Page 63 of Guarded By the Vodnik

“They are incredibly rare. Almost extinct because, well, most people hate them. They used to be hunted. Still are, in some parts of the world.”

“What are they?”

I thought for a moment, painting the image of the little boy in my mind. My heart squeezed with grief and pain.

“Well, they are humanoid, but their bodies are covered with a black chitin carapace that only opens in certain circumstances,” I said slowly, trying as best I could to paint an objective image of the species. “And their… Well, their heads are naked skulls. Though there is flesh underneath the bone. They are overall very hard creatures. Heavily armored. Um. They are born out of eggs.”

“Okay,” he said with a nod.

I loved him a bit more for that. I was more than convinced most people would have expressed disgust after hearing that description, but he was completely neutral.

“His name was Azahl,” I said, my breath hitching. “We sat down, and he squirmed in place for some time until he gathered the courage to tell me. You see, the kids are used to being dismissed. But finally, he started talking. He said that one night, when he couldn’t sleep, he saw a man walk into his room that he shared with four other children. That man stopped over his bed, and Azahl saw him clearly. Abominations have black, matte eyes, deep set in their eye sockets. They can see in the dark. So even if his eyes were open, he probably appeared to be asleep.”

Vodyan hummed, and I took a deep breath, swallowing down my tears.

“That man whispered, but he stood so close, Azahl heard every word. He said, ‘Add this one to the list. If he doesn’t sell for a million bucks, I’ll be fucked.’ Azahl told me all of that, and he clearly thought I wouldn’t believe him.”

“Why?” Vodyan asked, harshness creeping into his voice.

“Because he’d already gone to his head teacher with this, and she told him he must have had a nightmare. When he insisted, she punished him for talking out of turn.”

“But you believed him,” Vodyan said without a shadow of a doubt.

“Of course. I was disturbed, so much so that little Laura woke up in tears because she sensed my anxiety. I calmed her down, hugged Azahl, and spent some more time with the kids, waiting for administrator Kowalski to be free. I wanted to take it up with her directly, and then, with the police. Azahl was called away to do some chores, and I stayed with a few younger kids. We played a bit, and when they were called away for supper, I went to see the administrator.

“She wasn’t in her office. The kids were at supper. I went over to the library, which was empty, and waited. It was quiet, the couch was comfortable, and I was exhausted, so I fell asleep. I woke up a bit after eleven p.m., and the children’s home was dark and quiet. I was angry with myself for falling asleep and missing my window to talk to the administrator. I decided to try her office anyway, hoping she’d still be in.”

“And Carver was there,” Vodyan said, his voice hard.

“Yes. The door to her office was closed. It was made of thin plywood, cheap, like everything in that place. I saw light under the door, and a shadow of someone walking. I heard the floor creak inside. And then, I heard a man’s voice.”

Vodyan pulled me closer with a comforting hum. I realized I was shaking.

“I heard him very clearly, because he stood close to the door,” I continued after taking a few breaths. “He said, ‘Thank you for your cooperation, administrator. Everything went smoothly, and you were very accommodating.’ She replied, ‘Good. And where’s my money, Mr. Carver? You said you’d pay extra for the abomination.’ He said, ‘Everything is in the briefcase. As agreed, half now, half after we sell them. The abomination should fetch a good price. Some people are freaks for that kind of novelty.’ And to that, she replied, ‘Pleasure doing business with you.’”

I fell silent, my blood boiling with rage. I shook hard, and Vodyan held me even tighter, absorbing my distress.

“You remember it word for word,” he said softly.

“I hear it in my nightmares,” I said honestly. “Anyway, I didn’t wait after that. I ran out of there—the front door was unlocked. I drove straight to the nearest police station and gave my testimony. Feds appeared within an hour and took over. Carver was already of interest, and they were building a case against him. When they checked in the children’s home, seven kids were missing, Azahl among them.”

Tears gathered in my mask, and I desperately sniffed time and again to keep snot from coming out.

“It will be okay, sweetheart,” Vodyan murmured, stroking the back of my head. “I’ll get him. He’ll pay.”

That distracted me enough from the impending meltdown. I’d cried enough over that. I wanted to be done.

“What do you mean, you’ll get him?”

“We’ll get him,” Vodyan corrected himself smoothly. “He’ll get justice”

“I know,” I said, swallowing tears, though I was mostly calm. “And it’s not like… I mean, most of the kids were recovered.”

“Yeah. Thanks to you,” he said proudly. “You alerted the police fast enough.”

“But not Azahl,” I said, tears threatening to spill again. “He came to me, Vodyan. He trusted me to help him, and I fucking failed! When he was called away for those chores, I thought nothing of it. But I should have been suspicious. I should have… Taken him out of there, hid him, I don’t know!”

“You couldn’t have known. And if you’d done that, you’d be the one kidnapping children. No one would have believed your testimony. You did everything exactly right, Zoe.”

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