The Orphan Factory (The Orphan Trilogy, #2) Read Online Free

her.
    Looking out at Little Calumet River in the distance, Nine could sense Seventeen wasn’t the only one whose eyes were on him at that moment. He suspected his Omega masters were watching him and, in all likelihood, talking about him.
    Naylor stood up and prepared to leave. Turning to Kentbridge, he grumbled, “As I said, that kid is too perfect.” Donning his sunglasses, he looked pointedly in Nine’s direction. “See that he fails at something. And make sure all the others witness it.”
    A speechless Kentbridge could only watch as Naylor strode toward the exit, closely followed by Doctor Pedemont and a smug looking Marcia Wilson.
     

 
    3
    Nine fiddled impatiently with the ruby on his necklace and checked his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. He felt concerned knowing night was fast encroaching.
    Where the hell is she?
    Kneeling in the tree house Kentbridge had built for the kids years earlier, the boy peered through a narrow gap in its rear wall as he wistfully studied an apartment building that was just a few feet beyond the orphanage’s back fence.
    Nine was grateful he had the tree house to himself. Now that his fellow orphans were, like him, almost teenagers, none of them bothered climbing up the old sycamore tree anymore. Nine however, appreciated the solitude the tree house offered. It was one of the only places he could ever truly be alone.
    In fact, he wasn’t entirely alone on this occasion. At his feet, the Pedemont Orphanage’s resident pet, a Japanese Spitz, chewed on one of his boots. Nine patted the dog’s thick white coat thoughtfully.
    You’re my only friend, Cavell .
    As if hearing Nine’s thoughts, Cavell stopped gnawing the boot and looked up into the orphan’s eyes. 
    A light from the nearby apartment building caught Nine’s attention. Sitting by a second floor window, was the girl he’d been waiting for. He involuntarily sucked in his breath as he studied the unsuspecting girl.
    What a Goddess you are.
    Clearly of Mediterranean origin, the girl appeared to be in her early teens – a year or two older than Nine at most. Yet she already had the poise of a woman. On this occasion, she was wearing a blue dress that had white polka dots all over it. Her jet-black hair, which Nine had previously observed to be waist length, was now tied up in a bun.
    Nine crouched low in the tree house to ensure he couldn’t be seen. Copying the orphan’s body language, Cavell also squatted low. The excited orphan used the gap in the tree house wall to spy on the dark-haired girl who sat at the desk by the window.
    Although they’d never met, Nine felt he knew her well. He had first seen her from that same vantage point a few weeks earlier after she and her father had moved in to the apartment. He’d even learnt her name after hearing her father call out to her: Helen .
    Since then, around sunset every day, Helen religiously did her homework at the desk by the window. When possible, Nine always made sure he was up in the tree house at that time. Sometimes he drew pencil sketches of her features. Other times he became mesmerized, staring at her for long periods without blinking. 
    So engrossed was Nine, he’d momentarily forgotten about the binoculars he’d brought with him. They lay close by on the tree house floorboards. He had borrowed them earlier from Doctor Pedemont’s unattended office. Suddenly remembering the binoculars, he lifted them to his face and focused them on the object of his attention. She immediately filled his entire vision.
    Helen appeared to be concentrating hard on her studies. She absentmindedly bit her bottom lip as she wrote something down.
    Nine adored her exotic features. She had full lips, high cheekbones and radiant olive skin. What he loved most about her, though, were her dark eyes. They reminded him of sparkling diamonds.
    The other thing that transfixed Nine was her deportment. Helen’s presence seemed so contained it was easy to forget she was not