Chapter Seventeen

When Jaxsen awoke he was aware of two things: it was much brighter in his room than it should be and the date. November twenty-first. Today he was nine years old. He had mixed feelings about today. After he woke he wondered why Sebastian hadn’t made him get up for school. Nizhoni, who moved in almost two weeks ago, hadn’t roused him, either. He frowned, pondering. His two previous birthdays were nothing to be remembered. He squeezed his eyes shut against the memories that threatened to overwhelm.

Dispelling the flooding images, he crawled from bed realizing that he was hungry. He came downstairs to find Nizhoni sitting alone on the couch reading Moby Dick. She smiled brightly upon seeing him, setting aside the hard back. He smiled sleepily in return and rubbing his eyes he crawled into her lap. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close, and placed a gentle kiss to his cheek. He sighed