Master's Apprentice (Completed) Undergoing Edits

Prologue Part 2: Mockingbird (Edited)

Author's note: This part is dedicated to the person who gave me a villain to pity/root for and a tragic romance as well. (Yu Zhenzhen)

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The boy had a good head start until he bumped into a man.

He was an older man, in his fifties with an accent that was definitely not American and as the Oliver Twist-lookalike turned from him to go in the opposite direction, the older man took his wrist and asked, "Where are you headed off to, lad?"

Unfortunately, this distraction was enough for the social worker to catch up to the runaway. As soon as she had left the office, the orphan had barged out of there with intention to find his older brother and then happened to run directly into this man who could be his Opa or grandpa in German. At last, the lad knew that his luck had run out and let his hands go to his pockets.

Opa scowled and was about to say something when his wife appeared.

His wife looked old enough to be the orphan's Oma, or grandma in German, but carried a grace around her that made her seem angelic. The orphan gazed into her welcoming eyes and let his fear subside temporarily. This woman meant him no harm.

As if reading his thoughts, she smiled at the boy and then glanced at her husband. "Honey, I hope you were not giving this little one a fright, were you?" her voice dripped with sweetness as she asked Opa this question.

"No...No...I wasn't...Anyhow, Ms. Taylor, could you please explain to us why is this little one out in the hallway by himself?" His fierce eyes frightened the lad for a moment. All of a sudden, the boy blinked and his eyes returned to normal.

"Oh, I was just going to get paperwork for his transfer to an orphanage...but your appointment is actually right back there," Ms. Taylor pointed out kindly.

"He's an orphan?" Opa interrupted.

"Ah, yes. You see, his parents were just declared deceased and he has not been admitted to the system yet..." she struggled to find words to express herself properly when Oma interjected.

"Can we take him? Under our care, I mean?" she questioned the nervous Ms. Taylor and Opa's eyes grew wide.

He took her by the hand and said, "Darling, we can't just keep him, there are rules in place..."

"For a reason, I know," she responded. "However, we cannot let this poor boy be sent off to god knows where by himself," she huffed at him.

"If it were up to you, you would adopt half of the state..." he muttered under his breath. Then, she glared at him and answered back with, "It's your fault we can't have kids."

Silence killed the conversation and Ms. Taylor suddenly found the wall interesting.

"Oh, I just had a thought, does he have siblings?"

Ms. Taylor said, "Ma'am, it is not standard pro..."

Oma interrupted her reasoning and repeated the question again. "Yes, an older brother who is not here," Ms. Taylor quickly responded back.

"We'll adopt both of them," she commented to the slack-jawed Ms. Taylor and her annoyed husband and then added, "We have enough room for two."

After that, Ms. Taylor moved heaven and hell to find his brother and bring them together.

And that is how the story on how the poor orphan boy ended up with Oma and Opa.

Unfortunately for him, Opa disliked him intensely.

Nevertheless, Oma cared for the boys as if they were her own all along and sang "Mockingbird",  a lullaby that she had come up with, to the youngest boy named Tomas every night.

She called him her Little Mockingbird and said that one day he would fly into the clouds and make everyone proud.

And that is how the moniker Mockingbird was coined.

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Author's note: This story contains a few German words, not that many as I realized writing more German into this story would offput some people. The story is in English, not German.

Oma =grandma in German and Opa=grandpa.