by A. S. Oren
I frown and stare at it. “You’re not going to cut it into a slice?”
He shrugs. “I don’t see why we have to; it’s just you and me eatin’ it. From this day forth, we’ll become a family. Chocolate cake is one of my favourite things, so think of it as a way I’m welcomin’ you into my home.”
I take a fork and scoop a large amount of the cake out. A grin spreads across my face. I’ve wanted to try this since I saw a kid in a movie do it. The mass amount of cake and frosting spreads out my cheeks as I struggle to chew.
“Easy, it’s not goin’ anywhere.” He takes a bite of cake.
I swallow the mouthful and stare at him. “Do you have any kids?”
“None of my own, but I train kids a lot. In fact, I have two brothers comin’ to stay here in a few days. I’ll be trainin’ all of you. I’m fairly certain they are your age, so you’ll have peers your own age to play with. Hopefully you don’t have a problem playin’ with boys?”
I shrug. “All I’ve ever had is my brother to play with, so I don’t think it will bother me.”
He stares at me for a long second. “You’re very articulate for a six-year-old.”
I hold up my hand. “Five. I’ll be turning six next month. I don’t know what articulate means.”
“It means you talk well for a kid your age. I wasn’t expectin’ that from a kid that grew up in the Norm world. Did you have someone teach you to talk like that?”
“Just my Mom and Dad. They made sure my brother and I knew how to read by three, so I guess that helped.”
He takes another bite of cake and swallows. “I wouldn’t have guessed that, but with who your mother is, I shouldn’t be surprised. She wouldn’t let a dog leave her house without educatin’ it first.”
I take another bite of cake, this one smaller so I can swallow it faster. “Where will I go to school?”
“You’ll be home schooled on this land. It’s safer that way. The second you step off the land owned by my family, the Watchers will find you, unless you’re with me. I can shield you for a few hours. They can’t find you while you’re here. Don’t worry; it goes on for miles. So you don’t have to be afraid of stepping out of it.”
He takes another bite of cake; we’ve made it to the centre. “Where are we?”
“Little nowhere town in Colorado. Population’s small. People keep to themselves and it’s perfect for my business.”
“What do you do?”
“I act as a trainer for those who do not want their children enterin’ Spearwood unprepared. It’s the off season right now.”
“What about those boys?”
He shrugs and shakes his head. “They’re comin’ for a different reason.”
I scoop only the frosting onto my fork.
He stands from the table. “I suppose I should show you where you’ll be stayin’. You’ll have a room in the main house with me. Normally, my trainees bunk in cabins together, but you won’t be able to do that once you become older.”
“Why?” I take my final bite of cake and put down my fork. I can’t eat anymore.
“Because it won’t be appropriate after a certain point. You’ll understand better when you’re older. You won’t always want boys around you every second of the day. Are you done eatin’?”
I nod and he puts the glass dome over the cake again and places it back into the fridge. “Do you know anythin’ about magic or the world your family comes from? I know your parents said they tried to keep you from it as much as possible. But now that you’re trainin’ with me, you’ll need to know more about it. Do you understand what I’m tellin’ you?”
I nod and roll my eyes. “I’m not a little kid, Edgar.”
“You are a kid, Avalon. You just aren’t actin’ like a typical five-year-old. I think it will be good for you to have peers your own age to run around with. It will help you be more of a child and less of a kid that has already dealt with too much. Come with me. I’ll show you to your room now.” He bends over and picks up two of my suitcases before heading for the stairs.
I follow behind him. Two large white doors stand closed at the top of the stairs. “That’s my room.” He goes to the right of the doors and down a long hallway. He points to a door on the right of the hall. “That’s one of the bathrooms there. Most of the trainees use that one. That door there,” he points to the door across from the bathroom, “is the other guest room in the house, it also has a bathroom. It’s reserved for the kids who get sick or injured durin’ trainin’, and I need to keep an eye on them. It helps keep the others from gettin’ sick, and so I don’t have to go up and down the stairs all night.”
We come to a stop in front of the door at the end of the hall. "This will be your room for as long as you stay here." He opens the door and lets me go in first. I step into the room. White walls and brown carpet greet me. A small bed stands off to the left corner next to a large window. A short bookshelf sits right next to the door, but no books take up space on the shelves. Compared to the places I've lived in the past year; it's not bad.
"You can decorate it however you want. We can paint the walls; change the carpet. I know it's pretty boring to be a girl’s room. Like I said, I've never had a girl around here before, and I only had half a day to prepare for your arrival."
I take a seat on the bed and bounce on it a little. At least it doesn't squeak like the motel's mattress did. "I like it. Maybe we can paint the walls blue, or purple?"
He nods. "I'll go to the hardware store in town tomorrow and pick up some paint. We can do that to pass the day before the brothers get here. I can tell you things while we paint and then at lunch, I can show you some books that you can read. Though, you may need my help understanding some of them, they have an advanced vocabulary."
I shrug. "Just give me a dictionary to go along with them, and I will look up the words I don't know."
He stares at me for a long time again and shakes his head. "You are so much your mother's daughter it ain't even funny."
"How well do you know my parents?"
