"I'm going to have to do more research," said Thalia. "In the meantime, your mother was correct. Keystone is the size of a Human country. In fact, all of the separate lands are the size of their own countries. And, in their own right, they are in fact countries. There are hundreds of smaller colonies within each one, and they each have their own hierarchy. Even the Fae and the Elves have monarchies. Keystone, I believe, attempts a democracy; complete with their own senators and house of representatives, or at least the equivalent of. Each 'country' has a number of Arc Sanctum representatives. They also have liaisons that live in the Human world and report back to Arc Sanctum and their own people. This is how they are able to help those who have chosen to live among Humans. I am a little out of touch with Arc Sanctum itself. Wizards still hold a chair in there, but we don't sit in it very often anymore. Too busy, I suppose." She stopped to sip more of her tea. "I'm unsure why we refer to places like Keystone, Malia, and Coven as towns. Maybe to make the Arc sound more united than it is. While each land governs itself, Arc Sanctum makes the final decisions over everything."
"Why? Why do they hold so much power?" Savannah asked.
"I never thought that I would live to see a Kite ask that question," Thalia laughed. "Kites hold the most power in the Arc, and mostly think that they have a right to it." Thinking, she said, "The reason that it was set up that way was for protection against each other and the Humans. Their fear forced us to find a new home, and our races didn't necessarily get along. That was why the Arc was created. We were forced to share a continent and had to do so peacefully."
"Why did you all let the Kites take over? And why is it more dangerous for me than anyone else?" Savannah asked.
"Only the Elves and the Wizards could have stopped them," said Thalia. "But, I guess we decided that we had better things to do than enforcing laws." Waving her wand, she refilled her cup of tea, this time adding a little lavender, mint and orange peels for flavor and an energy boost. "As for your being in danger, well, the Kites would think of you as an abomination to their kind. You could live in the Outskirts to hide from them, but the Siphons would find you easily without the help of Polarstone lining your home." She paused before continuing, "That reminds me; you and your mother need to be more careful with your magic while you are here." Pointing to the magic residue in the other room, she said, "My magic can help hide you, but Polarstone does not line these walls. That one brief flight that you took in there put us all in danger."
"I'm sorry, but they were so close," Savannah said, trying to defend herself. Peering into Thalia's eyes, she sighed. "You're right, it wasn't worth putting everyone at risk. It is hard to control sometimes."
"I know, and I can't imagine being told not to use my abilities. But you must be patient until the building is done. You will be able to use your powers freely there. Chert has made sure that every millimeter of your training grounds has three times the amount of Polarstone as any home in Keystone. Not necessary, but it's for good measure and was requested by Eamon." Thalia waved her wand, and the teacups disappeared. Then she stood. "I must get to my friends," she said.
Hurriedly, Savannah stood up. "Please don't! We can walk out," she said.
"But it's more efficient my way," Thalia said, cocking her head to the side.
"And more painful! If I can't fly my way out as a Kite, I would rather walk out as a Morphling," Savannah insisted.
"Very well," Thalia said. She waved her hand towards the door, and it swung open. "Thank you for coming to see me today, Michael," she said, smiling at the small furry boy.
Michael smiled and waved at the Wizard before changing back into a cat. Following her young companion's lead, Savannah also changed into her green and furrier form before heading out of the door and back into the stairwell.
Chapter 8
"Samuel!" Michael squealed, as he and Savannah walked through her apartment. His big brother sat at the long, dark table drinking something out of a large mug. Gazing around the room, he noticed that his brother was alone. "Where is everyone?" he asked as he jumped into Samuel's lap, changing into his Human form in mid-air.
"Hey, Bud! It's good to see you too!" Samuel said, squeezing his little brother. It had been so good to sleep next to him that morning, even if it was only for a few hours. The cruelest part of his punishment had been separating him from his brother. Michael was a big part of his inner happiness. Even though he had lost almost everything, he was able to breathe better now that he had Michael back. Looking over Michael's head, he saw Savannah change slowly. "Wow! Someone learned a new trick," he said, perusing her new outfit.
