Eli Fletcher: Mark of the King: Book 1

Chapter Ten

Happy Birthday To Me

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!” I sit up suddenly form my sleep to the loudest rendition of the Happy Birthday song I’ve ever heard. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR EEEEEELLIIIIIIII! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!”

“Thanks, guys,” I say groggily, yet I grin at them all, completely embarrassed. Billy’s at the front of the group looking as happy as if it was his own birthday.

“Happy birthday, Eli!” one of the boys shouts from the back of the room.

“Thank you!” I shout back. “Uh, can I get up so I can get ready for breakfast?”

The other boys laugh and back away from my bed before dispersing to their own rooms and beds so they can get ready for the day as well. After a quick shower, I get dressed, drop my stuff off in my room and then head down to the cafeteria where I find they’re serving my favorite: pancakes. Fiona’s nowhere to be found, though, which is disappointing because she was the one person I was hoping to see this morning.

“Happy birthday,” Miss O whispers in my ear from behind me, shaking me gently by the shoulders.

“Thanks, Miss O. Have you seen Fiona?”

“Um, I think she wasn’t feeling well so Mrs. Katz took her to the doctor’s.”

“But we have a nurse here,” I argue.

“Yes, but it was something more serious than our live-in nurse can handle.”

I glare at her suspiciously with a sideways look. “Sure, and on my birthday,” I say skeptically.

“Believe what you want, Eli,” she says and then gestures towards the breakfast line.

When I approach the line, a tray of food is already prepared for me with a giant pancake complete with a whipped cream mouth, nose and eyes with those seedless red cherries in each of the eye and nose spots. On the mouth is a bunch of mini chocolate chips smiling up at me. With a smile I thank the cafeteria lady and then find a seat with Miss O and some of the younger kids since Billy and the others aren’t exactly inviting.

“Any word from my uncle?” I ask, cutting in to the pancake face.

Miss O shakes her head taking a sip of her coffee. “The number you have just keeps ringing, and without an address, we don’t know where to go to make sure they’re okay,” she says.

I sigh and take another bite of my pancake.

“Try not to let this ruin your birthday, okay?” Miss O says.

“Which part? The fact that my best friend is supposedly sick or that we can’t get a hold of the only family we know of?”

“Okay, so thirteen isn’t starting off great for you, I’ll give you that,” she says. “But that doesn’t mean it will always be like this. Just try to stay positive.”

“As long I don’t have to go to some random foster family, I’ll be happy,” I tell her and then dig more into my breakfast.

“No, that’ll be tomorrow,” Miss O says and I look at her sideways again. “I’m kidding,” she says and then nudges me with her elbow.

“Do we have any classes today?” I ask her.

Miss O shakes her head. “It’s Saturday, Eli, just have some fun today. Do you want to do anything special?” she asks.

After a few seconds of thinking I nod. “I want a kickball game with everybody; if they’re old enough to kick the ball and run the bases, I want them to play if they want to.”

Miss O nods, considering the idea. “I think we can make that happen. I’ll call Mr. Reese,” she says and then takes out her phone, scrolls through her contacts with her thumb and then makes a couple taps before holding the phone to her ear.

I finish my breakfast and take my plates to the dirty-dish-bin, scraping whatever food I can into the trashcan to the left. Once I return, Miss O has already put her phone away and is finishing her bowl of oatmeal.

“We’re all set for right after lunch,” she says.

“Cool!” I say and then scan the room again in case Fiona snuck in while I was up.

I hope she’s okay.

“She’ll be fine, Eli,” Miss O says quietly, getting up from her seat to take care of her dishes like I just did.

“I know, I just really have no one else to hang out with until Mr. Reese is here for the game.”

“Well, you could always go and help with the preschoolers until he gets here,” she suggests, which I do.

I read some a story while others paint or make a mess of the room. I’m amazed at the resilience of these kids. Friends of theirs have disappeared, not through adoption, but because of a demon planning to use them as a bargaining chip to gain my loyalty, and still they can play as if nothing bad has happened.

Abby’s the only one who seems to be truly affected, but she’s also the oldest of them all and understands what’s happening; she’s seen more than the others have. She witnessed first-hand what Tentatio can do. Nobody else saw Hunter get taken like she had. Something had woken her up to make her see it happen. She won’t even sit with me like she used to when I read to them. Instead, she’s sitting in a corner with a doll cuddled against her chest, staring as if catatonic. When I finish the story, the ones who’d been listening disperse to find a toy to play with, so I cross the room to where Abby’s sitting alone. I sit cross-legged in front of her but I don’t speak; I know she won’t respond.

