Mage Family by S. D. A. (ebook reader below 3000 txt) 📕

I sat under the clouds, watching them float by. I loved watching the sky; it was always changing around us. Lari slept beside me, her fiery hair spred out from her small shoulders. I turned to look at my sister, remembering how I found her on that porch step, holding her teddy bear. She had no mom, just like I didn't. No family. I looked back up at the big sky, tracing the shape of it with my finger as memories bombarded my head. Being careful not to wake up Lari, I stood and walked into the ancient, rusted caboose we lived in for a home. My name is Joy Tenison, and I'm nearly thirteen years old and take care of four other people. We've been a family for five years now.
I take care of three younger kids with my best friend Stanley, who's thirteen. He and I are the oldest, and we're a family. There's Lari and Jared, six and eight, the kids in the family. They're the only ones blood related in our house. Next, was the baby Gabriel, my little treasure. I'm his adopted mother, and like the two kids, I had found him, only I found Gabriel not too far from the caboose. He is just around two years old. Stanley was the one that found me when I escaped from Them. I belonged to people who wanted to hurt me, experiment on me, just because I was different. I'm the oppisite of my family with my black hair, blue eyes, and my strange silvery skin. Lari says I was pretty, but They called me things different. Gross, Unatural, Disgrace. They were my biological family. But They are my past. Here, Stanley and the rest are my whole universe. The now.
While my mind had been thinking all of these things, Lari had woken up. I instantly smelt something burning and ran out of the "house", going to where Lari was now sitting up and holding burning leaves in her hands. I sighed. 
"Lari. Don't do that! You'll get tired and won't be able to stay up for desert." I smiled, grabbing her up in a hug. The smell of burning leaves went away as Lari looked up at me with her silvery blue eyes. Our eyes were almost identical; people didn't know we weren't all blood related but it was a minor detail.
"Sissy...," she yawned "Where's Stanley? I'm hungry." Her hands patted my face, warming me up in the cool autumn air. I pulled us towards the house, making sure the door was shut tight behind us once we were inside. That's what I was thinking.
I put her down on the bed we shared with Gabe, and took a minute to collect my thoughts. Stanley and Jared had gone to buy some food, and took Gabe with him. As usual, it made me a worrisome nag. 
"Buying some supper." I chirped at her. "Help me clean up, you lazy bones." The home we shared was perfect for five kids. From saving money thanks to my job as a waitress, Jared's newspaper boy, and Stanley's hard-ware store shifts, we had bought nails and a hammer, and built our own furniture. In the small space we owned, there were two beds, with worn silk sheets left on somebody's clothes line, a built-in counter thanks to Stanley, a couple of cupboards with dishes left around in yards and the woods where we lived, and an old lightbulb stove. The only other thing we had was a bookshelf, found in the junk yard I visited. It was filled with stuff we bought for the kids. Some books, a few stuffed animals, even a small telescope I got for Stanley. We even had little stools for no reason. Cute, huh?
There was nothing but old things, and I wanted only the best for my family. I put the new blankets I sewed on the beds. When you were a mother figure, you had to know how to sew and clean and cook. I knew everything; that was why I was here. I sat down on the bed when I was finished. That was all we had to do: straighten up the place.
I looked at Lari, and her ripped jacket. She looked exhausted. Well, she was only six.
"Lari, give me your jacket, Stanley will be back soon so you should take a nap. I'll tell you when he comes home." She just nodded and shrugged off her coat. I watched her as she sleepily passed it over to me before passing out. My poor baby, she reminded me so much of myself. Tired, just a kid, and different... I loved her so much. And tomorrow's her birthday; I had to do something besides sew up her coat. I kept sewing, the lamp glowing from the ceiling, while the colored candels lit around the room flickered. Those, and the small window Jared had made over the counter was the only light I had.
I was thinking about finding a new light when the door was yanked open. I looked up, frozen like a rabbit caught munching on clovers. Little Jared was standing there, holding a huge, glass bottle of milk in his hands. His brown eyes looked at me, smiling like a big goofball, as he stepped into the house.
"Jared Tenison, knock next time! Man, you scared me!" I sighed, putting down the jacket and getting up to tousle his hair. His smile widened, and I wacked him gently upside the head. I peered over his red mop of a head, which was at my shoulder now- and I was decently sized at five foot three, to get a good look behind him. Stanley was hard to see in the setting sunlight, it was still so bright. He appeared out of no where, bopping Jared's head over my own hand that was still on it.
"Honey, we're home!" Stanley laughed, halfway in the door.Lari jerked awake, staring at us with wide eyes. She looked at me, her eyes widening in an accusing way.

