This was Brandons life.

For....many years.

Time didn’t matter in the white boxes...the boxes were Brandon’s world.

Every box simply consisted of white walls and paths that came and went nowhere.

Nora spent untold time with him day after day. Night after Night. Watching him grow. Tending to his needs.

But even with Nora in his life...and Jacob in his life nothing truly changed...and yet everything was changing.

It started when one day Jacob walked into the room with an armful of items.

With a small hesitation Jacob had juggled the stuff inside of the box, before he dropped them on a Table.

A weak, four legged brown table, that had been brought into the room by Nora so that she could fix Brandon his meals...and dine with him.

“Jacob...what is this!?” Nora challenged walking around the table to glare at Jacob.

Before answering her, Jacob walked over to the crack, reached out...and pressed his fingers against the small nubs to the left of his shoulder.

Nora and all of the alchemists used the Keypad to make the clear door slide open, and so it was no surprise that after Jacob pressed in a sequence of buttons, the closed with an automatic “Whoosh” of air.

With this accomplished Jacob marched back across the room, grabbed a chair and fell into to it. Then Jacob reached out, and snatched one of the items up from the table.

Keeping his eyes one what he was doing Jacob finally started to answer Nora.

“These are books, some paper...and a few markers form the Library.”

Nora’s face scrunched up in concern. “Um....” She started. “You stole this stuff from the library, right?” She asked.

Jacob flashed her a cool smile and shrugged. “I needed it.” He said simply.

“Why?” Nora asked him watching Jacob take a square, thick, colorful item, and crack it open. Soft fluttering pages flipped between his nimble fingers.

Brandon watched in silence as the two of them continued to speak.

With a small proud laugh Jacob answered her. “Because I’m going to teach the Lil one how to speak.” He said.

Nora seemed to freeze at this answer, then she was speaking again. Her voice filed with confusion. “Jacob...I don’t understand...”

Jacob looked at her from across the table. “You cant watch him all the time Nora and the more he grows the more his power to take what he wants will grow.” Jacob told her slowly. Then he looked at Brandon and shook his head. “After what happened with Aron I think Brandon is going to need to learn how to communicate or he could get hurt again.”

“But the Grand Master said no....” Nora stared to say.

Jacob growled over her. “Hovel is not my master, Nora. Im not beholden to his sactimonious control either.”

A small sad smile suddenly touched Nora’s face. “So you say, but I see differently. I see truth.”

Jacob growled and stared at her in silence for a long time after that.

Finally Nora turned and walked over to another table where she was still mixing food.

Jacob still watched her....and no one spoke, until finally Nora did speak.

With her back still turned she called across her shoulder.

“Hovels isn’t going to like this...but I want to help.” She said softly. “Tell me what to do.”

Brandon didn’t understand a word of what Jacob and Nora had said, but when Jacob grabbed his hands and softly put a square thick object in his hand Brandon sensed that something had changed.

And then Jacob....started to teach him.

The teaching started out slow....and grueling.

Day after day Jacob went over sounds and strange letters with Brandon. None of it made much sense....but at night Nora would continue to teach him. She made him sound out words and sounds.

And gradually....Brandon started to speak...and to write. He slowly began to learn.

He learned simple things like how to count, shapes, numbers, and time.

Brandon learned that the places he called “Boxes” Were actually rooms. And he learned that the cracks in those rooms were called Automatic Glass Doors. He learned how to name furniture, foods and colors.

Eventually Brandon even learned to understand important things.

He came to understand that Hovel was his father. And that the cutting and the bleeding that happened to him every day....was called a Procedure.

Brandon eventually understood that The Men in White were Alchemists.

And Brandon also learned that room where he was taken to feed....was called an Observation room.

As the teaching continued Brandon found himself more and more attached to Jacob and Nora.

Possibly because they seemed just as attached to him.

Jacob led him around the hall...like a puppy. Brandon gravitated to him like no one....but Nora. Trusted him like no except for Nora. Something about Jacob...felt good and safe. Oddly Brandon craved his attention.... And his familiarity.

After weeks under his wing....weeks of writing and spelling....and learning how to understand sounds “Jacob” was the first word out of Brandon’s mouth.

One word turned to a few and a few words turned into basic sentences.

But as his knowledge grew....so did his thirst for movement. Jacob seemed to sense Brandon’s need easily.

And so one day Jacob walked into the room, grabbed Brandon and Nora by the hand, and pulled them out into the halls.

Then without a word Jacob took off running, pulling both Brandon and Nora down on white hallway after another. Brandon didn’t know what to do or to think. Nora was pulled along with a shocked expression stuck across her face.

After a few right and left turns, that Brandon found impossible to follow, Jacob stopped.

Brandon was shocked to see that Jacob had brought him and Nora to large glass door. On the other side of the door were some of the largest and longest shelfs that Brandon had ever seen in his life. And every single shelf....was nearly bursting with the tightly packed spines of books.

Hundreds of books....more books then any one could ever hope to read.

Brandon stared into the room with a tight breath in his chest.

The room beyond was white, just like every other room in Hovels home, but the room beyond the glass....was gigantic. The top of the room stretching up beyond the glass so that Brandon couldn’t see it full. Five long, heavy looking tables streathed all across the room, with high backed light brown chairs pushed up to the corners and sides, that could have sat a whole army

Nora’s voice crying out in shrill disbelief pulled Brandon away from the glass door, and back to Nora and Jacob, who were still holding hands....and arguing.

“OH my God!” Nora exclaimed looking at the glass door then over at Jacob. “Oh my God! You brought us to the Library!?” she asked.

From the expression on her face Brandon suddenly realized that something was wrong.

“Come on cutie...” Jacob was saying to Nora as he released her hand. “Take a breath before you pass out on us.....” Jacob said, stopped and chuckled as Nora glared at him. “You know that I had to bring the Lil One to see the library eventually “Carrying all of those books to his room everyday was becoming a chore. Now....he can just read from the Shelf.”

“But!” Nora started to speak. But Jacob held up his hand to silence her, then he smiled.

“I talked to Hovel about it already...he was a little angry, but in the end....he decided to allow Brandon out of his room.”

Brandon was instantly surprised by this information. Brandon knew and he sensed that his father....did not go out of his way to be nice, especially where Brandon was concerned.

Somewhere inside Brandon knew that Hovel detested him, but this fact never really mattered to him, since Brandon barely saw Hovel....and spent more time with Nora and considered her to be something of a parent to him.

“My Father said I could come to this place?” Brandon asked out loud cutting into the tail end of their conversation. But Brandon didn’t look at Jacob, because his eyes remained glued on the countless books that he could glimpse sitting on the other side of the door.

Something inside of him was almost desperate to get into the room and crack one open

“Hovel said he could come here?” Nora echoed, with a small gasp.

Jacob didn’t answer them. He simply turned, grabbed Brandon’s arm, and pulled him up to the door.

A few beeps filled the air....and with a huge gust of displaced air, the glass slid to the right...and a crisp smell hit Brandon in the face. The musk of papers...and leather....and ageless wooden shelfs.

“Come on!” Jacob said, and pulled Brandon inside.

After that....Brandon Jacob and Nora spent the rest of the day in the Library.

And it became a regular occurrence.

So that whenever Brandon got a little antsy Jacob and Nora quenched this by taking him to the Library every few days so that he could curl up in a corner or at a table...and go wild with the books and scrolls and pictures.

IT was on one such occasion that Brandon first started asking questions. One question after another rose up inside of him. Tumbling form his lips faster than he could often control them.

It was fun. Speaking was fun.

So he did it often. Constantly probing.