“Do you mind if I sit with you?” I ask her after a few minutes of silence and picking at loose threads in the rough carpet.

She doesn’t move from her spot, but she doesn’t look at me or shake her head or anything. So, I scoot around and sit next to her, leaning against the wall. I don’t reach out to her; I just sit, trying to think of something to say that will get her attention. Then I think about the doll she’s holding; maybe I can reach her through that.

“What’s your doll’s name?” I ask her, leaning forward, resting my elbows on my knees.

She doesn’t look at me, but she does look down at the baby in her arms. “Lucy,” she says quietly.

“Is Lucy okay?” I ask.

Abby shakes her head. “No, but I’m keeping her safe.”

“What are you keeping her safe from?”

“The bad man,” she answers, looking down at her doll again, caressing its hair as if the doll is crying.

“The bad man from last night?” I ask.

Abby nods without any words.

“I’m going to find him and bring Hunter back,” I promise her.

“And the others?”

“All of them,” I vow.

She climbs into my lap, curling up in a tight ball, resting her head against my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and hold her close; that’s when I notice her trembling. I’m almost brought to tears because of how scared she is; I find myself wishing to find Tentatio and destroy him, but I have no idea how to do that. I don’t have a weapon; I just barely discovered my strength recently.

“Eli!” Miss O calls from the doorway and I look up at her. She’s smiling as she crosses the room until she notices that it’s Abby curled up in my arms and not acting like her typical, happy self. “What’s wrong?”

“She’s scared,” I tell her. “I need to know how to stop Tentatio and I need to learn sooner than later.”

Miss O nods and then reaches for Abby.

“Miss O’s here, do you want to go with her?” I ask her and she shakes her head.

I look up at Miss O and shrug. “Abby, we’re going to go play kickball. Do you want to play or watch?”

She just shakes her head again.

“I think it would be good for you to help you clear your head of all the bad things. I’m going to do everything I can to bring them all back to us, but I need something to help me regain focus so I’m not tempted to do something stupid, like go hunt down the bad man without knowing how to stop him.”

“Kickball won’t help,” she argues.

“It might; sometimes I think of random stuff and come up with ideas while I’m playing kickball. Sometimes it just helps me focus on a certain thing when I’m playing.”

“Really?” she asks, finally looking up at me.

“Really really,” I say in a terrible Irish accent.

Abby giggles and then twists herself around to hug me. “Thanks, Eli,” she says, kissing me on the cheek. “You’re a good big brother,” she adds and then takes Miss O’s hand as she leads everybody out to the kickball field.

“Eli,” Billy says in the hallway.

I turn to him with a questioning look. “What’s up, Billy?” I ask confused.

“How’s…how’s Abby doing?” he asks.

I look down the hall and watch as Miss O continues walking with her hand-in-hand. “Not good,” I admit. “She’s really upset about Hunter disappearing.”

Billy nods sadly. “She and Hunter were best friends,” he says.

“I’m surprised you noticed,” I tell him.

Billy shuffles awkwardly, his hands suddenly in his pockets. “Yeah, well, I’m not always a jerk,” he says.

“No, you’re nice to the little kids,” I say. “You look like you want to say something else.”

“Who took her?” he asks.

I jerk my head back suddenly at his unexpected question. “Um, I’m not really sure,” I tell him but he doesn’t seem to believe me.

“Whatever,” he says and then storms past me, bumping my shoulder with his.

I stare after him, confused at the brief conversation. For a moment, it almost seemed like we might be friends, but, I guess we just aren’t ready for that yet.

Once we’re out on the field, Billy and I are split up as captains again and we pick our teams. They’re a little bit bigger this time since we’re including younger kids than usual, but Billy holds up his promise to keep things peaceful until I’ve left. He hardly looks in my direction as we pick our teams, not even to sneer when he picks his friends, who are both pretty good at the game, before I have a chance to.

Mr. Reese explains the game to the younger kids and we have a fun time trying to teach them how to kick the ball and run the bases. Some of them get it, while others are still lacking in the coordination to run and kick a ball. We don’t bother keeping score either, as we’re looking to have some fun despite the weirdness of four and five year olds vanishing from our group home.

