Chapter 39 - Three Sons at the TableSamuel chose to keep his name.
He met Ethan and Noah in a protected hospital garden.
Ethan brought three pencils.
Noah brought nothing.
For several minutes, the boys sat without speaking.
Then Ethan placed one pencil before each of them.
“Draw a house.”
Noah drew a building with no windows.
Samuel drew the Hale mansion exactly as Daniel had recreated it.
Ethan drew the small seaside home.
He added three boys outside.
Noah looked at the picture.
“Where is Victor?”
Ethan drew him near the door.
“Where is Mommy?” Samuel asked.
Ethan added Celeste beside him.
Then he drew Lily, Mara, Adrian and Marcus.
“There are too many people,” Noah said.
Ethan shrugged.
“It’s a big paper.”
Victor watched from inside the hospital.
Celeste stood beside him.
Her voice remained weak, but she could speak.
“They need different things from us.”
“I know.”
“Noah needs proof we will not leave.”
“Samuel needs proof he can choose.”
“And Ethan?”
Victor watched Ethan give Samuel the yellow pencil.
“He needs permission to be a child again.”
Daniel Wren agreed to provide the location of every surviving Orchard site in exchange for protection.
His information revealed one final facility.
It was registered under Victor’s biological mother.
Her name was not unknown after all.
The record had been deliberately hidden.
Victor opened the file.
The photograph showed a young woman standing beside August Hale.
He recognized her.
She had worked inside the Hale mansion throughout his childhood.
She had read him stories.
She had kissed his forehead when he was ill.
Victor whispered her name.
“Margaret.”
Adrian stared.
“Our mother?”
“No.”
Victor turned the photograph over.
A message had been written on the back.
Victor, when August falls, come alone.
May you like
Beneath it was a date.
Tomorrow.
