by W. M. Martin
Nancy stated for all who were in attendance, “If everyone would step into the omniport, one at a time please, you'll all be sent home for the evening. An omniport will be sent to your homes by your enclave’s Praetorian Chiefs in the morning to collect you. You will arrive in your Clan’s respective community rooms to begin your first day of instructions. Please save any questions that you may have until you arrive to your first class in the morning. Thank you.”
With that, everyone started filing in, one by one. Every time a new student stepped through the rippling and almost liquid omniport, they would vanish with a loud crackle. It was now Maggie’s turn to step through the strangely beautiful and mysterious gateway back to Earth. She strode up to Nancy and stopped just short of the omniport.
Maggie looked to her benefactor and asked, “Will I see you before tomorrow, Nancy? I have a lot of questions and everyone here knows way more about being a Kindred than I do and what little I’ve been told has me pretty excited to learn more.”
Nancy leaned in toward Maggie and whispered, “I’ll check in on you in the morning before you have to be back here, I promise. I have to see that everyone gets home safely and then I have some work to do here. Just try and get some sleep tonight. I'll come to the diner so we can talk; just as soon as the sun comes up.”
“Thank you, Nancy,” Maggie whispered back.
Nancy put her hand on Maggie’s back and gently ushered her into the omniport. With a single quick step and a sharp crackling sound, Maggie was suddenly standing at the foot of her little cot in the back room of Decker’s Diner. Her comforter was still hanging halfway onto the floor from where she had slid it off of herself just a few hours ago, believing that the diner was about to be broken into. Maggie took off her Avior cloak and kicked off her new, blue shoes that Nancy insisted that she be allowed to give her as a birthday gift. She sat down on the edge of her tiny cot and reached inside of her pillowcase. She grabbed the letter which her parents had written for her on her birthday a year ago. She unfolded two sheets of paper, one in her mother’s handwriting and one in her father’s. As she began to read, a single tear rolled down her cheek forming a tiny wet streak leading to her chin. Maggie wiped away the evidence of her sadness and took a deep breath. Even though it still hurt because her parents were gone, she had found new purpose that night at the Kindred academy and for the first time, maybe in her entire life, she felt truly close to her parents. As Maggie finished reading the last line, she carefully refolded her precious letter and placed it back inside of her pillowcase. Maggie yawned, reached over and grabbed the giant comforter which was still haphazardly strewn halfway onto the floor, gently fluffed her pillow with the letter inside of it and lay down on her cot.
“Hey, Elliot?” Maggie called.
“I am here,” replied Elliot.
“Just checking. So, how are we gonna figure out this whole “summons” thing?” inquired Maggie.
“Together,” was Elliot’s reply.
CHAPTER FOUR
The morning sun in Thieves kissed the front windows of Decker’s Double-Decker Diner and the glossy morning dew rested like the night’s tears on the hydrangeas that were edged neatly up to the front door. Nancy, who had been humming a cheery tune to herself all the way to the diner that morning, opened the door to her establishment and let herself inside. She walked up to Edgar, who had already been there for a while, to begin preparations for the day’s commerce. He was sitting alone and slowly sipping on a hot cup of black coffee. The steam rising from the molten beverage swirled around Edgar’s unshaven face and made a picturesque silhouette as the sun’s warm rays shone through to the booth that he occupied and highlighted only the side of his plump body that was against the window.
Nancy sat down in Edgar’s booth on the opposite side and her pleasant demeanor vanished.
“Good morning, Nancy,” greeted Edgar, without looking up from his coffee.
Nancy did not reciprocate the greeting. She sat there directly in front of Edgar and seethed. Her silence spoke volumes. Finally after a few moments, Nancy opened her mouth to speak and Edgar prepared for the worst.
“I heard that a Fallen followed you through to this side of the Veil last night and that he actually made it inside of the borders to this Haven,” accused Nancy.
Edgar had been girding his nerves for this very moment. He had known that Nancy would be rather upset at his carelessness. She continued in a rising torrent of anger directed straight at Edgar and he was helpless against it.
