“Stop that
right now,” Mary Darin’s high-pitched voice echoed throughout the caverns. In
every crevice, the children of the Servants paused in mid-action, all fearing that
Ms. Darin’s wrath was directed at them. “Willem! Gerick and Jocelyn! Put those
babies down!” She glared at the older children with vehemence. “Come!” she
ordered.
The twins,
Gerick and Jocelyn Motown, were the eldest of the children rescued by Sirios when
the town of Avalona had been destroyed two weeks earlier. Though Willem Slaughter
was only a year younger than them, his well-trimmed beard and thick build made him
appear much older. Being eldest and close in age, the trio had developed into
the group’s de facto leaders taking discipline unto themselves—a situation that
Ms. Darin simultaneously encouraged and carefully monitored—though, occasionally
they overstepped their bounds. Par for the course, considering the group was overwhelmed
by their immense losses. The youngest unintentionally added further stress to
the situation, since they did not yet comprehend their new lot as the first
orphans of the bitterest travesty in recent collective memory.
