Bones shouted and came after her, but before he got to them, Nalia unwound the scarf from her head and tucked it under Arista’s jacket.
“Never give up, little one. There is a great big world out there, and in it you can find anything your heart desires.”
Before Nalia could say anything more, Arista was ripped from her arms. She screamed and kicked all the way to the wagon, and Bones threw her in. She landed so hard it knocked the wind out of her.
The supply wagon carried over a dozen children away from the orphanage that night. Arista curled into a ball and tucked her face under her jacket, where the scarf’s familiar smell helped calm her quaking nerves. They traveled several hours, cramped and wedged together, until they finally pulled up to a door. When Bones prodded them all out, Arista looked up. The building seemed to loom upward forever, a charred black silhouette against the sky.
She wished she could fly. Push off from the ground and never touch down again.
A tiny girl, no older than three, fell out of the wagon and began to cry. No one moved to help her. Bones lifted her by the scruff of her neck, and she dangled like a rag doll, softly mewling in fear. Rage curled Arista’s fingers into fists, but there was nothing she could do.
No one else made a sound as they were herded into the house, down a dark, narrow hallway to a room with no windows. He tossed the little girl in, and she hit the wall hard and landed in an unmoving heap in the corner. Then without a word, he shut the door. The grating sound of the lock clicking into place was a sound Arista would never forget.
They sat, huddled together for warmth, for two days. No food was brought, and only a trough with murky water unfit for animals sat in one corner. The time spent in the blackness was filled with quiet crying and fitful moans of pain.
The smell of urine, and worse, permeated the air until it choked Arista. When Bones finally opened the door, only eight children staggered out into the light. Four small, unmoving bodies were illuminated by the lamplight. Arista saw the tangle of dirty hair that belonged to the small girl, still lying where she had landed in the corner.
Two men walked toward them and threw a bucket of ice-cold water over each of them. Arista clenched her teeth tightly to keep them from chattering.
“You want to eat, you bring back something worth a scrap of food. If you come back empty handed, you will go right back in there. If I’m feeling benevolent. Ain’t that right, boy?”
A boy, only a year or two older than Arista, swaggered up next to Bones. “Aye. He ain’t likely ever feeling that way, tho. So you best be bringing sumpthin back what’s worth his time.” The boy’s gaze ran over the ragtag group, and he sneered at them. “Follow me, you lazy arses. It’s time to earn your keep.”
They spent all day on the street, learning to beg and steal. When they returned, Bones lined them up in the hallway just inside the door, and they presented him with what they had found. Arista kept her hands behind her back, fingers clenched around nothing.
The first child, the oldest of the girls, held out her hand. A few pennies tumbled from them. Bones grunted, gave the girl a small piece of bread, and moved on to the next one. The second child, a boy, had nothing. He glared up at the old man in defiance, his chin lifted, though Arista could see the slight quiver in his jaw. Bones grabbed him by the hair and dragged him down the hall to the filthy room where they had been kept, and threw him inside. The click-tap of alternating shoe and cane echoed as Bones came back to the group.
Arista was last in line. The dreadful boy who led them out and back again stood right next to her, his arms crossed over his chest, staring straight ahead. In the light of the lamp, Arista could see his jaw flexing as if he were clenching his teeth as hard as he could. He’d barely said a word to her all day, except to bark an order or tell her to get to work.
Sweat beaded on her lip as Bones got closer. When a child gave him something, he in turn gave them a piece of bread. They fell on it like rats, hunched down and devouring their scraps as if they were nothing more than animals. Arista’s stomach growled and she clenched her fists tighter, pressing her body so hard against the rough wood wall that her knuckles ached. The boy glanced at her, his expression unreadable.
There were just two children between her and Bones. The thought of spending another second in that black room made her want to scream as loud as she could and tear her own hair out. A tiny whimper escaped before she could stop it.
Bones stood in front of the girl next to her. Silent tears streamed down the child’s dirty face as she presented her open, empty hands to him. “Please,” the girl whispered. “I’m so hungry.”