Page 5 of Crimson Flames

He sighs, but I can see he agrees. “And I’ll do the same.”

We enter the bathroom to find two little girls sitting in a ball next to Az and two boys up against the wall. Isaiah immediately walks to the boys, and the smaller one reaches for him. He picks him up and holds him close.

“They’re not going to hurt you, okay?” Isaiah says.

The two boys glance between us and him. “Are they safe?” the one they call Pokey asks.

Isaiah nods. “They’re safe.”

“You managed to get them to put on bathing suits, that’s a good first step,” Dr. K tells Damien.

“They needed something that wasn’t falling off of them. They agreed easily to that. It’s when the water turns on that things get difficult,” Damien informs us.

After a little coaxing and a lot of reassurance from Isaiah, he and Damien are able to get the boys into the large shower. Before we know it, they are playing games and splashing in the water, laughter bouncing off the tiled walls. However, the two girls remain next to Az, still looking skeptical.

An idea hits me as I watch them. Getting up, I grab one of the cups from the sink and take it to the shower, filling it with water making sure that they can see each one of my movements.

As I get closer to the girls, they try to shrink away as if I were about to toss the water on them. Holding up my hands, I approach slowly but steadily and sit a little bit away from them.

“It’s warm,” I say, as I reach out with the cup in my hand. They make no move to touch it, their gazes frantically moving from me to the cup with wide and terrified eyes, emphasizing the whites around their pale green irises. I am sure that the guards were mostly men, so seeing three guys in here is probably intimidating for them.

“Try setting the cup down,” Adrian suggests, so I place it on the floor between us. Adrian sits next to me and slowly nudges it towards them.

“Safe,” he says before dipping a finger in. “Warm.”

The girls look so small, delicate even, but it is easy to see they are carbon copies of one another. One holds a stuffed bunny to her chest and the other has a hand on it while they lean on Az. The dog looks like he is in heaven under their attention.

“Do you like dogs?” I ask.

The girl farthest from me narrows her eyes at me skeptically, but the other nods, lips tilting with the smallest of smiles.

“I bet he’ll get in the shower with you. Az loves to play in the water.”

The girls exchange a look, and I turn to Damien.

“Can Az get in?” I ask.

“If it helps them, of course.” He peeks his head around the shower wall, his hair dripping on the tiles as he grins at the girls. “Az likes to run under the spray super fast.”

Their eyes widen almost comically before they look at Az and smile. However, they make no move towards the showers.

Dr. K comes to sit next to us, and they seem to relax a little more in her presence, which doesn’t surprise me. She seems to have that effect on everyone.

“Do you want to play bubbles with Az?” she asks.

They don’t answer, looking at her as if they don’t understand what she is saying.

“Bubbles,” Dr. K says before grabbing some soap and making bubbles on her skin with the warm water in the cup.

The girl who is closer to me reaches out her hand and rubs over the bubbles on Dr. K’s arm.

“B-bubbles,” she repeats hesitantly, her voice raspy from lack of use.

Damien turns around to us. “They don’t know a lot of words. That is Ami and her sister is Ani. Apparently, they were sold when they were very little.”

My heart thumps violently in my chest at the knowledge. These poor girls don’t deserve a life of pain and fear like this.

“Bunny,” I point to the stuffed animal between them, and they both nod.

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