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Chapter One
Vanessa
Vanessa Powers bent down to her daughter’s level and unzipped her light jacket. She glanced down the hall of the elementary school. Kids wove in and out of classrooms, yanking off rain boots and sweaters and jackets, and hanging them haphazardly on the hooks that lined the wall. No one was paying attention to them.
“You’re going to do great,” Vanessa said, straightening Opal’s shirt. “I know it’s scary going into a new school, but you’ll make friends fast. You always do.”
“What if no one likes me?”
“There’s no way that will happen. Just be yourself.” Except she couldn’t fully do that. She hated to remind her daughter, hated that this was necessary, but she had no choice. Vanessa dropped her voice to just above a whisper. “Don’t forget to use your new name, though, okay?”
Opal nodded. “Katrin. I know.”
“Right. You got it.” Vanessa kissed her nose and helped her take off her jacket.
“When will I get to tell people my real name?”
“I don’t know. It’s not forever, though. I promise.”
“But how will this hide me?”
Vanessa pressed her lips together. She’d explained this in full detail to Opal more than once. When they were alone. Explaining it again in the busy school hall was not something she wanted to do. Too many people could overhear. She kept her voice as low as she could and leaned in, so that her lips were just inches from Opal’s.
“I’ve told you, honey. We have pretend names so that people won’t know who we really are. If they find us, they will try to take you away from me, and I can’t let that happen.”
“Well, I won’t let them take me.” Opal said it with such determination that Vanessa wanted to believer her daughter would have a chance if someone showed up and snatched her. But an eight year old against a grown man would surely not stand a chance.
“I know you won’t,” Vanessa said, “but we can’t let it even get to that point, okay?”
Opal nodded. “Okay. It’s like playing pretend all the time. I like pretend.”
“I know you do.” Vanessa got to her feet and checked her watch. They would be late if they didn’t hurry. “That’s why I know you’ll do such a good job.”
She took Opal’s hand and led her to the door.
With her hand on her shoulder, she said in a fairly loud voice, “Okay, Katrin, this is your new classroom.”
They walked to the front of the room and Vanessa caught the teacher’s attention.
“Oh, good morning,” the woman said with a glowing smile. “This must by Katrin, our new student.”
“It is.” Vanessa returned the smile and gave Opal a quick hug. She bent down one more time. “I have to get going. You know where I’ll be, and I’ll come right back here after school to take you home, okay? Don’t leave the room without me.”
“I won’t.” Opal ran walked slowly over to the corner of the room where the book shelf was. Several other kids sat on a small piece of carpet, reading. Other kids were at their desks or the white board, busying themselves before class started.
“You’re the new nurse, is that right?” the teacher asked.
“Right,” Vanessa said. “And I’m late for my first day. I’ll be back to pick her up at the end of the day.”
“Well, good luck, and we’ll see you then.”
With a final exchange of smiles, Vanessa hurried from the room. Down one hall, then after a right turn, she found the nurse’s office.
In the office, she found things as she’d expected. There was a cabinet with student medications on one side, a cot with a paper covering on the other. A desk sat against another wall, by the filing cabinets. After being hired, Vanessa had come to get an overview from the previous nurse. Where things were, the school policies, that sort of thing. Today, she’d be on her own, but after years of being a school nurse, she had plenty of experience. She was more worried about Opal and how she’d do as “Katrin” in a new school.
The morning started slow and gave Vanessa a chance to review the policies again and to file some paperwork. There was a steady stream of children who came in to take medications throughout the day, and she tried to memorize as many names and faces as she could, since these kids would be regulars.
Throughout the day, there were several tummy aches, a fever, which was also her first time sending a child home from school sick, and a sore throat. In the afternoon, as she waited for her student with the fever to be picked up, another student walked in. A boy in a dirty t-shirt and jeans.