The detectives visit with Mrs. Katz and Miss O every day with no new information, but also trying to find more clues in our facility. They’ll never find anything since it wasn’t like it was a break-in/kidnapping. Posters all over town with the kids’ faces on them have gone up in hopes someone will recognize them. I even overheard Mrs. Katz telling Miss O once that the state was threatening to shut them down and put every child into the foster care system.

I don’t like the sound of that. I’ve heard bad things about foster families from other kids I knew at other group homes. Most of them not really caring about much other than the money they receive from the government. Why would you only take in a kid if someone gave you money to do it? How are we supposed to learn what a real family is like if all they care about is money?

After the game, Mrs. Katz and Fiona walk up to the field, a big grin spread across her face. She stops smiling when she finally makes eye contact with me because I’m sure she can tell I’m upset for her being missing all day.

“How was your doctor’s appointment?” I ask her bitterly as we head into the building.

“I didn’t go to the doctor,” she admits.

“No kidding,” I grumble.

“Eli!” Miss O barks at me so I turn and glare at her. “Be nice to Fiona!” She says in the same barking tone. “In face, go to my office. Fiona you can join us,” she says, ushering me forward.

I grumpily take a seat in her office while Fiona sits in the other one. Miss O joins us a minute later after dropping Abby off in her bunk room where she said she wanted to lay down for a while until dinner.

“Would you like to explain yourself?” Miss O asks, looking from me to Fiona and back.

“I’m sorry, Fi-” I start but Miss O raises her hand and cuts me off.

“I was talking to Fiona,” she says.

“You called me Fi,” she says.

“I did,” I say, my cheeks burning hot.

“I like ‘Fi’,” she says.

“I like Fi, too,” I say knowing full well how red my face is. “I mean, I like it as a nickname,” I stammer.

“Eli,” she whispers, “we’ve already talked about this.”

“Right,” I say awkwardly.

“Fiona, just show him why you were gone all morning before you start to make me as awkward as you two are,” Miss O teases.

“Wait, what?” I ask, turning towards Fiona in my chair now. “What have you been up to all morning?” I ask her.

“This,” she says opening the backpack sitting in her lap and opening it up. She pulls out a brown sack folded to about the size of a magazine and then hands it to me. “Happy birthday,” she says.

I unfold the top of the brown paper sack and pull out the next edition of Archangels. I stare at it dumbfounded; she’d already given me the first edition to the series when I was having a really hard day. Miss O had taken her to get it that time and now Mrs. Katz had helped her get this new one for me.

“Thank you, Fi,” I say, sticking with the shortened version of her name.

“You’re welcome,” she says.

“I’m sorry for being a jerk,” I tell her.

“I forgive you, Eli,” she says and then she turns back to Miss O. “Can I go with him to put that in his room? I promise I’ll wait in the hall,” she says.

Miss O takes a deep breath and then lets it out slowly. “Yeah, that’s fine, just be back down here in ten minutes,” she says.

“Thanks, Miss O,” we say together.

Together we leave her office and head for the dorms next door to the main building. We walk in silence until we’re outside; I study the cover of the newest edition to the comic book series, admiring the intricate details of the massive angel with an impossible amount of muscles covering his entire upper body, which is all that’s showing on the cover, along with a massive sword that seems to be energized with lightning.

“Do you like it?” Fiona asks.

I nod. “Of course! I can’t wait to read it,” I tell her.

“So, were you just worried about me?” she asks.

“To be honest, yes, I was afraid Tentatio had taken you, too, and no one seemed to care that you were gone. Everybody’s been acting weird today, even Billy seemed nicer,” I tell her.

“Really?” she asks, prompting me to give more details, so I tell her about our short encounter in the hallway before the game.

“Hmm,” she says thoughtfully. “He does seem to care at least a little bit about the kids, doesn’t he?”

I nod. “Billy kinda weird that way, huh?” I say, opening the door to the boy’s dorm.

Fiona follows me up to my room, where I deposit my gift in the top drawer of my small dresser next to my bed. Something on my pillow catches my eye as I turn to leave. I turn back and pick up the small jewelry box.

“Who would send me a jewelry box?” I ask outloud.

I study it, wondering not only who would send me a box like this, but…why. I open it to find a plain, gray rock in it. Taking it out and handing Fiona the box, I examine the stone, looking for something special about it. Aside from its smoothness, and the weird groove around its rounded edge, there’s absolutely nothing special about this rock.

“Eli, there’s a letter in here, I think it’s from you dad,” Fiona says, handing me the small, yellow piece of a notepad.

