Eve had come back for them looking pissed at them for not following her.

“We do not have all fucking day!” She snapped at them as they sat in a different car than the one they came with. Not that Aiken noticed, his mind had receeded into a daze making him numb to the world.

By the time the car stopped, Zion’s sobs had died down into hiccups and Ambrosia was awake and asking for food which Aiken promised to her if she waited for a few more minutes.

"This is your new home from now on," Eve said from the car while looking at the screen projected by her EtherealLink. The EtherealLink was a communication device available to only the Chosens. Every action from her showed that she could not even care less if she tried. 

"Aaron, the caretaker will be here shortly to give you further instructions." She added as the car door shut and drove off, leaving the trio behind in a cloud of dust in front of a castle-like mansion.

It had a fountain, a range of different flowers, well-trimmed hedges, and well-maintained trees but none of them was interested in the beautiful landscape. Even the cloudless blue sky and a warm breeze could not stop the numbness that crept up Aiken’s limbs.

"Hello there.” A voice greeted from the house making them turn to it.

"Hello there." A voice greeted them from the house Making them to to it.

A man, mid-forties give or take tan skin that told of the many hours he spent outside and was barely Aiken’s height made his way down the stairs to them.

 "You must be the new ones. Christian breeds like a stallion." He joked then burst into a hearty laugh. Not getting the reaction he expected he gestured for them to follow him to the mansion.

 "Where is this?” Aiken asked croakily as they followed the man up the stairs to the huge double door that hid   the mansion from them.

“This is a…” The man laughed as if he lacked words to describe it, “… nursery of some sort. All of Mr. Pire’s children are  brought  and raised here.” He explained as the door opened revealing a huge grand staircase that divided the house into two wings.

“How old are the children? I am Aaron by the way, you are their caretaker I presume? Every child comes with at least one.” He added.

“Thirteen and five. Yes, I am. Aiken.”  Aiken replied while introducing himself.

“Nice to meet you, Mr Aiken. Normally the teenage children go to the west wing while twelve and below go to the Right wing.” Aaron said, scratching his chin in thought.

Aiken panicked, the children should not be separated. Especially not now.

“But, seeing as the girl is too young to be alone in a new environment, we will have them both in the west wing sharing a room till she gets comfortable with the change,” Aaron said and Aiken decided that he was a good guy.

“We will take the children to their rooms first and after you help them settle down, find me so that I can give you their schedule and your task as their caretaker.

You will be living in a separate house. It is detached from the main villa, every caretaker has a house away from the children. To help them be less attached to them. ” Aaarn instructed as they made their way up the stairs and to the west wing and up some other stairs, passing numerous rooms till they stopped in front of one that was at the end of the hallway.

The mansion looked expensive, full of paintings, and sculptures here and there but no life, this was a house and not a home.

Aaron opened the room and walked in it, welcoming Aiken and the children as he did.

The room had two bunk beds, each on the opposite side of the room. While the upper bunks had mattresses the lower bunks were missing giving room for the study desks that were tucked under the upper bunk.

Except for the hologram desktop on the desks they empty. Beside the beds, there were in-built closets that were closed shut.

A widow illuminated the room from the farthest end, it was large so Aiken could see the wide compound that spread out to the dense woods behind the house. From what he could see, the grass and garden were well kept, too well kept for children to be living in this house.

Speaking of children.

“Where  is everyone?” Aiken asked after realizing that the house was too quiet.

“The older ones are schooling at the academy,” Aaron said as he opened the windows outward and a warm breeze swept across the room.

“The younger ones are at a different school. Speaking of the Academy…” He said as he turned his gaze to Zion making Aiken tighten his grip on his hand.

“I heard that he was the first nationwide. Thanks to him you can enjoy one of the Gold Rooms and its privileges.” Aaron said.

Aiken lifted his eyebrow at Aaron’s words.

“Gold Room? Privileges?” He asked.

“Yeah, the rooms here are divided into caste systems.” Aaron started as he walked away from the window,

“Common rooms are where all the children start from." Aaron started explaining robotically, as if the words had been recited for an uncountable number of times.

Prove their worth?

"Bronze rooms where above-average Unchosen resides. Silver rooms where average Chosens reside, means the god that chose them is well mid to lower tier. Gold Rooms belongs to exceptional Unchosen like this kid here,  they have the privilege to choose one more person from the lower rooms to be their roommate however since he has a sibling that choice has already been made. Unless you want to change it?”

“No.” Came Zion’s croaky reply making Aiken wince at the evident sadness in his voice.

“Thought so. Then finally we have the Platinum rooms where only Chosens with God tier gods are allowed. Different benefits are enjoyed; for example, Platinum tier rooms enjoy better food than Common rooms, more money for their expenses, and better rewards.

 I have to warn you that the rooms are not permanent, except for the children in the Platinum rooms the rest of them have to yearly compete with each other for rights to the room during the Annual Room Competition where they use their skills to fight or their current room or try to prove their worth and raise to the next level of rooms.

Unchosen children in the Common room try to get promoted to the Bronze roms while those in the Bronze rooms try to get promoted to the Gold rooms. Whereas Chosen children in the Common room try to get promoted to the Silver rooms and try to get into the Platinum rooms which is nearly impossible.” Aaron said with a tired sigh as if he had explained this a million times already and maybe he has.

“ Meaning… ” He continued as he stepped past Aiken and the children and walked to the door,

”If he does not keep being the best and exceptional among the Unchosen you all get demoted to Bronze then Common. Come and find me in the kitchen once they are settled.” He instructed as he left shutting the door behind him.

At his departure, Aiken felt his body get weighed down by the fatigue of the day.

He was so tired and his body ached in places where the guards had hit him.

Ambrosia squirmed in his hands making him let her down slowly. He watched her as she explored the room with wide eyes. She even found the bathroom he had not yet noticed.

Ambrosia’s awe was almost enough to make him forget about the day. 

Almost. 

Zion’s hiccups and sobs made his tears try to fight out of him.

Christian may have lied to them that Damien was dead, but call it a feeling or intuition, Aiken knew that the man had not told them any lies. He had no reason to.

“Z what is wrong?” Ambrosia asked while holding the sobbing Zion’s hands.

When he did not reply and kept on sobbing, Ambrosia huffed and said,

“If you keep on crying I will tell Dad when he comes back.”

Her words seemed to have burst open his floodgates as he crumpled down on the floor to his knees and hugged his sisters while crying out loud.

“Z…what’s wrong?” Her voice wobbled out, tears made their way down her face.

Maybe she cried cause he brother was or maybe she knew that something was wrong.

“I'm sorry Sia… but da..” A sob cut through Zion’s words,

 “Dad is not coming back.” He said in a whisper, not daring to meet her eyes.

“No! He will. He told me yesterday that he would deal with some puckers then come back.” She argued trying to leave her brother’s embrace.

“Uncle tell Z that d…” Her words stopped when she met his eyes, Aiken knew that she saw the tears on his face. That was the answer enough.

She froze.

 Then a wail tore out of her making Zion sob even louder and Aiken tear up even more.