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had been living. She had been happy with her family; she was one of the more popular children at school. She had been very satisfied with the way that things were, and he did not feel like she had gained anything truly positive from this change, so hers seemed like an unrewarded sacrifice.
    Sam finally arrived beside her and grabbed her hand before she could drift away from him again. He noticed the skin was exceptionally soft and her nails carefully trimmed and filed, not like any of the others. It brought a twinge of loss to his heart, reminding him a little of Maria.
    “ Here,” he said letting his mind push at hers fairly firmly . “I’m here. I’m Sam. Let me take you back to the others.”
    The pretty girl turned to look at him, her expression morose. She was as robust as Sarah was waif-like. Her rounded cheeks were slightly freckled with a rosy glow, and the skin of her face looked as soft and flawless as her hands had been. Her hair hung in long chestnut waves over her shoulders and her eyes were a warm brown with a hint of green at their centres. She was shorter than Nathan, but about the same height as Francis, so a little on the tall side for a girl, Sam would guess. That was assuming that she was about the same age as the other two Bigs.
    “ What’s going on here, Sam? It doesn’t make any sense. Martha was gone, and she never came back. Then my brothers told me that I had to come here, and as soon as we made it here they left me. They told me that someone else would come looking for me. They must have meant you.”
    Sam noted that she was not really trying to communicate with him through the connection. Her mouth moved, as her eyes flashed with panic, but the words that he picked up in her mind were merely an echo of what she has trying to tell him with her physical voice, which he could not hear. She was not making any effort to push at him at all. She was resistant to everything that was happening, still in denial and unwilling to accept the changes.
    “ Let me take you back to Francis. I think he’ll be able to offer you more than I can. He can help you sort it out,” Sam offered.
    He was more than happy to burden Francis with this responsibility. Sarah and Nathan had been so much more accepting of their situation, despite being as distressed by it as Sam was. Fiona had had several days to let go of the notion that things could go back to what she considered to be normal and adapt to her new circumstances, but she had not. Sam would eventually discover that this was part and parcel with her being a Keeper.
    The crowd in the Hub was thinning a little now. The house-families were gathering their members, as dictated by their Tellers, and moving off to one side in small groups. Sam led Fiona back to his own companions and noticed that there was another boy there, almost as tall as Nathan, with black hair and plain brown eyes. The look that this new boy gave Sam was a little menacing, but it was not nearly as unsettling as the other unusual detail about this boy. When Sam reached out to greet him through the connection, the stranger was not there.
    While this large boy seemed to direct his attention towards Sam, Francis and Nathan were much more interested in Sam’s newest find. Both of the Bigs extended a quiet thought to welcome Fiona, and Sarah, prompted by their responses, followed suit.
    “ Ah,” Francis remarked with a subtle smile, speaking with his mouth as well as his mind in order to include Royce in the conversation. “This must be our Keeper, Fiona. Sam, this is our Control, Royce. Get to know one another, because these people are your family now. There are no more minders and no more teachers, and from now on, we’ll have to rely on one another.” His gaze specifically settled on Royce and Nathan.
    “ Remember that the next time you are tempted to mistreat any of those that you’ll be living with. I am Francis, your Teller. Welcome, all of you, to the Gathering.”

 

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