"You promised to wake me up when he came home!" she exclaimed, bounding towards Stanley with open arms. Stanley opened an arm up, his body only half way in still. Over Lari's head, he looked up at me with his green eyes. They were smiling as he mouthed, We have her gift out back. Jared and I just have to build it. I nodded in approval. "Where are the groceries? I need them to start dinner." I looked at Jared. He stared at me and turned to run off.
"Yes, ma'm. Just take Gabe and Jared'll be right back with them. I ran in to Mr. Folly, too, he wants you at the usual time." His face was all tight when he said Mr. Folly's name. He didn't know I was a waitress at the Folly Cavern, just that I had a job. In fact, he was oblivious to it since he had his own job and I took care of the kids and house. I sighed, though. He wanted me in late.
Lari turned away from Stanley as he pulled away. She went to me, her long red hair bouncing. I held her as she swayed into me. I could feel myself get uncomfortably warm, which meant she was upset. The warmth of her flames didn't bother me though, I was used to it. But tonight, I felt strange. I heard a soft meow in the door way, and that distracted me from the pain and unease. A kitten looked up at me with brown eyes, its fur smooth and light brown.
"Gabe, my baby. Who's a smart boy?" I cooed to my baby as he walked into the caboose. He was different than Lari, whereas he could shiftshape, which was conveniant for us. Somebody would start something if that person saw Stanley carrying a baby around town without an adult. I scooped him up, as he slowly turned back into the adorable baby he really was. His brown eyes were deep and innocent as he curled up his fingers. Just then, Jared appeared, carrying a bag full of groceries.
"Finally! Take Gabe, Lari, and I'll start dinner. Jared, go help Stanley." I winked at him after turning away from Lari. He gave me a thumbs up, running out the door putting the groceries on the small counter. Even if I hadn't winked, Jared would've known, just by hearing what I was thinking. Yeah, well, he can read minds. It was normal; in our home, we are considered gifted: we're mages. People didn't know, so we didn't care. I blocked those thoughts as they were quickly turning dark inside me. Happily, I looked to see what my boys could scrape up. Four grown carrots, the bottle of milk, can of broth, half a box of matches, ten slices in a loaf  of brown bread, a small bowl of cherries, and a packet of sugar. It wasn't much, but it would be a nice dinner for such an evening.
I went to the lightbulb oven and got out a medium sized bowl. For cooking, it was my best 'pot', even if it had a crack in it. Lari would be happy when I made her her favorite desert, cherries jublee. Out of all of my cooking it was one of my favorite and best dishes. I put a precious amount of milk in the bowl, and picked stems off half the cherries. They must be hungry... I thought, frowning a little. But then I thought of Henry. I quickly checked on Lari, only to find her and Gabe asleep on the cott. Throwing my jacket on, I rushed outside. Henry was our dear chicken, and she was about to give birth to chicks. Moving through the bushes, I picked up her hidden milk crate house. If she was having chicks and it was almost winter, there was no way I would leave her outside. That'd be like me leaving everyone outside during a hail storm. I shuddered at the thought.
Lari was up when I went back inside. She always was a light sleeper, I thought as I put Henry on the floor. I clucked to her softly when she made nervous noises. The poor old girl... I went back to cooking,  and the packet of sugar was now sprinkled over the cherries like snow, and I was dismayed to smash them but I did. As I smashed the fruit into mush, I sang a song; it was too quiet with the boys being busy. behind the house.
" Hmm, my dear, can't you feel it in the air? That sweet sound, so clear in the summer air. It's the music of love... Hmm, my dear, see the air, how it wove? Love, my spirit lifts; skip, leap, jump! Sweet, can you hear it; swish, whoosh, ahh! Hmm, my dear, the music of love; badump, thump, hmmmm...." My voice seemed to echo against the metal walls. Behind me, I heard Gabe's gurgle and Lari humming the tune. I heard that song when I first had started working at Folley's Cavern. I've played it since then because it seems to be Lari's favorite. We all wanted to spoil eachother on our birthdays. Except I never allowed alot of fuss over mine. I couldn't tolerate it. On my birthday, I'm just grateful; it was the day Stanley found me. I smiled, thinking of their present. When I left for work late last night, I had gone to the junk yard, and found a dinosaur key chain. We all knew how much she loved dinosaurs. I made sure to wash it and make it gleam like brand new, to give it to her as my own present.

 I kept singing, and soon had put the cherries in the oven