Sivana. Фиби Тюдор

was no wolf here. And no one was near you when I found you. Who is Arthur? – he continued.

      – Arthur… And the wolf was here, I'm telling the truth, " I said confidently.

      – Sivana, I believe you. You're a brave girl. You say what you think. You are not afraid of adults. I noticed the strength of a fighter in you…but if you want to survive here, you will have to hide your knowledge. You will have to not stand out. I'll help you…in due time. Now you just need to blend in with the crowd. Make friends with the guys. Be like everyone else. Until…I don't know how to help you. Ok? Dr. Reindir suggested.

      For some reason, I felt sympathy for him, I felt the support and sincerity of his words, and I decided to postpone my escape. Moreover, I did not know where to run to, to whom.

      – Joe, Tinky, guys, come to me! –he called out to the dogs, who were playfully frolicking in a pile of fallen pine needles.

      We returned to the shelter for lunch.

      The next morning, a medical procedure was scheduled, or rather, it was called that. I wasn't invited. All the children were taken to the round hall on the first floor and given pills. All the children ate them. Later I found out that these were new drugs that were tested on children in our shelter. The experiment was sponsored by a certain Duplessis. Indeed, when you are a child, and no one needs a child, when there is no one to stand up for you, you can become an instrument of experiment against your will.

      Therefore, the orphanage had a large cemetery, children often died here. And no one cared about it, only about the results of side effects from medications. They kept the strictest records. And the children were simply buried, without even putting tombstones. Only Dr. Reindir tried to resist the shelter's advice, but it was difficult, because he was just a full-time doctor.

      He didn't put my stay at the shelter on the register. My stay here, as well as the stay of another girl, was a secret. Only Dr. Reindir and Sister Pauline knew that Mary and I were in the orphanage. There was a reason for this.

      Mary, a girl of the same age as me, was the daughter of Pauline, born out of wedlock. Pauline herself did not know who her father was. Seven years ago, she was a prostitute, sleeping with men for food, as she suffered from bulimia. When Mary was born, the doctor who delivered the baby was Dr. Reindir. He felt sorry for Pauline. Her future, if she were left alone in the city with a child in her arms and with her past, seemed unacceptable to him. He offered her a place at the St. Hope Orphanage as an assistant, to which he had just been accepted as a full-time doctor. Paulina agreed for the sake of a better future for her daughter. I studied to be a nurse and suppressed my appetite with pills. Paulina's life has improved. Mary's stay in the shelter was not recorded, since she was not his ward.

      The doctor did not record my stay at the St. Hope Orphanage for another reason. When Sister Paulina checked my blood test on the first day of my stay at the shelter, she discovered some oddity. She reported it to Dr. Reindir. And he was also confused.

      The composition of my blood was only partially similar to the composition of human blood. But all speed processes. the settling of red blood cells went faster, and the structure of the blood cells itself was different from the usual human one. This was the reason. For which the doctor hid my stay in the orphanage for many years. I became his research muse. He was determined to solve the mystery of my blood. Solve my secret.

      Chapter 4. Rosemary as a gift

      Dr. Reindir and Sister Paulina, hiding my secret and their relationship from everyone, got married in a local church in the spring, three years after I appeared in their lives. I have never seen Pauline so happy and Dr. Reindir so calm before. How did the pink-cheeked plump Pauline look like her ivory wedding dress…

      Only me and her daughter Mary were invited. That same spring, Dr. Reindir corrected the adoption documents. Mary and I were happy to have this opportunity to become sisters. Now there were officially four of us, and we actually became a family according to the documents. My name was now Sivana Reindir. We moved from Saint Hope to a house allocated to the doctor's family by the orphanage council.

      We lived in a house behind a ravine on the south side, in a place called Rosemary Village. It was a small village for the staff of the shelter. The St. Hope Orphanage was in front, and behind it the pine forest. And after walking along the path through this forest, you could find yourself at a rocky ravine. Along it there are thick, tall thickets of rosemary. Every time I returned from the orphanage school, I enjoyed the sweet, invigorating aroma of rosemary and forest needles.

      To get to our house, where we lived, we had to cross a dilapidated bridge spanning a ravine. It was easy in the dry summer. And in the slushy autumn and winter, when the darkness was approaching, I was afraid to go back alone. Mary and I promised each other that we would always come back from school together, although it didn't always work out. We became friends during the time that I spent here.

      My memory did not return, and it began to seem to me that I had made up everything about the wolf and the boy. I became an ordinary child. Mary studied better than me in almost all subjects, but I was more given to observing and helping the doctor in his laboratory.

      I called Mary's mother Paulina by name, not really feeling her warm disposition to me. But Dr. Rainier, whose last name I now bore as his daughter, I easily managed to call Dad. I often stayed late after school to stay in the laboratory and look through the microscope, read thick books about science and biology in the doctor's office. I felt comfortable with him.

      Henry Reindir studied the side effects of the drugs given to the children at the orphanage and the composition of my blood. In his research on medicines, he found a way to protect children, and this was a breakthrough.

      At least the infant mortality rate has decreased over the past year and Duplessis has temporarily forgotten about the orphanage. Of course, now the tested drugs brought him a huge income from sales to the rich of the country. Therefore, he was in no hurry to introduce new vaccines and pills for testing. This pleased Dr. Reindir.

      But there was also something that upset him. In the research of my blood, he did not advance far, or rather did not advance at all.

      –What do I miss every time? –he often said, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt, when the truth eluded him. This gesture betrayed his disappointment in his competence. The mountains of books that he studied and multiple samples did not give him an understanding of what and who I am by blood.

      I liked living in Rosemary Village, in a quiet place surrounded by rosemary thickets and pine trees. And we were lucky with our neighbors. Our house was located next to the house of a literature teacher. He and his wife, who also taught music at the orphanage, often came to tea with us. And then we all went for a walk together, walking our dogs. It was a happy time for me.

      And then one day Dr. Henry Reindir received an invitation for the whole family. He was invited by his mentor to the annual fall graduation dinner of the university. It was just on my tenth birthday. We decided to celebrate my birthday on October 31, the day I arrived at the St. Hope Orphanage.

      – What luck, dear, I will be able to buy new dresses and clothes for the girls and myself for the winter! Pauline was delighted when she kissed the doctor. During the time that has passed since our first meeting, she has changed, has become lighter and more sincere. The doctor's love had ennobled her, and Henry was visibly happy with her.

      Mary took the news of the trip calmly, she was generally a phlegmatic girl who shunned people. I was inspired by the upcoming trip. Perhaps in London I will find out the secret of my appearance here, or at least a hint.

      –This is a great chance to ask for advice in my research. Professor Nikola, for sure, will guide me, will see what I'm missing, " Henry said to me, calming himself with the opening opportunities.

      It was decided to go on Friday, the thirtieth of October. But this did not happen.

      Early in the morning, as always in autumn in these parts, it was raining. I went out for a walk with Tinky and Joe, putting on a raincoat. But I couldn't get down from the porch. Surprisingly, our entire yard was filled up with rosemary branches overnight. They were lying