Page 21 of Last Hope
He shrugged. “We worked from the bottom up. This is where it all started though. Being a poor kid didn’t bother Ignacio’s mother.” He chuckled. “What bothered her was the fact that I got him into all sorts of trouble.” He laughed, recalling good memories, Ezzy imagined.
She stared at the house again and tried to imagine Antonio and her father as children, running around the yard at night, kicking soccer balls and breaking neighbors’ windows, courtesy of Antonio, of course. It brought a smile to her lips.
“So, what are we waiting for?” She started walking up to the small pathway and towards the door, stopping just in front of it. She took a deep breath and raised her hand to knock but couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“What’s wrong,querida?” Antonio asked at her side, staring at her with concern.
She shook her head and bit her bottom lip. “What if...” she began, “what if she doesn’t remember?”
Antonio gave her a supportive half smile. “Don’t worry about her not remembering. She met you when you were young, and she’ll recognize you as Katheryn’s daughter.” He dropped the suitcases to the ground and knocked on the door.
They waited for a few moments then they heard the knob on the door turn. Esmeralda held her breath and waited for it to open completely. When it did, she beheld the sight before her.
A small, frail and bent old woman stood in the threshold illuminated by yellow lamplight. She was wearing a pink flowered dress that reached down to her ankles. Her skin was lighter than Antonio’s and wrinkled. Her hair was a mix of dark and silver, and braided into one long braid over her shoulder. Despite her small, fragile-looking stature, there was something in her light brown eyes…a fiery spirit… and she was staring at Esmeralda with widening eyes.
“Um,” Ezzy started stupidly, shuffling a now squirmy Viktor in her arms. “Hello.” Her grandmother said nothing. “Um… my name is Esmeralda. Esmeralda Ortiz.” She continued to stare. “I don’t know if you remember me from when I was a baby, but, um, you knew my parents. Um… my father is—” Before she could say ‘Ignacio’ her grandmother slammed the door closed in their faces.
Esmeralda blinked at the closed door, feeling her heart sink.
“Why—”
She didn’t get the rest of the question out, because the door opened once again, to reveal her grandmother with tears streaming down her face.
There was a moment of silent intensity as her grandmother stepped forward and touched her roughly padded hand to Ezzy’s cheek. It was a comforting, motherly touch. Something Ezzy always knew she’d been missing.
“Esmeralda…” her grandmother rasped.
Ezzy felt tears prickle the backs of her eyelids but she nodded.“Si, abuela. Si, soy yo.”
13
“Good evening, sir, I’m James Taylor, how may I help you?” Taylor reached out a hand to the incredibly tall man in front of him. He was in a business suit and his untidy black hair fell over his grey eyes in waves. The man shook Taylor’s hand firmly but broke the contact all too quickly.
“I have a possible subject I wish for you to purchase,” he said in a cool, steady voice.
“Well, we’d very much like to see the specimen before anything else.” Taylor stated. He hated the need to chatter on endlessly. He loved it when people got straight to the point. Unnecessary banter made him want to rip their throats from their necks.
The man, without a word, turned and Taylor was forced to follow him to his black tinted van. He waited for him to open the double doors of the back and when he did, Taylor marveled at the creature inside.
It was a small boy who looked to be about fifteen, with glasses perched crookedly at the end of his nose. Bright green eyes regarded Taylor with a terrified expression. The young boy was sweating through his flimsy T-Shirt and had his bright orange hair matted crazily over his temples and forehead. He definitely would have screamed, were it not for the duct tape against his mouth. His hands were tied behind his back and his feet were also bound.
“What type of supernatural is he?” Taylor regarded the tall man at his side curiously.
“Werewolf.”
“So, why the glasses?” he wondered aloud. It was odd to see a supernatural with defects like that, considering they were advanced beings and had close to perfect senses.
The man snorted. “Why else? He’s deformed. That’s why your facility exists, right? You study deformed supernaturals in order to try and enhance their powers?”
There was something about the man’s snotty tone that made a vein in Taylor’s neck pop. Just another prissy, rich douchebag that thought he was better than everyone else and maintained an attitude with the lesser people.
He would’ve snapped at him, were it not for his boss. It wasn’t Taylor’s business, so he had to keep the whole ‘customer is always right’ notion in his brain.
He forced a smile. “Why yes, of course.” He turned to his companions in white masks and with the jerking motion of his wrist he commanded them to get the werewolf child.
“I’d like to stay and observe as you go through the testing. This child is a valuable asset to me. You understand, I’m sure.”
Taylor froze. It was odd for people to want to stay and watch them go through the testing. Usually they just dropped them off, collected their money and drove as far away from the laboratory as possible.