"Michael showed me," she smiled and sauntered over to the coffee pot to pour herself a fresh cup.
"Look at you two getting along so well," said Samuel. He ruffled Michael's hair, while his little brother batted his hands away and tried to smooth it back out.
"Stop it!" complained Michael. "Samuel! I met Thalia, and there were Dwarves! They were sooo cool! You should see what they can do! It's amazing! Right, Savannah? And, they waved their hands like this and made this shiny stuff fly around. And they said they did it like we change our cells! And Thalia made us fly through the air. I didn't like that part, but she said she already knew me! Do you remember her? 'Cause I don't! But she said it was a long time ago."
"Whoa! Slow down, Micha! Your mouth is going to fall off if you don't give it a break!" Samuel said, laughing.
Michael covered his mouth, then glared at Samuel when he realized that he was only joking. Punching his brother in the arm, Michael leaped off his lap.
"Well, it sounds like you two had fun!" said Samuel, grinning from ear to ear.
"Michael's pretty awesome," Savannah said, gazing at the dark-haired little boy. She couldn't believe how talkative he was around Samuel. It almost made her wish that she wasn't an only child. She had never even thought about it before, but now she was a little jealous of their close relationship. She had always had her mother, but somehow, this was different.
Joining Samuel at the table, she said, "So? Where is everyone?"
"They are cleaning the stairwell, starting at the bottom. Eamon said that since Thalia has put a shield around the building, the Humans can't even see it. It's supposed to be similar to the one hiding the Arc," he said sipping his coffee.
"Oh!" Savannah said, surprised. "Why aren't you helping them? Why didn't they come and get me?"
"Eamon finally talked my mom into letting me tutor you. As long as I also do my homework," he said, picking up his backpack from the ground to show her. "My goal is to get you up to my grade before the week is out."
"You have high hopes! You're going to be a Senior next year!" she laughed at him.
"So are you, hopefully," he said, before draining the last of his cup.
"What am I supposed to do?" asked Michael. He thought that it all sounded very boring.
"Well, you can help me, or you can go hang with Sil and Byte. Betty brought them over to our new apartment," Samuel said. Then in a whisper, he added, "I bet it would be a big help if you kept those two occupied. Betty is supposed to be helping get the apartment in order." The boys chuckled together, and Michael nodded in understanding.
He ran over to Savannah and wrapped his little arms around her. "Thank you for today!" he said, before turning into a little raven and flying out of the apartment.
After watching his brother fly away, Samuel turned back to Savannah. "I'm impressed! Mom's not going to be too happy, but it will definitely help."
"He is so smart! And sweet!" said Savannah. "It's hard to believe that there is such pure goodness still in the world. I truly hope that he never changes."
"What about me?" Samuel said, playfully.
Savannah smiled over her cup of Joe, "You're good, too. Feel better?"
"A little," Samuel said, faking sadness. "So? What did the wonderful Wizard of the twentieth floor have to say today?" he asked. He wasn't happy with her rendition from the previous night. He felt a constant struggle t
o maintain his cool while watching Savannah under constant attack. He knew that she could physically take care of herself, but emotionally, she needed protection. He hadn't met this Wizard yet but was ready to give her a piece of his mind when he did. She had no right to blame everyone's situation on Savannah. He knew that Lanie, Harry, and himself were the only ones that didn't seem to need something from her. They were the ones who truly cared about what happened to her. Even Eamon was using her, though he suspected that even the Vampire had become enchanted with Savannah.
"Well, she told me a little about Fallon. And, said that I was safer here because the Keystone Kites would look at me as an abomination," said Savannah. It wasn't the first time someone had told her that the Kites wouldn't approve of her existence, but it still stung. Her own grandmother, Lemaria, had told her as much.
"Great! Well, I can't wait to meet this bundle of joy! Why do you keep going up there to see her?" he asked.