Dear Eli,

Happy Birthday, Son! This isn’t exactly how I wanted to

give you this gift, but unfortunately I’m not sure I’ll ever be able

to hand it to you myself. You see, son, you are special. I’m sure by

now you have received your powers and are beginning to learn

how to use them. I wish I was there to teach you, but because of

how powerful you will become, your mother and I have either

been killed or are held hostage by Tentatio. Don’t believe anything

he tells you; his name literally means tempter. Even if he promises

to reunite us, don’t fall for it.

Don’t worry about finding us; if we’re alive, we’ll find you.

We’ll always fight to get free. But if we’re no longer living, then

there’s nothing you can do to bring us back. Just know we both

wish there was another way. Trust your Watcher, whoever they

might be. Also, trust whatever angel God sends to train you.

Lastly, inside the box is a stone. It may not look like much,

but it’s the first piece to the puzzle. You have to find the rest of the

remaining pieces of your sword and the shield. I wish I could tell

you where they are, but it’s part of your training to find them.

I love you son,

Raymond

“There’s another one,” Fiona says, handing me another folded piece of paper. I quickly unfold it, hoping it’s something from my mother and I’m right.

Dear Sweet Boy,

Your father wrote you a very informative letter, so I

thought I would leave one encouraging you and letting you know

how much we love you. You were so young when we sent you with

the Custodes Avis, and I’m sorry we had to do that, but it was the

only way to keep you safe from the demons. I’m so sorry for the life

you’ve had to endure; I just pray that they haven’t been able to

locate you and if they have that your Watcher has kept you safe.

You are an amazing boy and will do wonderful things.

We love you so much,

Elizabeth

“Wow, your parents’ names are Raymond and Elizabeth?” Fiona says, looking over my shoulder. “Sorry,” she says as I look back at her.

“It’s okay, I guess I just got a little lost in their letters that I forgot you were there.”

“I understand,” she says.

“They knew what I’d be,” I add, staring at the two letters in my hands. “That’s why they were taken, because they knew I was going to be the High Sicarius. That has to be it; it’s all my fault.”

“Eli,” Fiona says softly, rubbing my shoulder gently, “you can’t think like that. You didn’t know you were going to be this crazy superhero thing. You were just a baby when they were taken and they were just doing what any parent would do and hid you from the enemy. You’re like Moses in a way. You were sent away and raised by someone else only to return later to take care of the people you love and care about.”

I laugh a little through my tears that are stinging my eyes. “Thanks, Fi,” I say in a scratchy voice. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying,” I say, admitting it this time since we’re not in a dusty alleyway with a strong breeze.

“It’s okay, Eli,” she says, hugging me from behind.

I put my hand on both of hers for a moment and then we hear voices echoing in the stairwell.

“Crap!” she says and then hops off of my bed and stands just outside the doorway.

“Who is it?” I ask and she closes her eyes, concentrating really hard.

“Oh no, it’s Mrs. Katz,” she says with wide eyes.

“Miss O gave you permission to come up here with me.”

“Yeah, but we’ve been here a long time,” she says.

“What are you going to do?” I ask her.

Suddenly she turns quickly and as I hear the door click open at the opposite end of the hall from my room, I hear the other door open and close quietly. Fiona’s hiding in the closed off stairwell, probably covered in spider webs by now. A few seconds later, Mrs. Katz and Billy appear in the doorway.

“Delores!” Miss O calls out from the other end of the hall. “I gave Fiona permission to come up for just a minute with Eli; if they’ve taken too long, I’ll deal with it.”

“And if she’s hiding?” Mrs. Katz asks.

“Then I’ll deal with that, too. Please, just trust me and let me handle it,” Miss O pleads.

“If anything inappropriate happens in this home, you’ll be out of here faster than you can say orphanage,” Mrs. Katz threatens.

“Fine,” Miss O says.

Mrs. Katz storms away with Billy in tow, complaining that I’m not getting into trouble for having a girl up here with me.

“Where is she?” Miss O practically growls at me.

I nod towards the abandoned stairwell. Miss O backs out of the room and opens the door. A moment later she has Fiona by the elbow, shoving her onto my bed next to me.

“What did I tell you?” she snaps at us.

“To stay in the hall and not take too long,” Fiona says quickly.

“Exactly; now I knew Billy or Allaryce would try and get you into trouble, which is why I said it was okay to remain in the hallway because I would vouch for you. But, you broke your promise and now I have to deal with that,” she says. “How do I punish my two best kids?” she asks rhetorically.

