What was Lost and Found in the Fire

Ch. 46 Hell of a Hike

                     ~~~

Kay'ari's POV

Location: Lockheart Estate

Date: End of November

~~~

I complete my mid-morning routine a little differently today: instead of exercising or hanging out with Sonny, I go walking around the property and dropping off food. Families greet me at doors, and it feels amazing to see so many grateful faces. Safe faces, with safe homes.

I know many of them by name, though I'm still learning many new names each day. I know their stories though.
Each is like me, without anywhere else to go, and so they made a deal with the Lockheart's for a safe place to stay until they figure out their next step.
Some have no families to go back to, while others are still struggling to find out who they once were, literally and mentally.

Once I've passed out all the food I needed to for the day, I go back to my cottage and pick up everything I need for a trek through the forest, and a week's worth of provisions.

The hike to Viv's spot in the woods is exactly that; a hell of a hike.
Despite being half a mile away, it's set between a rocky ravine and vegetation that seems to grow denser by each passing day.
Axel and Brandon had advised me to avoid making a trail in the woods, and I'd made the decision to follow their advice.

We decided it was safer to keep her hidden, along with Lucy, for the sake of the community as much as them. CPS has been nothing but trouble since we've gotten back, and I worry the authorities are eventually going to start targeting the other families on the Estate as well.

So, to keep the other kids safe, we concocted a story. 

Vivienne and Lucy 'ran away' and we have no idea where they are. Supposedly.
It took a bunch of convincing, and right now the risk of getting caught is a lot higher than I'd like considering both girls are still on the property, but I'd rather rot in jail than any child of mine get taken away and dropped into the foster care system.  

It's past noon, about one-one thirty in the afternoon when I pass the final patch of trees that keep Viv's space obscured and I nearly walk right into a leaf-and-rope-trap.
I grin, admiring the craftsmanship and walk right into one of the mud-holes that Axel showed Viv how to build.

I make a gwaffing sound, not unlike a baby whale call, and throw myself back before I fall into the structure.

With the momentum of my move, I trip back into the leaf-and-rope trap and let loose another unearthly yell when I'm thrown into the air by my leg and I jerk around in the air like a spinning top toy.
I groan when I finally stop moving, my stomach flipping and rolling from only the coffee and little tastes of food I consumed earlier in the day. 

"Hi, Mama." A sweet voice calls to me, and it takes everything in me to swallow my anger and irritation and reply with an upside down wave at Benny, the two of the triplets, and Lucy. 

Benny, though, stares up at me with his big blue-grey eyes, and I swear he looks so much like his mother that I have to ignore the urge to toss my shoe at him.
His mouth is turned up into a smug and devious grin and it mirrors Leninora's perfectly. 

For a second, a question pops into my head. Something I've never had the time, nor inclination to question before....
How does Leninora have a kid if she can't carry a child? I've heard her comment on her impotence, so how is it that Benny exists? 

The questions fade to the background though, as Vivienne runs into view and stands there gaping at me with a wide-open mouth and my cheeks warm at getting caught in her simple yet brilliant trap.