But the assignment was clear: to reject every child they saw until they got taken to the third place, and then choose any one at all, totally at random. They had both known that just walking away from these first groups of children was going to be hard – but they’d been unprepared for the harshness of the reality.
This isn’t hard. This is f*****g impossible.
Their eyes met: they saw the horror and fury in each other.
Sully cleared his throat. “No. Any others?”
“Sure.” The woman shrugged, and Cordelia despised her for the disinterest in that gesture. “Two more rooms here. This way.”
The next room was full of older kids, maybe aged two years to five. These children all stood in a row, like soldiers on inspection. Unlike the babies, they made no eye contact at all and stared down at the
