I shook my head, denying it would ever happen, but it would, and it was going to happen soon.
Chapter 6
Present-day…
“What do you think are in those boxes? Guns?” Angel asked from where she was sitting beside me on the ship.
“Could be, but they had a big shipment of guns transported three months ago, so I think maybe this shipment is teddy bears.” I played with her as the ship lurched violently with the tide. We were sailing in bad weather, and it was one of my biggest fears. The ship going down with both Angel and me chained up underneath the deck. I tried to put it out of my mind, but as long as we were moving, I knew it would bother me.
Angel shoved me with her free leg, “Shut up. There are no teddy bears in there. You’re so silly, Inkpop.”
She turned and tried to look out the small porthole that was too far above our heads to be visible, “Where do you think we’ll go this time? We have been traveling for a long time.” She looked to me in wonder.
“I don’t know, maybe somewhere cold. Maybe we’re going to Antarctica.”
“Antarctica! No way! Who wants to go there? There’s nothing there!” She giggled.
“Says who? There are so many things there. There are polar bears, seals, Santa Claus, and snowmen.” I said, looking at her in mock surprise.
“Shut up!” She looked at me for a second before looking down at the ground. “Inkpop, what’s a Santa Claus?”
I sucked in a breath, how did this little girl not know who Santa Claus is? Then I remembered she hadn’t had the best life. Her decade on this earth had been full of fear and captivity, for with Alejandro Vilanueva and then here with Ruby and Harrington Giles. The little girl had yet to know the good about the world, but she still kept a smile on her face. She deserved better.
Now though I was at a crossroads, do I tell her the truth that Santa is all made up, she was already almost ten, by that age, I knew my parents were the ones buying me all the presents. Or do I instill a little wonder into the child's life?
“Well, Santa Claus is a jolly fat man who lives in the north pole, his vacation home is in Antarctica, he keeps a list of all the children who have been good throughout the whole year. Then one day in December, Christmas Eve, he goes around and delivers presents for those children.” I watched her face light up before it fell into a look of skepticism. I had to laugh at the wide array of emotions the girl could give off in such a short period of time.
“That’s crap. How can one man do all that? I mean he would need a whole team of people to deliver all the presents. I think you made it up.” She said with a smile on her face.
“Well, it’s true, many believe he is made up, but there are lots of people who believe he is real and he is magic, someone who grants miracles.”
“Inkpop, what’s that mean? What a miracle?” She asked, her mind always itching for more knowledge.
“A miracle is when something happens against all the odds, something that would never usually happen. Something good.” I tried to explain what miracle was in words I knew she would understand.
“Oh, I get it.” She nodded her head as she sat back, “Like you.”
I blinked a few times. Maybe she didn’t understand. “What do you mean like me?”
“You are my miracle, Inkpop. I don’t know what would have happened to me if I didn’t have you. I’d be dead or hurt or lonely or sad. I’m none of that because of you, even though I should be. So that means you’re my miracle.” She smiled brightly before trying to arch her neck and look out the small window again. “I think we are going to China again. I hope they don’t pick up any more tigers.” She spoke about what she thought was in the boxes some more, and I sat there and listened. The whole time trying not to show her that her innocent words of me being her miracle were so far from the truth because, in truth, she was mine.
***
A sharp kick to my ankle caused my eyes to snap open.
“Wake up; we’re here. It’s late, so we won’t be taking you to the compound until the morning time.” Roth said, standing over me.
“Okay,” I replied, although I didn’t know why now all of a sudden, he felt the need to inform me of Ruby and Harrington’s plans. They had left us to sleep on the ship before once for two weeks straight.
He nodded once, leaned over to check my binds, and then walked over to Angel and bent down to check hers before waking her up.
Angel startled awake and jumped back against the wall when she saw Roth’s face so closed to hers. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” He said, his voice softer than it had ever been, and instantly the red flags in my mind began to fly up all over the place. Was he going to hurt her? Is that why he was here checking our binds? Why was he the one to check on us, it was usually Lou. What the fuck was happening?
“Hey!” I called out, but he didn’t even turn to look at me.
Angel didn’t say anything, but I could see just over Roth’s shoulder she was scared.
“You’re special. You know that?” Roth said, his hand now rubbing her hair.
“Yes,” Angel
