Read Nevermor for Free Online Page B

words like that.  It was unrefined, and they were
not lowlifes.  They had been taught better than that.  It did, however, make
several of the others at the table giggle, which roused Maxwell’s attention,
because he did not understand.
    “What’s ‘ shit ’?”
Max asked, looking up at her with his inquisitive four-year-old eyes.  Wren was
aghast, but Henry snickered with his head down.  There was a short smile on his
busted lips.
    “It’s a word
none of you should be saying,” she scolded them all, then glared at Henry.  She
lowered her voice to rebuke him.  “That’s perfect, Henry.  Just what we need is
to have him saying words like that in front of his new parents.”
    It was out of
her mouth before she’d thought much about it.  Wren froze, waiting for him to
demand what she meant by that, but Henry did not seem to grasp onto it.
    “We don’t need
new parents,” he told her.  “We have parents somewhere.”
    “Who gave us
up,” she reminded him.
    “Exactly.  It
didn’t work the first time.  Why would it work again?  There’s no point in
hoping for it.  It’s not going to happen!”
    Wren was angry
with him, furious in fact.  He was so young and stupid that he could not
possibly understand what was happening right now, just under his nose.  She
almost erupted and told him what Nora had said to her – that he was going to be
sent away and Max was being taken – but she managed to keep it contained
inside.  It was stagnant water in an old bottle.
    “What happened
today is not alright,” she warned him.  “It won’t be forgotten or forgiven.  We
won’t just waltz away from it like nothing happened.  You need to stop living
in a fantasy and realize that there are going to be consequences!”
    “What happened?”
a girl across the table asked.  Her name was Polly and she was around seven
years old – much too young to be concerned about it.
    “Wren pushed the
Devil into the machine.  Tore his hand right off,” Liam informed her quietly. 
He had been there to see it.
    “Was he trying
to get the gold?” Polly asked innocently.
    Wren felt a
chill run through her.  Henry looked at her knowingly. 
    “Then there’s no
sense hoping that someone will adopt us then, is there?” he asked smartly. 
“That’s a fantasy too.”
    Wren was fed up,
unable to take any more.  She wanted to yell at him but held back for the
others’ sakes.  Instead, she lifted her tin plate and slammed it back down on
the table, scattering food and making a loud noise that startled them all. 
    “You’d rather
stay here and eat shit ?  Fine.  Maybe you’ll get your wish.” 
    Wren’s face
flushed when she allowed herself to say the forbidden word, but she was too
angry to go back on it.  She got up and walked away from the table, leaving Max
there and Henry bewildered.  He just didn’t understand.  Did he really have no
grasp of what they had done?  Did he not know that they weren’t going to be
excused from it? 
    I can’t deal
with this.  I just can’t.
    Wren went to the
girls’ washroom, closing herself away.  She sank down in the corner against the
wall, feeling the coldness of the tiles pass through her dress.  She was alone,
and she didn’t bother holding back her tears.  Everything was falling apart
around her and she could do nothing to stop it.  Soon, her family would all be
gone and she would be the only one left.
    I won’t have
anyone at all, she thought.  Nowhere to go.  Nowhere to belong...
    The door of the
washroom began to open and she tried to turn away so that no one would see her
sorrow.  Tears were contagious in this place. 
    Glimpsing a
familiar form made her look up, and she was surprised to see that it was
Henry.  She was so shocked that he had come after her that she simply stared at
him, dumbfounded.  After that, it was too late to hide her tears.
    “You’re not
supposed to be in here,” she told him, but that meant very little to