“Look at all of the little darlings!” said the woman. “I wish we could take all of them home!”
“As do I,” said her husband. “But we agreed that we wouldn’t do that.”
As they walked down the line, Nathan stood up as straight as he possibly could, imagining that giant hands were stretching his body. The woman’s smile brightened as she saw Nathan. “Well, hello there,” she said.
“Hello,” Nathan replied, saying it without showing his teeth.
“What’s your name?”
“Nathan.”
“Why, that’s what we would have named our own child if my womb weren’t barren. Tell me, Nathan, do you like baseball?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Do you like potatoes?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Do you like dogs? We have three dogs. You’d have to take them for walks every day, and promise to feed them, and play fetch with them.”
“I would! Every single day!”
The woman excitedly clapped her hands. “I adore him! What do you think, Charles?”
“I like him. He’s short but not too short. How old are you, Nathan?”
“Six.”
“Ah, I remember when I was six. The world had endless possibility. Oh, how my days were filled with harmless mischief. Do you like to fish?”
Nathan nodded, though he’d never been fishing. It sounded like a gleeful activity.
“Wonderful! I think our search is over. Give us a great big smile, Nathan!”
Nathan froze. Would they still want him if they knew? What if they were repulsed? What if they threw up, right there in front of all of the other orphans?
He gave them a small, closed-mouth smile.
“Are you only that happy?” asked the man. “We’d hoped to bring overwhelming joy to a young orphan. How disappointing.”
Nathan didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to scare them off, yet he couldn’t very well refuse to smile if he hoped to be adopted. The perfect parents would love him no matter how he looked, right? Maybe they wanted a child with sharp teeth. Maybe they’d driven sixteen hours just because they heard that in this particular orphanage there was a little boy who’d been born with exactly the kind of teeth they’d dreamed their future son would have. If he didn’t smile, they might move on down the line and choose a boy whose teeth were merely slightly crooked!
He smiled, exposing his teeth completely.
The man and woman looked at him, their faces expressionless.
There was a long moment of silence.
“Oh,” said the woman. “Oh, dear.”
The man turned to Steamspell. “Are all of the children like this?”
“No, no, not at all. He’s our one aberration.”
“Well, he looks like a fine boy, but obviously we can’t bring such a severely mutated child into our lives. Perhaps we were too hasty about the whole parenting thing.” He put his arm around his wife. “We should go home and read some more books on the subject, don’t you think?”
“Yes, that would be best.”
They left.
Nathan no longer smiled.
“You poor miserable beast,” said Steamspell. “How disappointing it must be to have actually believed that they were going to give you a home.” He laughed. “You’re a gullible lad, Boy With The Teeth. A most gullible lad indeed. Heh heh. I’d have given my right arm to be able to peek into your mind at that moment when he asked if you liked fishing. You must have been so excited.” He laughed and laughed, belly shaking, until he was forced to wipe a tear from his cheek. “Ah, there’s nothing more amusing than the self-delusion of a six-year-old. Now, all of you, get back to work.”
As Nathan stood there, drowning in humiliation, he wondered if Reggie was right.
Nathan had teeth that could easily bite through somebody’s neck.
Steamspell had a neck that deserved to be bitten through.
It was worth considering.
FIVE
“Here’s the plan,” said Reggie. “Steamspell sleeps with his door locked at night, but Milton here survived two years on the street by breaking into garages and sleeping under trucks, so he can handle that part. He’s a light sleeper, but he’s used to background noise, so Angus and Cyrus will pretend to have night terrors and scream in their sleep, which will cover the sound of the lock picking. Nathan, you will sneak in there—make sure to have your mouth open already, to save time—and bite his jugular vein. Do you know which one that is?”
“No,” Nathan admitted.
Reggie tapped him on the neck. “Right there.”
“Will there be a lot of blood?”
“Of course. That’s the whole point.”
“What if it gets in my mouth?”
“You can’t do this without getting some blood in your mouth. That’s part of the sacrifice. Or perhaps the reward. Timothy’s mother was a psychologist before she abandoned him, so he’ll help talk you through any guilt or trauma afterward.”
“What will you do?” Nathan asked.
“Supervise.”
“That doesn’t seem like much.”
“It’s the hardest part of all! If this plan goes wrong, it’s all my fault. That kind of responsibility changes a boy. I’m putting myself at the highest risk of being forced to brood afterward, so you need to appreciate it and follow my instructions.”
“But do I really have to bite him? Why can’t we just smother him with a pillow?”
“There is too much dignity in being smothered. Steamspell doesn’t deserve it. I swear to you, if those were removable teeth I’d pluck them out of your mouth and do the deed myself, but they are not, and we must work with the gifts we’ve been given. So, Fangboy, are you with us or against us?”
“Can’t I be with you and not have to chew through somebody’s neck?”
“No.”
Nathan sighed. “All right. I suppose I’m with you.”
“Perfect! Tonight at midnight, our tyrant will lay dead before us!”
Ninety-six minutes after midnight, Milton was still jiggling a paper clip in the door to Steamspell’s bedroom, the unlocking of which was proving more of a challenge than anticipated. Angus and Cyrus’ throats were getting sore from all of the feigned night terrors screaming. And Nathan’s reservations about this whole murderous scheme were growing stronger and stronger with each passing moment.
“I can’t do this,” he said.
“Yes, you can.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Yes, you do.”
“What if I go to jail?”
“We’ve already worked out the cover story. You smelled smoke. Not wanting this place to burn down, you entered Steamspell’s bedroom with the intention of awakening him to warn him. But you tripped. Oh, how careless of Steamspell to leave so many items strewn around the floor, and how ironic that it was his own poor housekeeping that caused his demise! As you fell you screamed, which is completely understandable, and your open mouth landed upon his neck. Such a shame! Nobody will press charges, especially after they see what a paradise we’ve turned this place into with our captor dead.”
“Got it,” said Milton, removing the paper clip. He quietly pushed the door open. Inside, Steamspell lay sleeping on his back under silken sheets on his luxurious four-poster bed. A silver platter with an assortment of grapes, strawberries, and cheeses rested on the bedside table. He snored softly.
Nathan’s stomach grumbled. He loved cheese of all sorts.
Milton sadly handed Reggie a coin, having placed a wager on whether there would be a teddy bear. (There was not.) Reggie handed the coin back to him, since there wasn’t any thumb sucking.