Sly shuddered.
Now that Sly was wide awake he felt intense pain all over his body.
His nose wrinkled as the lingering smell from the combination of bleach and disinfectant irritated Sly's nasal cavity.
It hurt just to move his neck slightly.
He barely managed to look down; only to see that his body was naked.
All around him the white bedsheet was soaked with his blood.
The source of the blood was the 8 inch incision down the middle of Sly's chest.
Currently the family doctor's hands were buried deeply and tearing apart his ribcage.
His chest heaved up and down and he was losing so much blood but the doctor refused to let Sly die under his care.
It was bad for business when customers died from surgery.
A few hours later the surgery was over and Sly managed to survive.
To the relief of Dr. Jennings who maintained a sleepless vigil by his bedside.
For several more days the only face Sly saw was the doctor's as he nursed the boy back to life from the brink of death.
Until suddenly the door slammed open and Lord Duncan stormed into the attic.
Dr. Jennings helped Sly sit up in the bed, his emaciated body supported by several pillows, not once did he look up to greet his father.
Just ignored his father's presence staring silently into space with downcast eyebrows and vacant eyes.
Lord Duncan calculatingly noted the obvious changes in his son's features; the once plump and jovial child now looked weak and frail after being bedridden for days.
Despite the fact that the ten year old appeared small for his age but was still eye-catching and beautiful with his curly black hair that had turned silvery grey after surgery and curled around his forehead and ears.
Sly had inherited his mother's unique blue eyes but unfortunately inherited the same button nose as his father that was turned up but his bottom lip was turned down dry and thin.
"My wife is grateful for your generous donation to my only heir. Since you managed to survive I will honor the promise I made to Ayana by sending you away to a private academy with all expenses paid. Do you have any questions?"
Sly suddenly looked up, startling his father with a fierce look.
He stared his father directly in the eyes and responded coldly, "I expected nothing better from you."
A heavy silence descended in the attic but Lord Duncan did not lose his composure.
"I'm glad we are in agreement. Tomorrow morning the doctor will accompany you to the private academy. Never return to the Duncan residence, going forward any communication regarding tuition and living expenses will be done through my lawyer."
From the Doctor Sly learned that even when his father met his mother he was already married to Victor's mom but claimed to be passionately in love with Sly's mom.
That was just a ruse as everything had been orchestrated by his father because he thought his wife was barren and could not have children.
From beginning to end he manipulated their beautiful but frail mother into bearing children for him out of love.
Ayana was born without a spirit bone so she was useless to him.
Even though the family doctor was against their mother having another child she ignored the doctor's warnings and died giving birth to Sly.
While his mother was pregnant with Sly Lord Duncan's wife was also pregnant with Victor and both of the women went into labor on the same day.
Ultimately Lord Duncan chose to be with his wife and he refused to visit Sly for years because he blamed Sly for the death of his favorite mistress.
When Victor became detail sick and his parents realized he had no spirit bone, that's when Lord Duncan remembered that Sly existed.
Luckily it coincided with the death of the maternal grandparents from a freak accident that had been raising his kids and he then brought them to the Duncan residence.
Lord Duncan's eyes narrowed slightly, "don't be jealous and harbor resentment towards Victor Ducan if I get word of any conspiracy on your part to harm this family I won't hesitate to have you killed. You never bore the Duncan surname so don't expect to inherit a legacy which doesn't rightfully belong to you."
After he spat hateful words Lord Duncan stood calmly waiting for a response.
Sly did not disappoint, "From this day forward I will have nothing to do with the Duncan family. In case I don't see you before I go tomorrow morning, Goodbye Lord Duncan."
Without hesitation Sly would no longer call or consider the man facing him as his father.
At this moment his father felt like he lost something precious but then the feeling passed but already he could tell that the boy's resolve had changed and he wasn't the same as before.
Turning to leave the room because Lord Duncan accomplished what he came for.
As long as Lord Duncan did what he wanted he wouldn't concern himself with what was different about Sly.
"Can I come in?" asked the doctor a few minutes later.
"If it's about Lord Duncan don't bother," said Sly. "I have no interest in repeating our entire conversation just now."
The doctor shook his head, "It's about the results of the surgery."
"No need to remind me that I'm just one of the boneless now, living only to serve in the shadows of the gifted."
"That's where you are wrong, what I have to say may come as a surprise."
A/N: In Sly's world children by the age of ten develop a spirit bone that gives them unique powers; the rest are just (boneless) ordinary citizens.