“How could you be so careless, Edgar? What if he’d had the wherewithal to open an omniport of his own and signal for any other acolytes that may have been lingering around? What if he’d noticed Maggie?” Nancy growled.
Edgar responded rather sheepishly, “I’m sorry Nancy. I travelled to Praemiummaar almost as soon as you and Maggie left to go shopping last night so that I could check out their fresh market produce for today’s soup special. I just wanted to get that out of the way before I was supposed to bring Maggie to the academy. When I stepped out of the omniport into Praemiummaar I went directly to the market and grabbed everything that I needed to pick up and left the shopping district with time to spare. I even ran into the mayor, Arvid Andersson. He used to have a thing for my sister back when they were both at the academy. We talked for quite a while and I told him about Maggie and how I was going to bring her to the academy for the Appointment of Clans. He just kept on asking questions and I just kept on giving answers. He’s pretty affable you know? Anyway, after we’d finished talking, I was about to leave, but I stopped for just a second to admire the town clock and I noticed that I had a little time to spare. Not much, but some. So what did I do? I left Praemiummaar and strolled down to admire the fjords at night. I got there and decided to take a seat in the grass, just to unwind a little before the ceremony, you know? I was there for a while, enjoying the view, when I decided to turn around and check the time on the town clock again; it’s big enough that you can easily make out the time from the fjords. Look, I know that you used to visit Praemiummaar with your folks, and you’ve seen the clock plenty of times before, but could you please stop making faces at me when I bring it up? I like clocks, okay? And Praemiummaar’s is probably the finest and it’s definitely the biggest. Anyway, if I can get back to what I was saying? Thank you. According to the clock, I was almost late to get here, to pick Maggie up, and I knew that you would have my head if I made Maggie miss the Appointment of Clans, so I panicked a little. I transfigured into my cloak, then I conjured an omniport and jumped right in, but I had no idea that an acolyte had been watching me. He ran in directly after I did and managed to grab onto me inside of the portal. We fought for what felt like a solid hour inside of the omniport, but when we exited out in the alley behind the diner, apparently only a heartbeat had passed, as is normal. I was absolutely exhausted though. The only thing that I can figure is that a Fallen’s corruption messes with our ability to portal travel properly. At any rate, that brings us to the hypothetical potential of that acolyte noticing Maggie; I can promise you, Nancy, that he honestly wasn't the least bit concerned about an underage observer while he was busy trying to kill me. That thing had his black and oily hands full, dealing with me, and after a good walloping, Rose and I sent him and his totem back through the omniport.”
Nancy was not pacified in the least, but her affections for Edgar won out and a cooler head prevailed. Maggie had long since suspected that Nancy and Edgar’s relationship was more than purely professional.
Nancy sighed in resignation, “I’m happy that you weren't hurt, Edgar. It’s just that I had wanted you to introduce her to our world with a little more care. I wanted to bring her to the academy myself, but Cornelius invited me to preside over the whole affair. It was a huge honor and I couldn’t refuse; especially since the Wise Ones requested that I be an aide to the instructors this year. Since I would be presiding, I thought that you should be the one to bring her to the academy last night because she adores you.
I feel like perhaps I had a slight lapse in judgment. If I’m being honest, you were quite careless.”
Edgar grunted in annoyance at Nancy’s statement, “Well, if you would have listened to me and told her all of this a long time ago then I wouldn’t have messed up your plans with my “carelessness.” It’s your fault that Maggie’s been in the dark about who and what she is. Not for her whole life of course; that’s on Wallace and Mary, but most definitely for this past year, the blame rests at your feet. Not mine. You should’ve told her on day one, Nancy, but instead you hid what we are from her. I suppose that you should have done a little bit more to express your desire for caution in regards to what Maggie did or didn’t see. Frankly, I think that it was you who were a little careless.”