He runs a hand over his white hair and peers out the window. I follow his line of sight. A faded moon hangs over a colour changing sky, it will be night soon.
“I raised both of them from a young age. Your father came here first, an orphan, not knowing what he was. Spearwood got wind of him causing problems. He was using magic and didn’t even know it. Naturally gifted that one. Then a few years later he found your mother and. . . someone else, wandering in the woods. I took them in as well. Even though they weren’t like my normal cliental.”
“But you said you have never trained a girl or had one here.”
“I haven’t. Your mother never stayed in the house and the only thing I did to help her was teach her how to read. Once she had that down, she didn’t need me anymore. Your mother was wild. Your father was the only one who could calm her down or even speak to her. Once they became teenagers, she went off on her own. I didn’t even hear anything about her until your father told me he was getting married straight out of Spearwood.”
“You can put those down.” I motion to the suitcases.
He makes a sound in the back of his throat, but places them at the end of my bed. “The stories of your parents can be saved for another time though. I don’t want to tell them all when you’ve just got here.”
“Edgar, I was scared at first about coming here. I haven’t been away from my brother a day in my life, and if I had my way he would’ve come with me. I don’t think I’ll hate it here though. I think I will learn some new things, and I do love to learn.”
He laughs and shakes his head again. “Stop bein’ a thirty-year-old in a five-year-old’s body. Certain aspects of your mother really did come through. Is your brother like this too? He didn’t seem like it. But, I guess that explains why you’re not a victim of the curse either. Your mother’s side is just too powerful to let it work.”
“Curse? My mom’s side?”
He ruffles my hair. “Don’t worry
about that now. You’ll learn about it in the future.”
“You’re confusing me.”
A deep sigh escapes him. “I confuse myself sometimes, so that’s nothin’ new. I’ll go get your other bag and help you unpack. Then, it will probably be time for you to get some sleep. Regardless of how mature you might be, you’ve had a long day by anyone’s standard.”
I watch him go and then come back with the last bag. I twirl the ring Amr gave me around my finger. “There won’t be any monsters tonight, right? Now that I’ve come here, they won’t try to take me or bother my family?”
He unzips the suitcases and opens my closet door to reveal a small dresser sitting in it. “As long as you stay on this land most of the time, they won’t be able to pin point your location. We can go out sometimes, just not for very long.”
I stand to help. “Why can’t they find me here?”
“Many wards are protectin’ this land. The Watchers at Spearwood aren’t able to see through them. They don’t even know you’re in this state. To them, it’s as if you’ve left the planet.”
“But they won’t bother my family, right?”
“They shouldn’t. You’re not there with them, and they want you.”
“Why do they want me?”
He shakes his head. “That’s a story for another day. Here, put these in the drawer you want them to go in.” He hands me a stack of folded clothes.
CHAPTER THREE
I awake with a gasp as I sit up in bed, ready to fight off the monsters. I blink twice. Sunlight streams in through the window. No monsters stand over me, waiting to grab me.
I throw the covers off and stand from the bed, almost forgetting that I came to live here last night. Inching the door open. The scent of toast and bacon wafts at me. I follow it down to the kitchen. “Good mornin’,” Edgar says, from his stance at the stove, flipping bacon. My stomach tumbles at the thought of having to eat it, but I don’t want to be rude.
“Good morning.” I take a seat at the table.
He sets a plate down in front of me with a fried egg and some toast. “Your parents told me you’re not a big fan of meat, so the bacon is just for me, unless you want some?”
I shake my head. “No thank you. I don’t like it. It tastes horrible.”
He smiles and returns to the stove. “I went to the hardware store when they opened this morning and picked out some purples and blues you might like.” He points toward the stairs. “I figured what you don’t like can be used to spruce up the cabins for the boys. Those walls haven’t seen paint in at least a decade.”
I take a bite of my toast while staring at the paint buckets. He picked out two shades of blue, one light and one dark, and two shades of purple. “Can we do each wall in a different shade?”
He laughs. “Sure. It’s your room. You can decorate it however you want to. I’m a little surprised you didn’t want the walls to be shades of pink.” He turns off the burner and sits down at the table.
“Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I have to like pink.”
He bites into a piece of floppy bacon. It’s not crispy like how Dad has his. “Touché.”
I take the corner of my toast and use it to break the yolk. I do love eggs. My mom, who also doesn’t like meat, has never understood how I don’t mind the taste of them. She hates them as much as she hates meat.
“So, are you up for painting your room today?”
I nod and smile. “Yes!”
He grins. “Good, I’ll need the help. I don’t have any employees here during the off season, so it’s just you and me until the brothers come here tomorrow.”
I stare at the kitchen window. Trees stand tall beyond the glass. I wonder what the rest of this place looks like. Using my fork, I cut into the egg and finish off the rest of my food in three bites. “May I go outside? I want to see what this place looks like.”
“Sure. Just come back in a bit to paint your room. I need to move your bed and bookshelf out of there anyways, so go explore. Don’t go too deep into the woods though. I want to show you and the brothers the safe trails, otherwise, you’ll get lost easily. Okay?”
I nod and get down from my chair.