Fiona and I exchange looks before beginning our apologies. “I’m sorry, Miss O. Eli didn’t do anything wrong, though, I did. If anybody should be punished it’s me.”

“Why did you hide?”

Fiona shrugs. “I freaked out because I heard Mrs. Katz coming. She’s kinda scary sometimes.”

Miss O smiles. “Yes, she is. Now, your punishment…” she trails off. “Cleaning the whiteboards in all three classrooms and cleaning the preschool bathrooms. I’ll have the janitor set you up with the stuff on Monday,” she says. “Let’s go,” she adds and then sees what I have in my hand. “What’s that?”

“A present from my parents,” I say, showing her the rock. “A rock,” I say disappointed.

“Eli, that’s not just any old rock; that’s the stone that holds your sword together.”

I scrunch my forehead together. “Is that what my dad’s letter meant by ‘piece of the puzzle’?”

Miss O nods. “Yes, we can talk about it later, though, if you want.”

I nod to her and she smiles. “Okay, then, let’s go,” she says, taking us back to the main building where we run into Mrs. Katz again.

“So, she was over there!” she says angrily.

“She hid from you because she was scared,” Miss O says. “I had given her permission to go with Eli to put his birthday present away, but to wait in the hall, which she didn’t do,” Miss O adds with a look at Fiona, more for Mrs. Katz’s benefit than her own. “However, when she heard you coming with Billy, she hid in the old stairwell.”

“Why would she hide from me?” Mrs. Katz demands.

Miss O stares for a moment before shrugging and shaking her head. “I have no idea.”

“Are you suggesting I’m scary?”

Miss O looks down at Mrs. Katz’s clenched fists and then shakes her head. “Not at all, Delores,” she says sarcastically.

The group home director looks down at her own hands almost in surprise and then takes a deep breath and relaxes her hands. “Did you assign any discipline?”

“Yes, she’ll be helping clean whiteboards and the preschool room with the janitor next week.”

Mrs. Katz hesitates for a moment and then nods. “That sounds sufficient,” she says curtly. “Dinner will be ready soon,” she adds and then turns and walks away, leaving Billy dumbfounded in her wake.

“Did you need something, Billy?” Miss O asks.

Then suddenly a smile spreads across his face as he looks at me. “I heard Mrs. Katz saying something about a foster family, Eli. She said they’ll be here tomorrow,” he says and then he walks away.

I look up at Miss O. “What’s he talking about?” I ask her.

“I…I don’t know, Eli. Why don’t you two go into the cafeteria and I’ll find out what’s going on,” she says, nudging us towards the cafeteria doors. “I’ll be right back,” she says and then disappears around the corner, heading towards the administration office.

“Do you really think there’s a foster family coming?” Fiona asks.

I nod. “Yeah, I do.”

We get food and find a seat to eat, barely saying a word as we do. Fiona tries, but the thought of a random foster family taking me away tomorrow has me too distracted that I hardly hear what she’s trying to say. Miss O eventually joins us as we’re almost done eating with a serious look on her face. My stomach drops because I know exactly what she’s going to say.

“Billy was telling the truth wasn’t he?” I ask before she can finish sitting.

Miss O sighs and nods. “I’m sorry, Eli, but because of us not being able to find your aunt and uncle, we don’t have much of a choice but to put you with a foster family. Mrs. Katz also learned about a few more children coming to the group home soon that we need to make some room.”

“Why so many?” Fiona asks.

“The home they were living in is being shut down because of violations I can’t explain to you,” she replies.

“Why are they being sent here?” I ask.

“Because we’re the nearest home with enough room. Granted, we only have one other boys’ room with beds available and there are five coming, one will be taking your bed when they get here.”

“Are there any girls coming?” Fiona asks.

Miss O nods. “Three, all younger than you, unfortunately,” she says sympathetically.

Fiona shrugs. “Oh well, another year and I’ll be in a foster family, I guess.”

“Unless we find a good family to adopt you,” Miss O says.

We both look at her doubtfully; the older we get, the harder it is for us to get adopted.

“I know the statistics,” Miss O says, “but nothing’s impossible,” she adds.

We nod at what she says, but we’ve seen the reality of the situation too much; people want babies, not pre-teens.

“Before you go to bed, you should probably pack your things,” Miss O says sadly.

I nod, taking the last bite of my chocolate pudding. Good thing I don’t have a lot to pack.