Nancy felt herself getting angry again, and blasted out loud, “And I told you that I’ve had everyone in Thieves being extra cautious around Maggie so as not to appear to be anything more than human all year long; not because I wanted it that way, but because it’s what the Wise Ones wanted! I have done exactly as the Spire has commanded!”
Edgar stood up from the booth and loudly fired back, “No you have not. I know about your little ‘hints’, Nancy. I've seen the occasional omniport flickering in town, myself. I know that you had to have conscripted poor old Ms. Forsythe to ride past here on Beauregard as soon as Maggie was supposed to take out the garbage yesterday during the lunch rush! You should’ve seen Maggie when I distracted her from that spectacle. She looked like she’d completely lost her mind! And if that’s not enough for you; according to Rose, Siril told her during the Appointment of Clans that you even denied seeing anything out of the ordinary last night. Also, I know that it’s not the first time that you’ve done that. You've been sending that poor kid mixed signals for months, Nancy. You can’t lay all of this at my feet!”
Nancy stood up slowly, never taking her eyes off of Edgar’s. Her dilated pupils flashed with sapphire flames of fury and her ire was directected squarely at Edgar for daring to have the temerity to deflect the blame back at her. She yelled with such wrath at the accusation leveled by Edgar, that he had to take a step backward.
Nancy shouted, “I’ll have you know that I did not put Ms. Forsythe up to anything! She’s almost eighty-nine years old and probably forgot that she wasn't supposed to summon Beauregard in town and as far as seeing any omniports, I can assure you that I've seen no such thing! Everyone, and I do mean everyone, in Thieves knows that omniports are off limits unless I give the all clear! And I never gave it. That order is from the Spire itself! And another thing…”
Nancy trailed off before she could fire another series of verbal salvos in Edgar’s direction.
Maggie turned the corner and said calmly, “I know what I am and I’m okay with everything. Edgar told me a lot last night. He told me what my parents were; what I am. He gave me hope for the first time in a year, Nancy. Please don’t be mad at him; I’m not mad at you for keeping me in the dark when you could’ve given me months to prepare and absorb some of this insanity.”
Nancy was immediately flushed, no longer with anger at Edgar; but with a feeling of failure directed solely at herself.
Nancy faced Maggie and took a step forward towards her and apologized, “I’m so sorry, Maggie. I truly felt like I was doing right by you. I believed that it would be a good thing keeping our kind under wraps until you could be shown everything at once.”
Maggie countered with a little bit of a sting, “If that’s the case, then how come everytime I would see anything out of the ordinary when we were together you would shrug it off and tell me that my ‘vivid imagination’ was just running away with me? That doesn’t make any sense, Nancy.”
“Told you so,” Edgar mumbled.
Nancy flashed a look of silent rage that instructed Edgar to keep his opinions to himself for the rest of that particular conversation.
“I truly thought,” Nancy answered honestly, “That you were just imagining things, Maggie. I had strict orders, sent from the Spire, for the entire town to keep their totems to themselves unless they were at home. I did as I was instructed simply because it would've been impossible for you to shift through the Veil before your sixteenth birthday to see for yourself the truth of what we all are. I knew that if I'd have tried to explain everything to you, that you would've thought that I was insane and I worried that you would run away from Thieves. I believed that having all of this, all of what we are, thrown on you at once without me having the ability to let you see with your own eyes; that that would have frightened you away. As demonstrated by last night’s events with that vicious Fallen acolyte, I was obviously wrong. I should've believed you when you told me about some of the things that you've seen. I was arrogant in believing that my orders, more to the point, the Spire’s orders, were foolproof and I will find out who flouted them. At any rate, I only wished to protect you and I was frightened that you would've run away from here if you weren't to discover the truth of this on your own at the academy. I was wrong about that as well. Apparently Wallace and Mary wanted you to live a normal life as a human, I presume, to keep you safe. They obviously wanted you to have the type of life that they were apparently trying to live, but you felt the pull to come here, Maggie. I only thought that you deserved to take the trials on your sixteenth birthday like all Kindred children. You’ve been on your own for a year now, and forgive me for saying this but, your parents are gone and you have to make your own life’s choices and live with the consequences of them. I’m sorry for not saying anything sooner, Maggie.”