“Don’t forget to wash your plate and put it on the dish rack.” He points to a black thing next to the sink. “There’s a stool over there, in case you need it.”
I look to my plate. He wants me to wash it? Mom or Dad always did that for me though. With both of my hands I carry it over to the sink. I’m not quite tall enough to reach the water knob. Balancing the dish on the edge of the counter, I drag the stool over to the sink. Climbing on top of it, and turning on the water, I rinse off my plate. Using a tiny bit of soap and a sponge, just like how I saw Mom do it. I make sure all the yolk smears and breadcrumbs are off it, before placing it in one of the slots of the dish rack. I turn off the water and jump down from the stool.
“Thank you,” Edgar says as I head for the door.
“You’re welcome.” I push open the screen door and step out onto the porch. A small table with chairs sits on it, along with a chair swing. Dark green grass spans out from the house. I walk to the edge of the porch and peer around at the land. Three large cabins stand on both sides of the house. Beyond that, pine trees circle the area. Stepping off the porch, the grass is cool against my bare feet.
I traipse over to the cabin with a four painted on the door. I push it open. It’s longer than it is wide. Two sets of bunk beds stand along each pale yellow wall. Old, faded flower curtains hang over the two windows. Two dressers stand at both ends of the bunk beds. I close the door and go to another cabin. The same set up.
I search for an area of just dirt and a stick. I crouch down over it. How many kids does Edgar train? Each cabin has eight beds, so I draw six eights into the dirt and count on my fingers, crossing out each eight as I go. “48.” My eyes go wide. “Wow, that’s a lot.”
I stand and look at the edge of the woods surrounding this place. My heart beats faster. I don’t have the courage to go near there yet. I’ll wait for Edgar to show me around them first. What if there are monsters in there?
I go back into the house and climb the stairs. Wind swirls around the hall, blowing back my curly blonde hair. I frown and walk toward my room. Edgar stands in it, more air swirls. With his hands out in front of him, the mattress floats off the bed. I move out of the way as it comes through the door. He rests it against the wall.
He puts down his hands and the wind stops. “How did you do that?” I stand in the doorway.
Edgar grins. “I’m an air user, so I was manipulating the air around us to help me move the furniture. It saves time and I don’t have to accidently throw out my back while doing it.”
“Can you teach me how to control the air?”
“Only if you’re an air user. People born into our bloodline associate with just one of the elements, usually the one that best fits their personality. There’s fire, water, air, earth, and metal. You could be any of those. When the brothers get here tomorrow, I’ll have all three of you take the elements test to find out which one you fit best with.”
I smile. I can’t wait to find that out. “Dad used fire. I saw it come out of his hands when he would scare away the monsters.”
Edgar nods. “I know.” He moves his hands and the wind picks up again, this time moving the bed frame.
“What if I’m not air like you, how will I learn my element?”
Instead of using the air to move it, Edgar picks up the empty bookshelf and moves it a foot into the hallway. “The techniques used for each element are generally similar, and for the ones that I can’t teach you, one of my employees during the training season can help.”
He moves to stand in the centre of the room and looks around. “I have one from each element, so they can help with the more advanced moves. But you won’t be learning anything like that for a long time. You have to wait until you get older and your magic gets stronger.”
“You teach a lot of kid
s. I counted forty-eight beds.”
He nods. “There are more cabins in the woods. A lot of parents want their sons to make it through their years at Spearwood. I have a good track record of making sure that they are able to stay alive.”
“What is Spearwood?” I ask. “Mom and Dad would never talk to me about it.”
“It parades around as a school for our bloodlines, to teach those who’ve just come into their dragon powers how to use them. But, if hell exists, I think Spearwood is the road people travel to get there. Why don’t you change into some clothes you don’t mind getting paint on? Because I doubt it will come out. I’ll go get some sheets and masking tape to protect things that we don’t want to get paint on.” He leaves the room, closing the door.
I stand in overalls and a plain white t-shirt. Sheets layout on the floor, blue masking tape covers the window and doorframes, along with the power sockets.
Edgar brought up the paints, pans, rollers, and brush. I smile. I’ve always wanted to paint something; this should be fun. Twisting the ring on my pointer finger, the smile falls. I wish Amr was here to paint with me. I’m sure he would love this.
“Cheer up kid, and just focus on the paintin’. It will get your mind off the other things.”
He pries the lid off the lighter shade of purple. I want to put it on the left wall in the room. He swirls it around with a wooden stick and pours some of it into one of the slanted pans. "I miss them so much and it hasn't even been a full day. How will I ever get used to not being able to see them? Ten years is a long time, isn't it?"
Edgar sighs and runs a roller through the paint. "Not as long as you might think, kid. Time moves faster the older you get, you'll learn that soon enough. And of course you'll always miss them, they're your family. I'd be worried about ya if you didn't miss them. But, eventually, the hurt of missin’ them won't ache so badly and you'll be able to go about your day with them just sitting as a distant memory at the back of your mind."
I like that he talks to me as if I'm an adult. Just like how Mom and Dad talked to me. I can't stand the people who try to treat me like a little kid, sugar coating everything. "Thank you for being honest."