"She's honest! Painfully so, but she tells me stuff that I need to know," she replied. Taking another sip of coffee, she added, "Sometimes, I think that you all keep things from me to spare my feelings."
Shock flitted through Samuel. He tended to forget how observant and intelligent Savannah was. Ready to change the subject, he plopped his backpack on the table. It landed with a heavy thud that rocked their mugs and splashed coffee on the surface.
"What the -- ?" asked Savannah. She got up to get paper towels to clean up the mess.
"Sorry!" said Samuel, sheepishly. "It landed a little harder than I thought." After helping her wipe up the mess, he unzipped the pack. "We should probably get started if we're going to show the school what a genius you are."
After five hours, Savannah had the basics of Algebra down. He knew that she would pick it up easily. Kites were known for their intelligence, and Morphlings absorbed knowledge easily. He suspected that Wizards made them that way on purpose. In turn, she helped him with his History assignments. He had always had difficulty remembering what the Humans thought was correct.
They spent the last couple of hours comparing the Humans' side of history to the Supernaturals' version. Savannah had remembered a few things that contradicted each other in the library books and hoped that Samuel would know the answers.
"In a lot of the Twitchie books, they talk about gods. Some of them think there is only one, and others think there are a bunch of them. What do you think?" she asked him.
"Gods? I haven't seen any," he chuckled. Measuring his words and thoughts carefully, he decided that it was a good time to make lunch. He went to the kitchen and grabbed the ingredients for turkey sandwiches and a couple of plates. After a couple of minutes, he was able to talk, "Most Supernaturals don't believe in Gods, because of the Twitchie Factor."
"Twitchie Factor?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow and eying the sandwiches that he was making.
"All humanoids come from the same place, more or less," he said.
"Where's that?" she asked, confused. In most of her books, that seemed like the question that everyone wanted answered but no one could agree on.
"Evolution. The Twitchies got that mostly right. They just think that they are the only humanoids. Which is frankly ridiculous! Just about every other species out there has evolved in different ways. Humans are so arrogant they think that they're the exception. We call it the Twitchie Factor," he explained, focusing on the food.
"So, no gods, then?" she asked, smiling a little.
"Not that I know of. Of course, Twitchies don't think we are real either, so who's to say? Though some of the Supernaturals have taken it upon themselves to mess with the Twitchies from time to time. What's the best way to get an army of slaves? Tell them you're a god!" he said. Licking the mustard off his fingers, he brought her a sandwich, "And voila! Slaves. They'll do anything you want!"
"That's horrible!" Savannah said.
"That's what they get for being so arrogant," he said, taking his seat again. "I had a relative, somewhere on my dad's side, I think, who convinced a few tribes that he was a god. All he had to do was change his form in front of them. Instead of them thinking that he was another race, they assumed he was some sort of celestial being." After taking a couple of bites, he realized how upset she was. "I'm not saying it's right," he tried to reassure her. "It's just hard for some of the Supernaturals to live with them. They think that anyone different doesn't have a place in this world."
Savannah thought more about the world she came from while eating her sandwich. When they were done, she took the dishes and rinsed them off in the sink. Desperate for a change in subject, she said, "The Dwarves said they would be done with the building in a few days!"
"Seriously? That's awesome! I can't believe you waited to tell me," he said. His eyes lit up. "I can't wait to see it, and see you in action!"
She felt her hot magenta blood rushing to her cheeks, and she instinctively covered them up with her green hair.
Grumpily, he added, "I missed out watching you in the fight."
"You were dying!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah! But it sounded awesome! And what you did afterward was amazing," said Samuel.
Shaking her head, she said, "Can we just not talk about it? Why don't we go over that science stuff you mentioned." He may have thought that it was awesome, but she just remembered that it was scary. It seemed that everyone wanted her to tell them everything that she remembered about that night, but all she wanted was to forget it.
