I pull my head under the blanket, hoping it will help stifle some of their feelings, but it doesn't help and one of them rips it off anyway.
"That's not very nice." Martha says. I can hear her climbing down from the top bunk and the bed shakes a little. "You should introduce yourself."
"She looks funny." Someone whispers.
"Look how pale she is." Another whispers. "Are you sick?"
"Is it contagious?" They all start to back away.
"I saw a corpse once and it looked like that. Maybe she's going to die." A girl who hadn't spoken yet says.
"Jessica stop lying." Martha says. The others voice agreement with her.
"I'm not lying, I really did see a dead body once." Jessica says. They all back away a little farther and start to whisper. I could probably hear them if I try, but I don't want to. Their feelings are too strong and disturbing. Fluctuating in all kinds of ways that are too loud and painful. I pull the blanket back over my head and try to calm myself. Eventually they turn the light off and go back to sleep, though Marth doesn't go back up to her bunk.