Maggie stepped forward and took Nancy by the hands and then pulled her close for a warm embrace. It was the first hug that Maggie had given or received in a whole year.
Maggie said, “All is forgiven. Just please don't shut me out any more. I want to learn as much as I can about being a Kindred and so does Elliot.”
Nancy held back her tears and said, “We’ll get you all sorted out, Maggie. Have a seat by Edgar and I'll go and make you some breakfast.”
With that, Nancy led Maggie to the booth which she had been in a few moments ago with Edgar. Maggie took Nancy’s spot and Edgar, who had sat back down a few moments before, winked over his cup of hot coffee at Maggie. Maggie smiled back at Edgar and stared out of the window at the sun which was still drying the dew on the hydrangeas next to the front door of the diner.
“I feel that today is going to be a good day, Mags,” stated a voice, with an odd sort of dialect, from inside of Maggie’s mind.
“Me, too, Elliot. Me, too,” sighed Maggie, thinking about and looking forward to her return to the Kindred Academy.
After Maggie had swallowed the last, delicious bite of her waffle, which had been smothered with butter and drowned in syrup, she wiped her mouth with one of the diner’s blue and white checkered napkins and stood up from the booth.
Edgar was just finishing his coffee when Maggie asked, “Are you taking me to the Kindred Academy?”
Edgar swallowed the last sip of his beverage and stood up from the booth to answer, “Nah, Nancy’s gonna shift with you. I'm not an instructor. I just sort of lend a hand here or there whenever the academy needs me to. Nancy spoke with Mr. Evans a couple of weeks ago, and she's gonna help the instructors from each of the Clans wherever they may need it this year. She's decided to leave me in charge of the diner for a while.”
Maggie being a little disheartened by the news asked, “Will I see you again?”
“Oh, definitely. I drop by the academy from time to time anyways, so I'll be sure to drop in and say hello,” Edgar responded.
Nancy walked up behind Maggie and handed her a soft, black cloak with a blue, round medallion on it. Nancy was wearing an elegant black cloak which, unlike Maggie’s plain and unassuming cloak, was lined and covered with elegant blue stitching. Nancy’s cloak also had a round blue medallion on it. Maggie looked closely at the raised image on Nancy’s medallion. It was an image of a little cardinal on a tree branch covered in snow.
�
�That's Siril isn't it?” asked Maggie.
Nancy gently touched her own medallion and answered, “Yes, that's the little devil, alright.”
Maggie giggled at Nancy’s description of her blueberry loving totem. The time had come for Maggie to leave with Nancy to begin her first official day at the Kindred Academy. Nancy raised her right hand and an omniport split the space in front of them. It crackled rhythmically and was equally as beautiful during the daytime as it was in the dead of night. The silvery liquid oviform rippled like water when Maggie tapped it with her finger.
“Are you ready, Maggie?” asked Nancy.
Maggie shook her head affirmatively and walked confidently into the omniport. She stepped through with Nancy at her side and they both stood before the great rounded doors of the Avior Clan chambers that were flanked by two Praetorians. Maggie stepped up to knock on the blue sapphire doors and they both opened, as they had done the night before, without Maggie even having to touch them. As they stepped inside, Alice came running up to Maggie. She was beaming with excitement and could hardly contain herself.
“Isn't this the most wonderful day ever? I can't believe this! I'm so very excited about our first class. Mr. Evans said last night that we would be learning our summons for our totems. Thomas, Klaus, and Kylie believe that Lucy will be the first to do it, but Lester and myself are rooting for you. I mean, you're a Legacy, right? Everyone’s certain that either you or Lucy will summon first,” stated Alice excitedly.
Maggie was a little taken aback by Alice’s exuberance. She appreciated the vote of confidence, but was also feeling a great deal of pressure to be the first one to perform a successful summons, now that there seemed to be a betting pool of sorts.