Disappointed, Samuel consented, and they leaned over the table again. He could feel the strain on his back and wanted to go for a run or do anything other than study. It seemed so unnecessary to him. Gazing over at Savannah, he realized that it was worth it to be able to spend more time with her. He really liked that she decided to go with her lime green hair at home. She looked up and caught him staring at her. Averting his eyes, they both got back to work.
By the time the others got back, she felt a lot more confident about her testing tomorrow. She wasn't sure that they would put her in as a Senior, but possibly a Sophomore or Junior. It turned out that she was really good at math. Once it was explained to her, it came easily. The hardest subject ended up being science, the very thing that baffled her about the Twitchies. Their explanations didn't make sense to her. She grew up knowing a different kind of magic. She was shocked to find out that they don't believe in any source of magic and their manipulation of energy was very flawed and dangerous. Their understanding of the ecosystem was lacking, and their treatment of animals was abhorrent. How could they be so cruel and ignorant?
Johnna walked in with Eamon and Lanie to collect Samuel. She didn't glare at Savannah so much as avoided looking at her.
Lanie wrapped her arms around her daughter and said, "Savvy! I missed you today!" Looking down at the papers on the table, she added, "It looks like you have been working hard, though. Did you learn a lot?"
Leaning into her mother's squeeze, Savannah nodded. She knew that at least her mother didn't think she was an abomination. She couldn't imagine surviving without her love. She let her mother's long, lavender-scented, teal hair wrap around her. This was simple. Everything else today had been complicated.
"Guess what?" Lanie whispered in her ear.
Looking up into her face, Savannah gave her a curious look.
"The stairwell is clean! That pack of Harry's is amazing!" said Lanie, pulling away from her daughter.
"How is it done already?" asked Savannah.
Shrugging her shoulders, Lanie said, "A bunch of their members came over to help clean. Then about twenty of them re-carpeted the stairs, while another twenty painted the walls!"
"It smells a little potent still, but it should go away in about a week," Eamon chimed in.
"Hannah and George will be sorry they didn't stick around," laughed Savannah. She immediately regretted her comment when she saw Eamon's face fall. "I'm sorry, Eamon."
He held his hand up. "No worries. They wouldn't have been able to stay anyway. Hiding Thalia and
the Dwarves from them was difficult enough. A family of Morphlings and a Werewolf would have been impossible." Taking a breath, he looked out the tall window. The sun was going to set in a few hours, and it had been a long day. He and Savannah would need to go hunting soon, so they could be back before sundown. It had been a couple of days since he last fed. Even though he had replenished a lot of his blood supply, he had burned through a good portion while trying to make sure that everyone was safe.
He had promised Harry that he could join them. Not that Harry needed to hunt, but he knew the cub liked to see Savannah in action. He wasn't sure how Savannah would feel about it, but he personally didn't like the idea of someone joining them during their special time. These hunts were how he got to know Savannah. The only reason that he had agreed was because the cub had proved to be a useful ally and mediator when things got tense during the stairwell renovation. Anytime Lanie had opened her mouth to suggest something, the whole pack would grumble and growl.
Before he could say anything to Savannah, Harry burst through the door.
"Heyo!" said the cub, announcing his arrival. "The pack will be starting again in an hour. So I figure we should probably leave now, so they have time to cover our tracks."
Nodding, Eamon turned to Savannah, "I need to hunt, and Harry would like to join us tonight."
Savannah peered around Eamon to look at Harry, before she whispered, "But, he's loud!"
"I heard that, Savjo!" Harry called from the other room.
Savannah growled; sometimes she found the hearing of Werewolves and Vampires annoying.
"If you don't want to go, it's fine," Eamon said. "But I need to hunt. Honestly, it might be safer if you stay here tonight."
"No! I need to get out of here!" she said, standing up. "You're stuck with me, whether you like it or not. Besides, we'll be back long before dark, right?"
"Of course," Eamon said, bowing. "And, one more thing...Harry is driving us. Since I have to cover up a lot, it's easier for me to stay in the backseat with the dark tinted windows."
Illuminated Embers (The Kites of the Arc Book 2) Page 10
